Bad Romance (or, YA & Rape Culture)

[bookshop]

Once in a while every girl has to do something she knows is bad for her, even though she knows it's stupid and she'll probably regret it later. Last night I started reading the bestselling YA fantasy Hush, Hush, which friends and the internet have repeatedly assured me that I would hate. I had no intention of reading it until I randomly picked it

Comments

[undeny]

I have read this entire post now and I am sitting here with a D: look on my face, just staring and D:ing. This is NOT OKAY. JFC.

[bookshop]

Write something better. Write something different. Spread ideas of change. Use your voice. <333333

[wednesdayschild]

This post is amazing

[bookshop]

Your comment is reminding me of this article on freaking CNN that I read and was appalled by, haha, because the article is like "here's how to save someone from suicide" while glossing over the fact that this guy she just met 3 days ago was breaking into her house, what the actual fuck. And the fact that they struck up a romance afterward just seemed like an all-too convenient happy ending to disguise the skeeviness involved in his HELLO BREAKING INTO HER HOUSE - like, because he saved her life/she said yes/fell in love that makes his initial behavior okay, and i'm not at all sure that it does.

[stasia]

*blink* The article says that he came around to her bedroom window and knocked on it, but not that he was attempting to break in. Or... am I mis-reading it?

Stasia

[bookshop]

knocking on her bedroom window wouldn't freak you out? especially considering he'd only met her like a couple of days before--if some dude i just met at a conference showed up at my house knocking on any of my doors or windows i would FREAK THE FUCK OUT, lol.

[_amalthea]

Wow, that book sounds so disturbing that I need to read it :/

[reserve]

SEE, WAIT. THIS IS THE PROBLEM RIGHT HERE. I FEEL THE SAME WAY :/

[_amalthea]

Probably wasn't her intention to get more people to want to read the book.. but that's just how it is, she can make the most disturbinh things sound well.. still horrible and yet so intriguing.

[bookshop]

Well, and a) it is a bestseller, though I think that has more to do with the frankly breathtaking cover than anything else; b) I actually found it far more enjoyable a read than Twilight for a number of reasons that aren't really important to the post - here's a positive review from a reader who loved it that I think is a pretty good rundown of what it does well. Though it can't escape being constantly compared to Twilight, and I didn't include this link in the post because I think the relative overall literary merits of Hush, Hush isn't really pertinent to the discussion. I confessed to liking it well enough to buy a copy of the book after reading the first few chapters, *despite* the massive amounts of fail, so there we are.

I'm feeling pretty conflicted about having actually bought a copy, to be honest.

[jorajo]

I spent most of this post spluttering in rage.

And a question not having to do with the main source of rage here -- I'm not too familiar with YA; are there ANY decent books that deal with gay main characters or gay characters period that aren't problematic?

[bookshop]

If you're not familiar with YA then definitely start with Alex Sanchez's Rainbow Boys, because it pretty much defined and introduced the queer subgenre of YA fiction. Also, Ash by Malinda Lo is fantastic, as is The Demon's Lexicon - both are great because they have queer main characters, but being queer is not the defining character trait that the book focuses on. I also love and would rec to anyone Sonya Sones' One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies.

[ojuzu]

YA books where 'being queer' is not the focus? I'M IN. ♥

[bookshop]

I also - there are a number of YA books where one of the ~surprise plot points~ is the ~surprise alternate sexuality!!!!~ of a character, and on the one hand that counts, but on the other hand i'm really wary of plots where that happens because it reduces sexuality to a kind of titillation (I think I dislike A Great & Terrible Beauty for this the most). this is somewhat the case in 'One of Those Hideous Books Where' except that it's done really well and didn't feel superimposed the way it does in other books I've read.

[ojuzu]

Have I mentioned that I absolutely love your essays? They force me to consider and think about things I've unconsciously pushed under the rug all my life. It's difficult and uncomfortable and I'm so, so glad.