Comments | bookfails: Dear Barry Lyga

psychedeliceyes in bookfails

Dear Barry Lyga

Dec 06, 2010 13:13

I've only read one of your short stories but it was enough to put me off from ever touching your books.

Do you know how to not make your character come across as sympathetic? By having her take pictures of a naked girl in the locker room without the girl's knowledge or consent. And do you know what is not a good revenge against a high schooler ( Read more... )

letters from dear author day, author last names g-l, young adult fails

Comments 31

unusualdemoness December 6 2010, 21:34:33 UTC

...I think I've read this story. Was it in the anthology Geektastic?

It was such a stupid story. Why wouldn't her boyfriend have believed her when she said she didn't put up the flyer's, anyway? It was such an awful, offensive thing to write into the book. I think what gets me is it was billed as this great thing the protagonist did and that she's so awesome because of it. *shudder* Just, NO. Passing around naked pictures of a fellow classmate in not cool at all.

simply_shipping December 6 2010, 21:37:42 UTC

I just looked up the author and the only short story with a description that sounds close is the one in Geektastic. Which is a shame, because I was thinking about buying it. After this, I think I'll pass.

unusualdemoness December 6 2010, 21:45:37 UTC

Maybe you could try borrowing it from the library instead? It's what I did. There are some other fairly good stories in Geektastic. I was even enjoying Barry Lyga's until I hit the massive fail.

simply_shipping December 6 2010, 21:47:05 UTC

My local library does have it, so I might do that.

Thread 5

kater_kat December 6 2010, 21:54:00 UTC

So much for taking a stand against bullying. I mean, I imagine most people have had a fantasy or two about taking their tormentors down a peg or two, but most (decent) people acknowledge that it solves nothing. I mean, I can kind of see this if it went in a "and then it backfired on protagonist and everyone realized the error of their ways and maybe nobody became friends but lessons were learned" sort of way, but this? No thanks.

urban_twilight December 6 2010, 22:57:24 UTC

There's really only one way I can put this succinctly:

WTF.

silverflight8 December 6 2010, 23:20:45 UTC

I can't believe it. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE EDITING PROCESS THAT SHOULD HAVE CUT THIS OUT, EVEN IF THE AUTHOR WAS REALLY BAD, THIS I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW. D:

psychedeliceyes December 6 2010, 23:37:48 UTC

I don't know, I don't know, I have no idea why Holly Black would allow something like this.

plumxxjam December 7 2010, 00:29:42 UTC

So glad I'm not the only one who felt this way about "The Truth About Dino Girl". The story made me sick to my stomach and I really wish I had just stopped reading it, instead of finishing it.

Thankfully, I enjoyed most of the other stories in the collection and got the book from my local library instead of buying it at the bookstore like I originally wanted to.