Anne at Modern Mrs Darcy recommended this title, especially for fans of Eleanor and Park, and that stuck with me at my next trip to the library, where I found the book just sitting there waiting for me. No interlibrary loan. No waiting list. It was just.....there. Win!
I found the female protagonist fairly annoying in the beginning, but I stuck with the book and ended up enjoying it. I don't want to say much about why I ended up appreciating it for fear of spoiling your reading experience. I liked it. I didn't love it like Eleanor and Park, but I liked the book, even more so after I finished it. I wish I could talk about why that is, but so it goes.
I would also like to take this opportunity to address how mature these high schoolers were in the last few YA books I've read. Does anyone else feel this way? I read dialogue and scenes and thought: we were not like this in high school.
Still, I can see why Anne said fans of E&P would like The Sea of Tranquility. Worth a read. And I definitely would be talking about the heavier themes in the book with any and all adolescents or teens of my own (not that I have any teens yet, but as a mom, I must say this).
What have you been reading? Have you read this one? What did you think? Tell me in the comments.
YES. I totally feel the same way about the teenagers I read in books. I can't tell if society is veering into maturity at an earlier age and the books capture that, or if real-life teens read these and then imitate what they've learned. Probably a bit of both. And it does put me on high alert. I recently read Reconstructing Amelia and it was about privileged New York teenagers. It terrified me. I tend to keep my kids (elementary and younger) pretty sheltered bc of this. I'll be pushing the classics into their hands for as long as I can! :) Oh and I loved E&P despite the language on nearly every page!
ReplyDeleteNow I want to read Reconstructing Amelia. Or maybe I don't! ;-) Yes to the classics....and when I wrote about E&P in a different Twitterature, I thought that I wouldn't be able to stand it if I had to actually talk to the characters with all the emphasized *Gods.* I can't imagine the audio book. Eep! Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteAgree so much that YA is too much on the adult side. "we weren't this way in hs" yes. I hate to be a naysayer, but I didn't love Eleanor and Park.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's nice to have you two agree with me. Otherwise, I would paint myself a little more clueless in high school! :-) Did you *like* E&P? Just not love?
DeleteI also just wanted to add that Anne at Modern Mrs. Darcy once said that E & P is a book *about* teenagers, not *for* teenagers. But of course, the teens are reading Rainbow Rowell in droves. They (along with John Green books) are definitely marketed *to* teenagers. I was wayyyyy more youthful in high school and still read Babysitters Club in 9th grade; they were a hard habit to break! ;)
ReplyDeleteI remember that post! And I remember appreciating Anne's point.
DeleteI should pinpoint which BSC was my last! Now, I'm going to go look them up....ha!
Confession: I read the BSC Hawaiian super adventure when I was in desperate need for a book at the library. It was so far ahead in the series, I was, like, "Who is this girl Abby??" LOL!
I have felt that way about almost every YA book I've read in the past year. But then I remember that I was reading Jack Kerouac and Stephen King in high school, which isn't exactly innocent reading. Haha.
ReplyDeleteHmmm....true! I'm pretty sure V.C. Andrews was in my grade school (K-8) library. I remember watching Stephen King's IT at a slumber party in 8th grade. I don't think I read it, though, until college. The things we read! :-)
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