Complicated thoughts are simple
I recently finished reading John Green's Paper Towns, which is, for the most part, highly enjoyable. Green is an intelligent and talented YA author who manages "boy voices" very well. His characters are realistic of what I know of teen boys today (having two of them as godsons), and his writing style instantly accessible.
Unfortunately, the publisher decided this wasn't a boy's story, or became concerned that girls wouldn't read a book that looked too boyish, because the cover was designed with female readers in mind. This is a ridiculous assessment on the part of the publisher, as numbers consistently show that girls who like to read read (as opposed to Gossip Girl and Twilight read - yes! there is a difference), will pretty much read anything. Isn't that what the Boys Read initiative was about (don't get me wrong, I do not have a problem with individual authors - such as John Scieszka - starting programs to increase boy readership, I simply have an issue with the way this is used to influence which books are published for young readers)?
With girly cover in hand, I set into Paper Towns knowing off the bat I was going to read something familiar. And that is its main problem. While the protagonists are interesting and likeable and I enjoyed reading about them, I had read this story before. One was even written by John Green. The other wasn't.
Oh, you beautiful, unattainable, mysterious, preternaturally gifted girls! What are the boys of today to do with you? Especially when you keep disappearing on that really nice one who worships you?
Speaking as someone who unfortunately remembers adolescence quite well, I can say with much authority: Girls aren't that complicated (except when they are, in that way all humans are, but that isn't what I'm referring to here). Even really gifted, quirky ones (and I went to a high school full of them). Even truly beautiful ones. Even the damaged ones.
But I'm not even here to delve into the Myth of the Mysterious Girl, because what all three of those books taught us is these Mysterious Girls are also painfully selfish: She dares to do things that secure her own happiness without considering the really, really nice boy who worships her! You mean, she sometimes acts out of that selfishness without once considering another person's feelings? Yes! Sometimes, she even...(gasp!) kisses him without wanting to be his girlfriend! Shame! Shame on you, Mysterious Girl, for toying with a boy's feelings!
Interestingly, when we read novels actually aimed at girls about their relationships with Mysterious Boys, the essential element to gain from it is one of warning. Those Mysterious Boys are no good! They hurt you! They isolate you from your friends! They take you on dangerous road trips on their motorcycles! And, silly girl, if you would only pay attention to that sweet, dorky boy who worships you, you would know true love. In these books, the most important lesson a girl reader can learn is how to make sure the boy you like is Really Nice. Also, True Friends Don't Turn Their Backs on Concerned Friends (Because They're Right).
In their boy counterparts, the most important lesson our boys learn is how to Truly Be Yourself, and Strive for Your Own Goals, and Appreciate All Your Relationships. It helps that most of the Mysterious Girls in boy fiction tend less toward abuse and more toward angsty adolescent self-identity.
So I don't know if I'm more disappointed I read a book I had, for the most part, already read? Or if I was distracted by the vile taste in my mouth that such gender differentiation persists in YA lit. It seems funny to me that a book as lauded as Paper Towns, by an author who has much to offer the YA world made me finally realize this differentiation will never go away. It doesn't help that the majority of reviewers fell all over themselves to praise Paper Towns, as well as awarding the - less enjoyable, imo - Looking for Alaska the Printz, while virtually ignoring or dismissing books for girls that are thematically (if not plotwise) similar?
That's right. I had forgotten the rule of Chick Lit. Books for girls just aren't that important critically, unless they are discussing Really Important Themes Out the Box. Because they're examining issues surrounding the boys they like. Unlike Paper Towns, which is about a boy obsessed with a girl...he...likes...
Unfortunately, the publisher decided this wasn't a boy's story, or became concerned that girls wouldn't read a book that looked too boyish, because the cover was designed with female readers in mind. This is a ridiculous assessment on the part of the publisher, as numbers consistently show that girls who like to read read (as opposed to Gossip Girl and Twilight read - yes! there is a difference), will pretty much read anything. Isn't that what the Boys Read initiative was about (don't get me wrong, I do not have a problem with individual authors - such as John Scieszka - starting programs to increase boy readership, I simply have an issue with the way this is used to influence which books are published for young readers)?
With girly cover in hand, I set into Paper Towns knowing off the bat I was going to read something familiar. And that is its main problem. While the protagonists are interesting and likeable and I enjoyed reading about them, I had read this story before. One was even written by John Green. The other wasn't.
Oh, you beautiful, unattainable, mysterious, preternaturally gifted girls! What are the boys of today to do with you? Especially when you keep disappearing on that really nice one who worships you?
Speaking as someone who unfortunately remembers adolescence quite well, I can say with much authority: Girls aren't that complicated (except when they are, in that way all humans are, but that isn't what I'm referring to here). Even really gifted, quirky ones (and I went to a high school full of them). Even truly beautiful ones. Even the damaged ones.
But I'm not even here to delve into the Myth of the Mysterious Girl, because what all three of those books taught us is these Mysterious Girls are also painfully selfish: She dares to do things that secure her own happiness without considering the really, really nice boy who worships her! You mean, she sometimes acts out of that selfishness without once considering another person's feelings? Yes! Sometimes, she even...(gasp!) kisses him without wanting to be his girlfriend! Shame! Shame on you, Mysterious Girl, for toying with a boy's feelings!
Interestingly, when we read novels actually aimed at girls about their relationships with Mysterious Boys, the essential element to gain from it is one of warning. Those Mysterious Boys are no good! They hurt you! They isolate you from your friends! They take you on dangerous road trips on their motorcycles! And, silly girl, if you would only pay attention to that sweet, dorky boy who worships you, you would know true love. In these books, the most important lesson a girl reader can learn is how to make sure the boy you like is Really Nice. Also, True Friends Don't Turn Their Backs on Concerned Friends (Because They're Right).
In their boy counterparts, the most important lesson our boys learn is how to Truly Be Yourself, and Strive for Your Own Goals, and Appreciate All Your Relationships. It helps that most of the Mysterious Girls in boy fiction tend less toward abuse and more toward angsty adolescent self-identity.
So I don't know if I'm more disappointed I read a book I had, for the most part, already read? Or if I was distracted by the vile taste in my mouth that such gender differentiation persists in YA lit. It seems funny to me that a book as lauded as Paper Towns, by an author who has much to offer the YA world made me finally realize this differentiation will never go away. It doesn't help that the majority of reviewers fell all over themselves to praise Paper Towns, as well as awarding the - less enjoyable, imo - Looking for Alaska the Printz, while virtually ignoring or dismissing books for girls that are thematically (if not plotwise) similar?
That's right. I had forgotten the rule of Chick Lit. Books for girls just aren't that important critically, unless they are discussing Really Important Themes Out the Box. Because they're examining issues surrounding the boys they like. Unlike Paper Towns, which is about a boy obsessed with a girl...he...likes...