Hello, my dear readers!
The up and coming wave of YA lit is upon us, with many authors having break out years and coming onto the scene for the first time. These contemporary novels are really exciting; it's fantastic to see the field expand into new territory! Contemporary YA lit has so much to offer and so many ways it can go that the possibilities are endless.
For Contemporary YA lit, I chose to read Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira. (You can check out her site here; on a side note, her layout online is really pretty.) This is Dellaira's first novel and she was mentored by Stephen Chbosky, the author of Perks of Being a Wallflower. The premise of Love Letters to the Dead is pretty straight forward. A girl named Laurel is starting high school after the death of her sister and is assigned to write a letter to a dead person for a school activity. She ends up writing a whole book of letters to a variety of dead people (Kurt Cobain and River Phoenix for example) and through the letters we learn of the events that lead up to her sister's death as well as the events going on now.
I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I really like the concept of it. Letters are a powerful way to explore a variety of topics that Laurel experienced, like abuse. But on the other hand, I can tell this is Dellaira's first novel and that she's trying to find her writing voice. That's not a bad thing, by the way; I love that this is her first novel and I hope she continues to write and develop her voice. I just got distracted at times by the way her writing is at the moment.
In our group discussion, we talked about how Dellaira is finding her voice. We also talked about how great the format is; depending on the person Laurel is writing to sets the tone of what we learn in that letter. So for those who died by suicide (like Cobain), the letters tend to be angrier and deal with the gritty stuff whereas letters written to those who maybe didn't die like that (like Amelia Earhart) are more upbeat about things. It's a really great technique that we hope Dellaira continues to use.
Honestly, I think Love Letters to the Dead is a pretty good book. It takes a little bit to get used to the format, but it goes quick once you do. I recommend it for freshmen and up.
~Meaghan
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Movie vs Book: Divergent and Group Discussion
Hi again, my dear readers!
One of the things that tends to happen (not only in YA literature) is that a book will become a best seller and then be made into a movie. Sometimes it happens the other way around - the book will be made into a movie, the movie becomes popular, and suddenly the book is a best seller. Either way, books and movies based upon them seem to go hand in hand. Sometimes the movie is better than the book; more often than not, the book is better than the movie. It depends on the reader, the viewer, and the overall experience.
For this class, I needed to read a book and then watch the movie. I chose Divergent by Veronica Roth. (The trailer for the film is here if you haven't seen or heard of it.) Divergent follows the pretty standard post apocalyptic YA novel format: everyone is split into factions in the society, a girl goes to get sorted and doesn't fit into just one category, she ends up becoming part of the warring faction, the girl is special, war breaks out, and there's romance.
(That sounds cynical, but go look at these dystopian books and you'll see what I mean.)
The movie is very similar, except that the actors and actresses are all incredibly good looking (which is a ploy to get people of the opposite gender to come see the film), the romance was toned down a bit, and the action was overplayed. Impactful lines and scenes got cut or altered as the director saw fit, all in an attempt to bring in box office revenue. And it worked.
In group discussion, we talked about how these dystopian films and books are so incredibly popular among teens. Film makers and authors seem to be piggybacking off each other and so more and more of YA lit and films are going the way of dystopian. We all agreed that it can't last forever. Eventually the market is going to be so saturated with things like Divergent that it won't be able to hold anymore and other genres are going to break through again.
We also talked about how the film ran compared to the book. The film is much faster paced, making it harder to absorb what is going on; the book, however, is slower and allows the reader to digest what's happening before moving on to the next scene or event. The film is good in that it allows visuals cues and images to be given, but it sacrifices some of the material from the book in order to do that. One idea was that if Divergent could be serialized like Game of Thrones is, that maybe it would work better.
As for me, I didn't really care for the book or the movie. I think I've had enough of the dystopian genre, though, so don't let that opinion stop you if you want to read Divergent or watch the film. If you decide to, though, I recommend you read the book first.
~Meaghan
One of the things that tends to happen (not only in YA literature) is that a book will become a best seller and then be made into a movie. Sometimes it happens the other way around - the book will be made into a movie, the movie becomes popular, and suddenly the book is a best seller. Either way, books and movies based upon them seem to go hand in hand. Sometimes the movie is better than the book; more often than not, the book is better than the movie. It depends on the reader, the viewer, and the overall experience.
For this class, I needed to read a book and then watch the movie. I chose Divergent by Veronica Roth. (The trailer for the film is here if you haven't seen or heard of it.) Divergent follows the pretty standard post apocalyptic YA novel format: everyone is split into factions in the society, a girl goes to get sorted and doesn't fit into just one category, she ends up becoming part of the warring faction, the girl is special, war breaks out, and there's romance.
(That sounds cynical, but go look at these dystopian books and you'll see what I mean.)
The movie is very similar, except that the actors and actresses are all incredibly good looking (which is a ploy to get people of the opposite gender to come see the film), the romance was toned down a bit, and the action was overplayed. Impactful lines and scenes got cut or altered as the director saw fit, all in an attempt to bring in box office revenue. And it worked.
In group discussion, we talked about how these dystopian films and books are so incredibly popular among teens. Film makers and authors seem to be piggybacking off each other and so more and more of YA lit and films are going the way of dystopian. We all agreed that it can't last forever. Eventually the market is going to be so saturated with things like Divergent that it won't be able to hold anymore and other genres are going to break through again.
We also talked about how the film ran compared to the book. The film is much faster paced, making it harder to absorb what is going on; the book, however, is slower and allows the reader to digest what's happening before moving on to the next scene or event. The film is good in that it allows visuals cues and images to be given, but it sacrifices some of the material from the book in order to do that. One idea was that if Divergent could be serialized like Game of Thrones is, that maybe it would work better.
As for me, I didn't really care for the book or the movie. I think I've had enough of the dystopian genre, though, so don't let that opinion stop you if you want to read Divergent or watch the film. If you decide to, though, I recommend you read the book first.
~Meaghan
The Graphic Novel: My Friend Dahmer and Group Discussion
Hello my dear readers!
One of the incredibly popular genres of YA literature is the graphic novel. Some people call these comic books, but in reality, they are so much more. The use of images and words to tell a story can give so much added depth for the reader - pictures can sometimes say more than words ever can, and the combination allows for multiple readings of the story while getting different meanings each time.
The novel I chose was My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf. Backderf went to high school with Jeffery Dahmer and chose to write and illustrate a graphic novel about it. I was drawn to it because 1. there's something fascinating to me about a serial killer and what made them snap and 2. the art is so interesting - like caricatures. (You can see what I mean by checking out Backderf's site; he posts weekly comic strips and stuff, which is always fun.)
The book was intense. The portrayal of Dahmer as this lonely kid who had a horrible home life and was just trying to fit in made me almost empathize with the guy. Backderf did a really good job at incorporating actual photographs of Dahmer throughout to ground the story and remind everyone that he was a real person; the cartoonish style makes it somewhat easy to forget that these things actually happened, and the photos break that up.
In our group, we talked about how the three of us who read the book immediately wanted to learn more about Dahmer when we were done. That someone could do something so horrible fascinated us. We wondered if things had been different (such as Dahmer's parents not being so wrapped up in their divorce or if Dahmer had been able to come out as gay without judgement) if he would have still done the crimes he did.
We also noticed that Backderf did a great job of changing the use of white space throughout the novel to show the downward descent Dahmer had - by the end of the book, there isn't any white space left in the panels, only darkness. The panels that had not words at all were also incredibly impactful. Seeing a young Dahmer walk through the woods at night by himself has a completely different feeling than if it was narrated in text.
Overall, My Friend Dahmer was a really interesting read. The style is great for people familiar with graphic novels and even if you aren't, the frames are done in a manner that makes it easy to figure out. I recommend it for mid to late high school students and above.
~Meaghan
One of the incredibly popular genres of YA literature is the graphic novel. Some people call these comic books, but in reality, they are so much more. The use of images and words to tell a story can give so much added depth for the reader - pictures can sometimes say more than words ever can, and the combination allows for multiple readings of the story while getting different meanings each time.
The novel I chose was My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf. Backderf went to high school with Jeffery Dahmer and chose to write and illustrate a graphic novel about it. I was drawn to it because 1. there's something fascinating to me about a serial killer and what made them snap and 2. the art is so interesting - like caricatures. (You can see what I mean by checking out Backderf's site; he posts weekly comic strips and stuff, which is always fun.)
The book was intense. The portrayal of Dahmer as this lonely kid who had a horrible home life and was just trying to fit in made me almost empathize with the guy. Backderf did a really good job at incorporating actual photographs of Dahmer throughout to ground the story and remind everyone that he was a real person; the cartoonish style makes it somewhat easy to forget that these things actually happened, and the photos break that up.
In our group, we talked about how the three of us who read the book immediately wanted to learn more about Dahmer when we were done. That someone could do something so horrible fascinated us. We wondered if things had been different (such as Dahmer's parents not being so wrapped up in their divorce or if Dahmer had been able to come out as gay without judgement) if he would have still done the crimes he did.
We also noticed that Backderf did a great job of changing the use of white space throughout the novel to show the downward descent Dahmer had - by the end of the book, there isn't any white space left in the panels, only darkness. The panels that had not words at all were also incredibly impactful. Seeing a young Dahmer walk through the woods at night by himself has a completely different feeling than if it was narrated in text.
Overall, My Friend Dahmer was a really interesting read. The style is great for people familiar with graphic novels and even if you aren't, the frames are done in a manner that makes it easy to figure out. I recommend it for mid to late high school students and above.
~Meaghan
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