Smells Like Teen Spirit (Only Not)

[redbrunja]

So I'm in the middle of Saving June, which I am actually enjoying, with one big caveat:

While law of averages demands that, somewhere in the united states, there is a group of politically active teenagers who are all rabidly passionate about seventies music.... it's completely unbelievable in a contemporary work of fiction. Completely. Sure, there are teens who are passionate about cultural appropriation and being allies and being aware of and fighting privilege... but they're talking about that on tumblr, not around a beach fire while someone melodically strums a guitar.

I got to the part where the main characters are just randomly going to go to a "kind of intense" anti-war demonstration and I'm just like:



I wish the author would have stuck to questioning the existence of god and meaning in the universe, or talked about the nihilism and apathy that (imho) is what my generation struggles with.

Also, I'm almost done with Gone, Girl, and goddamn, was that book a massive, massive disappointment. I feel so stupid that I believed all the people saying good things about this book. I feel so guilty that I infected qualapec and her mom with my excitement for that book. Mea culpa.

Comments

[qualapec.livejournal.com]

Damn! It's unfortunate Gone Girl was a let down. It's fine though, we're always looking for books. Trying a new one is kind of like kissing frogs sometimes.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Gone Girl was definitely a 'kissing a toad' situation.

(http://s190.beta.photobucket.com/user/redbrunja/media/youngtumblr_mamqzyvqrQ1rqml7ao1_500_zps1f14bd90.gif.html)

[summerstorm.livejournal.com]

Why did you dislike Gone Girl? I'm curious! I haven't read it yet but I'm honestly super wary of it because the person I've seen rave about it the most has, let's say, very different priorities from mine. (Sometimes our priorities overlap and Frankie Landau-Banks happens, but mostly they. Don't.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Because I hate both pov characters? I don't require my characters to be nice but I do need be able to root for them on some level and frankly, I want BOTH pov characters (who are working against each other) to lose terribly. Plus, this novel was billed as a suspense novel, and there is NO surprises. There is one mid book plot twist that I knew was going to happen fifty pages in.

[summerstorm.livejournal.com]

Yep, that is exactly what I expected and why I haven't got around to reading it yet and possibly never will, lol. (Well, not the lack of suspense, I'd be all right with that, but the characters don't sound like people I even remotely want to spend time with.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

They're not.

[beagleinspace.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one who fell for the Gone, Girl hype. I'm about halfway through it and I'm still hating both characters but I'm stubbornly working my way to the end just to see if my guesses are correct.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Have you finished? How did you guesses fare?

[beagleinspace.livejournal.com]

It is slow going as I'm still annoyed with both characters and apparently I wasn't in as far as I thought -- I'm reading it on a little Blackberry and the status bar says I'm halfway through, but I apparently only made it to part 2 (totally called the twist there) and I vaguely recall there being 3 parts to it.

[cross-rubicon.livejournal.com]

The worst book for me was Night Circus. I can't even.

I agree with the nihilism sentiment as being the main problem too. That--seriously is dead on.

[phemyscira.livejournal.com]

Completely. Sure, there are teens who are passionate about cultural appropriation and being allies and being aware of and fighting privilege... but they're talking about that on tumblr, not around a beach fire while someone melodically strums a guitar.

I'll die if someone writes a novel about teens on tumblr discussing and talking about privilege. It'd be nice for the media to acknowledge that that portion of their fanbase does exist.