This Week’s Topic: That Rubs Me the Wrong Way
Do you ever read a review, and you see a chief complaint that makes you roll your eyes? Do you ever feel what the person has issue with is something that is inherent to the type of book they are reading? Well, this is something I encounter more than I would like to, and it tends to rub me the wrong way.
Disclaimer: I read a LOT of YA. Therefore, the majority of the characters featured in the books I read are between the ages of 14 and 18, you know, high school aged. I have noticed, that authors tend to focus more on the older end of the age group, but I have been seeing some featuring characters in the 14 to 15 year age range. It seems like every time I read a review for a book featuring a younger teen protagonist, the adult reviewers tend to complain that the teen seems "too young".
Obviously, my first thought is - they are young. Compared to me, every one of these characters is young. However, my issue with this particular piece of criticism goes deeper. Granted, I would not expect any high school student to throw themselves on the floor and have a fit. I would judge them for spitting their food at their mother at the dinner table. I would dismiss them for stomping their feet and yelling, "Not fair!", should they be assigned a task, but things like this did not happen in the books I read, and I have to wonder how many people in that age range the reviewer interacts with.
I worked in a high school for twelve years, and taught students from all four grades. What I noticed was that, like most things, maturity is a spectrum. Every 16 year old does not act a certain way, nor does every 14 year old. Each one of these kids was shaped by their experiences. Some kids came from homes where they had a lot of responsibility or a sick parent or helped with a family business. While others just had to go to school, do their clubs, and maybe an after school job. If I compared them to each other, they would not necessarily be at the same maturity level regardless of their age, and that's ok.
My point is not all people are same, and I find the "immature" defense especially irritating, when I see it used as the only reason someone didn't like a book. I think I accept, that I will encounter characters, who are less mature than me when I read a YA book, and maybe readers should consider this before they pick up that book featuring younger teens, because
- Not all teens evolve at the same rate.
- YOU are not the intended audience.
Now it's your turn!
Is there anything you see in reviews that always tends to rub you the wrong way?
Let us know in the comments!
Let us know in the comments!
hahaha love this Sam! I've seen you make this same point in the past and still remember it because what you say makes total sense. I never call out a character for maturity level unless I think the character is acting like a 30 year old but is only 17. I think its more important to frame it from the POV of not relating to a character or finding them extremely annoying.
ReplyDeleteI saw this comment so many times in one week, I just couldn't contain my ire. It's more perplexing to me, that these people pick up a lower YA book expecting a 30 year old. I am thinking, the authors tap into their experiences from that age, and that the characters they build are not baseless. Who is to say, that their experience at that age is invalid? But, that's another things that gets me fired up. Say you don't relate, and that's fine. I read to learn about people different from me, and it's ok to not be able to relate to a character, but I wonder about expectations some readers have.
DeleteI'm not a fan of reviews that tell you nothing ie the one line 5 star review that says 'this book is amazing!' and it doesn't tell you what they liked or why they liked it, or the short 'I don't like this book coz it's rubbish' and nothing to explain why they feel that way! My pet hate is when a reviewer pretty much says that anyone who disagrees with their opinion on a book is dumb/lacking taste and intelligence etc, ie 'I can't believe people enjoyed this/gave it a good review' or 'this book is great, how can anyone not enjoy it'. I especially hate comments attached to my reviews that say something like 'you loved this book? Really? You must be related to the author.' as if they think I am a moron for liking it! or 'how can you hate this book? You obviously just don't get it.' Grrr!
ReplyDeleteYes. I have seen those reviews, the "gold standard" reviews, where if you enjoyed something, there is something wrong with you. In all fairness, at least with the books I read, some editor enjoyed the book I read enough to have it published, so I am not totally alone, right?
DeleteI dont read a lot of YA books but as a mother of 2 teenagers who couldn't be more different, I guess I see things different with maturity levels while reading YA books. I think one thing that bothers me while reading reviews is when all they do is nastily put down the book in every sentence and say that it is the worst book. My question is why did you finish the book if it was that bad for you? I recently read a book that had some bad reviews but I actually enjoyed it. And then there has been a couple that I didnt enjoy but other seem to love. Everyone has different taste.
ReplyDeleteSo much yes. I am always impressed that someone finished a book that made them that miserable. I, for one, refuse to push through something I am not enjoying. There has to be something positive, that drove me to finish the book, right? I am a black sheep on a lot of books, which is why I rarely let early reviews sway me, but if there are like 10,0000 reviews, and many are bad, I might stay away.
DeleteI agree 100%. Everyone is so different and when I pick up a book I want to read about someone different than I am. There is a wide range of experiences out there and that is what I want. I also don't care for book reviews that read more like a book report or give away spoilers.
ReplyDeleteThe book report reviews make me nuts. Sometimes, I encounter reviews, that make me feel like I no longer have to read the book, because they retold the entire story right there for me. I get that reviewing is not easy, but I expect more opinion than summary, you know?
DeleteI agree completely! I am 36, and I quite guarantee that I don't behave the same as every 36 year old out there so... why exactly should all 17 year olds behave the same? It's absurd! I also find that the more a character is like I was at 17 (quite naive, definitely a bit immature, not able to handle my emotions), the more complaints I see. Like- okay I was definitely not at the same level as my peers in certain respects, but that doesn't make it any less honest or realistic! And my goodness, I would have killed for one of those characters in a book when I was 17! It's such a disservice to young people to review with such nonsense bias! Great post!
ReplyDeleteI second what you said. I was hot mess at 17 (18, 19, etc). I remember, when I teaching, how I admired some of the kids, who were just so "together", because that was never me. I always wonder (worry?) what those people's expectations are for their own children too.
DeleteAs a high school teacher, its the immaturity and impulsivity of a character that makes a YA character believable to me! Teenagers are little sociopaths-there is a reason we cannot diagnose certain mental illness until a person is 21 or 25. Teens are all over the place-maturity wise, intelligence wise, socially, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think I would have a problem with the behavior IF the character didn't learn form it or grown by the end of the book, but that has never been the case when I read YA, and YES! What do you know, people are individuals and are unique.
DeleteGreat post, and great comments above!
ReplyDeleteI was out with my 15 year old last weekend, wearing my Hogwarts shirt, as one does, and the clerk at the Dollar Tree looked at it and said, "HE should be wearing that, not YOU!" and I just sort of spluttered in disbelief. So that kind of ticked me off--the notion that only "children" should be fans of kidlit. I also am getting more and more frustrated with the "graphic novels are dessert, but kids need the meat & potatoes of 'real' books more" line of thought. GRAPHIC NOVELS ARE REAL BOOKS. KIDS WHO LIKE THEM ARE FINE. BACK OFF.
This person on the Dollar Tree needs to stop "gatekeeping". I remember a student being flabbergasted, that I listened to a band he listened to, and all I was thinking was (1) the band was around before he was born (2) the people in the band were my age. Nobody owns anything. It's there for us all. And YES! Graphic novels are real books, audiobooks are real books, ebooks are real books. The way the story is delivered does not diminish that it is a story.
DeleteYou've hot the nail on the head with this one. I mean, I know I've been put off from a YA book because the MC or another character is immature but I'm not the target audience anymore and usually I say that for me that character didn't work but I'm sure for plenty of other people that character was spot on for being immature and making impulsive decisions because that's what teenagers do. You expect for teenagers to act like teenagers in books and I find it more frustrating to read a YA book where it feels like every character is acting like they're in their 20s and it's almost like the plot has been altered slightly to fit a high school setting for that coveted YA label. I want the teenage craziness because it's fun to read when I'm in the mood for it.
ReplyDeleteI have met teens, who are way more put together than I am, but more are still trying to figure themselves out and will be impulsive and rash and make mistakes, but it's important that they learn from them. If the author allows them to continue making misstep after misstep, I cannot forgive them. I get needing to be in the mood to read a certain kind of book. That's how I feel about adult novels. 😂
DeleteSo much yes, and I think another instance of this way of thinking is when reviewers call YA characters (especially female ones) "whiny". I get on fire when I see that word. I mean, some of them MAY be whiny on occasion, but I've read and liked books that other readers seem to hate because the main characters was "whiny", while I could totally understand where said character was coming from. They're TEENS, for goodness' sake. And by default, their stories are full of impossibly high stakes, angst and the likes...
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's easier to criticise teens for, well, being teens, than to get put off by their sounding like 20-something (or even 30-something) in a teen's body. But if you think about it, THAT is the real fault in a YA book - to make the character a spokesperson for your adult self.
"For me, it's almost like criticizing a contemporary romance for having too many love scenes."
😂
People are ruthless, when it comes to female characters, but that's a whole other ball of wax there, which is extremely frustrating, though, well acknowledged. But, John Green's teens have always been criticized for being too "adult". It seems many people have this idea of what a teen should be like in their head, and characters, who do not fit that mold, are not acceptable. I guess it comes down to expectations, but I think people should consider their choices and pet peeves, before reading a certain kind of book. I hate how politics is creeping on EVERYTHING. However, I am not shocked or upset to find it in a book, which states in its synopsis, that politics are involved. I went in knowing I could/would encounter such things, and I made an unspoken agreement, that I could not complain about it being part of the story.
DeleteI can only think of one time where I've had an issue with the maturity level of a character. I unfortunately can't even remember the book title at this point, but I do remember that the character was a senior in high school but was written in such a way that they sounded even younger than my son, who is only in 7th grade. I don't think of my son as a particularly mature 7th grader either so that particular instance just struck me as a little outside the bounds of 'everyone matures differently.' The more I read of the book though, the more I chalked it up to the fact that I just flat out didn't like the way the author wrote any of her characters.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that you're not allowed to not like a character, but I feel like there has to be more to it, then an adult thinking a teen was immature. At least, in your case, you didn't care for the way the author wrote any of the characters, and my issue with a character, who came off as immature, would only still be an issue, if the character had not grown over the course of the story.
DeleteI totally agree with you Sam! There is only one time where I complained about the YA character "acting like a spoiled brat" but I added that the author did indeed do a great job writing her. Just that it was not pleasant to read about. I also think that many times, as adults write young people, they make them sound more mature than the majority!
ReplyDeleteBeing a brat is not the same as being immature. I have read many characters (in adult books too), who came across as spoiled. And, you bring up another point. John Green's characters constantly get lambasted for sounding "too adult" or being too mature. Again, like everything else, it's a spectrum.
DeleteI agree that there's such a wide variety of maturity levels among teens. Heck, I think you could say that same for adults for that matter.
ReplyDeleteTruth, yet you don't see that comment too often for adult characters, though, I feel like I have encountered adults in books displaying questionable behavior.
DeleteI think that's part of the reason why I'm reading less YA lately, because I think I'm THAT reviewer that is constantly whining about how the teenagers don't sound like teenagers - usually not immature, but rather too mature and they sound like adults (basically, I'm annoying myself with my own reviews!). Although, I'm pretty far removed from my teenage years and maybe I just don't know how teens act these days.
ReplyDeleteThat's fine. If something bugs you in a book, don't read it. I actually appreciate that you recognize that in yourself, and make that choice. For instance, I am so over politics being everywhere. When it creeps into a book, that isn't about politics, I seethe. BUT, if I know the book is political, I accept its presence in the story, and if I choose to read the book despite the fact that it is there, that's on me.
DeleteThis is a really interesting topic. I was just reading a book set in senior year of high school that I thought read TOO OLD. That doesn't happen often.
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I have seen a lot of people lodge that complaint, and it's often pointed at John Green's character's. I would pose this same argument to them. Some kids are really well spoken and deep, and other aren't. It sort of applies to all people.
DeleteI've read a lot of reviewers complaining about the maturity of the characters (HS-level ones). Some books do depict HS students to be immature but then, being in high school hasn't been a far too long memory for me and I can say that it's normal. One's maturity just depends on their upbringing/background, I guess. That's what I've observed anyway.
ReplyDeleteI just wish though that the ones who still reads these books (where the leads are in HS) and still complain to find another book that suits their liking. Probably Adult/New Adult. Like please, don't limit yourself to one specific age-range if you're gonna keep on badmouthing it. There are TON of books out there waiting for you.
I ventured out of YA (except in the fantasy-genre sphere) but not because I couldn't handle the age. It's just I couldn't relate anymore so I went ahead and looked for books where the characters are close to my age. And it worked. I still read YA when I feel like it. I just hope these people do the same.
I think if you keep stumbling upon the same personal issue with a certain age range/genre, you should try something else. Maybe it's just you at the time, or maybe, like yourself, you can no longer relate. I think I reached a point in high school, when I thought I could not deal with the characters in YA at the time, but now I adore reading these stories, because they take me back to a different point in my life.
DeleteI've definitely read books where the MC skews younger or more immature than I personally prefer, and I might say that, but often I'll mention that the book would be perfect for the younger YA set---a group that I think needs more representation! My daughter prefers books that skew toward that younger maturity level, so I'm always thinking of her when I read those books. And, of course, I read MG, so I can't complain about maturity in those books! :-)
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
There is a difference between a younger MC not being your cup of tea, and saying the character is written young. I feel like YA authors tend toward the upper end of YA, because there are a lot of BIG changes, when you think about that age group, in terms of the end of HS approaching and college on the horizon. It's also important to have those books representing the earlier years of HS, because the transition form middle to high school is tough for some, and it's good for them to see that too. When you read MG, don't you notice that more focus on the older end as well? I think I embrace the younger characters, because we don't see enough of them as the stars of the story.
DeleteYes! This drives me crazy every time I see it! An adult reading YA who them proceeds to find fault with the teens acting like... well, basically, teens. How can your read a book *about* teenagers, written *for* teenagers, and then be annoyed when they *act* like teenagers? Like you mentioned, the adult reader is NOT the intended audience. And I think a lot of adults forget that fact when reading YA.
ReplyDeleteI think even some teens may find other teens immature, but I see it more from adult bloggers. The thing is, if that's an issue for you, maybe you shouldn't read YA.
DeleteYes, that truly can't be a complaint! They are young, and they are going to act young. You also have to be very careful as an adult complaining that teenagers or childhood make mistakes when the answer to the problem is obvious. Because while it is obvious to us, it might not be to them! And realistically, we get to see all the things at play but in real life our perception is more limited. So we are more likely to make mistakes when living out the life rather than reading about it. (If that makes sense).
ReplyDeleteI sort of think you need to be careful, when critiquing any representation to which you do not belong, but that's a whole other soapbox for me. I think I would only be frustrated with an immature protagonist, if they did not grow by the end of the book or if I didn't not understand why they behaved the way they did. TRUTH! It's a lot easier to judge a fictional character's choices, when we observe it from the outside. It's a lot more challenging, when we are in the hot seat.
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