Title: ShiverAuthor: Maggie Stiefvater
When I read books intended for adults, I like to think I'm fairly non-judgmental. If the characters swear or have sex or rob banks, I'm not likely to put the book down or worry about what reading the book is going to do to my soul. In fact, I tend to get highly annoyed by people who jump right in on all of the bad language and sex in literature and become a morality police. But I realized while reading Shiver that I don't have the same air of neutrality when reading young adult books. I'm not quite sure if it's the mom in me, or if I just think that books written for young adults should set some kind of an example, but I definitely have different expectations for young adult literature.
Shiver makes me feel like a member of the morality police. There was a lot to like about the book. I think the characters were well-drawn, the story interesting, the point of view shifts worked, and I absolutely loved the way she wove the Rilke poetry throughout the novel. I think the love story between Grace, who was attacked by werewolves as a child but somehow managed not to turn into one herself, and Sam, the werewolf who saved her and has watched out for her ever since, was sweet. And the ending was as tender as it was somewhat predictable. Despite all that, something about the novel didn't do it for me, and I'm not sure why I didn't look forward to reading Shiver like I did Beautiful Creatures (a paranormal teen romance in firmly the same camp). And then eighteen-year-old Sam and seventeen-year-old Grace had sex, and it sort of ruined the book for me. If it had been a book written for adults, I wouldn't have even thought twice about consenting adults in love getting it on (I would have expected it even) but here it just felt wrong. I know that many, even most teenagers that age do have sex, so tell me, why does Shiver turn me into a prude?
2 comments:
Shelia, totally loving your blog--especially since it's about my two favorite things--reading and writing.
As for the prude part--seeing as I'm attempting to write one of these YA books--I've been thinking a lot about this too. I'm not really bothered by YA books discussing or even having sex, it's the emphasis placed on it--like it's the end all. Now, I haven't read that book yet (I haven't been reading anything--just writing), but I have found in other YA books that I've read recently, that when it's just sort of the side story--not the main focus--it's not quite as bothersome as when it's THE END ALL.
What I can't stop thinking, though, is how much my nieces would eat up this book because girls at this age equate sex with the ultimate romance and love. Maybe the reason we turn prudish is because we realize or remember that sex at this age is usually (though I will grant not always) about hormones and regret more than anything else. Plus, it's just icky--teenage boys? Blah.
Like you, I generally skip or graze over the sex in books while still enjoying the story (bad language too, for that matter), so it doesn't bother me too much. But what DOES bother me is when the sex is added in with no contribution to the plot. When it's totally unncessary, it frustrates me! (Like McGuire's Wicked - the show was WONDERFUL with NO sex in it, so why all the sex in the book?) But sadly, sex sells, so it's always there. And between teenagers? I agree with you, so don't think you're a prude!
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