The YA Agony Awards: Round Three

[rachelmanija]

The battle of Orangutan vs. Apocalypse was very, very tough. I'm not sure the current results were really statistically significant. Nevertheless, Apocalypse wins and goes on to the next round

Comments

[spectralbovine]

1. I know racism is bad and everything, but I don't think the kid's dad and his dog really understood him. And, hey, it's not fair for this dark horse candidate to come out of nowhere and agonize with its secret weapon!

2. Well, there's the APOCALYPSE. And the starving. And the Big Agonizing Choice. At this point, I'm picking personal agony over an animal's agony.

3. See above. Plus, INSANE.

4. Always, always, always the part where YOU HAVE TO SHOOT HIM.

[buymeaclue]

>2. Well, there's the APOCALYPSE. And the starving. And the Big Agonizing Choice. At this point, I'm picking personal agony over an animal's agony.

But the animal's agony is your fault, in that scenario, whereas the apocalypse just kind of happens!

Guilt = extra agony points, in my rankings.

[cija]

Is the second choice in number 3 William Sleator's House of Stairs or something else? I forget if only one person survived in the end, but it has tons and tons of agony.

[jinian]

Nah, House of Stairs is way more fucked up than abandonment, and everyone's survival is part of the agony.

[chomiji]

Yeah, House of Stairs is one of those books I've not had the urge to re-read for, oh, at least 20 years now.

[conuly]

I periodically run across it in bookstores or libraries. I give it a glance, go "Hey, this looks interesting!", go through a few pages - then remember why it is I never bought a copy of that book. And BACK on the shelf.

[lady_ganesh]

Amusingly, I never finished Sounder because I knew the fucking dog was going to die. So many dead dogs!

[klwilliams]

I abhore Bridge to Terabithia

[sophia_helix]

Weirdly, I read Where the Red Fern Grows a bunch when I was a kid and it never actually depressed me all that much except the first time. Maybe because I'm not such a big dog person (though the gory description of Old Dan's death is pretty yucky.)