Fore-note: I'm never sure whether to call this genre young adult or contemporary so I switched it up now and then, used both. If I'm wrong or need correcting, please do let me know! I know some people can be opposed to the use of contemporary to describe these books.
I'm a reader whose literary interest is split directly between contemporary and fantasy young adult fiction. I don't read any other genre; I've found my comfort there, I've found my enjoyment. But whilst fantasy is all good and magical and world-building, there is realism in contemporary that's also incredibly magical. In fantasy, because of the genre, I think some protagonists are hard to relate to, they're made more like gods than humans. Key word: some. I've reviewed plenty of fantasy books where there are comparable characters.
But then in swoops contemporary. And as a reader, I need contemporary. I need to read books like ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES and WING JONES and BEAUTIFUL BROKEN THINGS. (And YOU need to as well, hence the capital format for the titles.) I need the characters in these stories because they're real, they're broken, they're happy and sad. Contemporary books are usually the ones that end up breaking my heart the most but that's because I can see elements of myself and my life in them.
Sara Barnard's Beautiful Broken Things was a book that touched me incredibly deep. I tried to convey as much to her in a very fumbling, awkward way when I met her earlier this year. 2016 was a year for me where there was this friend. At the start of last year, I let myself get incredibly close to her; she was almost like another big sister for me and I don't know why I let myself get that close to someone. It took me a long time to realise how deeply her words and "light comments" about me or my interests or choices affected me enough to be bringing down my self-confidence inch by inch. But at the same time, I thought she was lifting me up, I thought she was incredible and strong for all she'd gone through and still smiled, so I let everything bypass. I thought I ought to constantly thank her for trying to strengthen me when I felt weak. When I read Beautiful Broken Things, I saw a lot of that friend in Suzanne. A girl with a past, a girl with a constant pretense on to seem happy but had something a lot deeper and sadder beneath the surface when she trusted someone enough. I was the one who got my friend's baggage, as she actually once told me, and I feel like Caddy also got that from Suzanne. It seemed like they had something a lot stronger than a mere friendship; Caddy seemed to idolise Suzanne because of her confidence, her spontaneity and encouragement for Caddy to be more than she felt. For me, it was a very relatable book. And I needed to read that book and I didn't know just how much until I'd finished it. Some parts made me laugh: I imagined standing up for myself and so many times, I nearly did. But in reality, I didn't want to break some perfect image I thought I had in this friendship. Some parts, I felt like I was reading about me and my friend and that made me cry, quite a lot. Beautiful Broken Things was an empowering, insightful book that I had the pleasure of reading.
I'd never quite found that sort of ability to relate in any other book before. But with each contemporary book I read, there's an issue in there that I've either felt or known someone who's felt it. And I feel like there's advice in those books to help with any friend struggling with these sorts of feelings. There's a lot in the world that I don't understand or have yet to learn but contemporary opens people's eyes to mental health, to real-life teenage world, to the nastiness or power of high school, to first loves and heartbreaks.
And it's not all sad. Sometimes, it's the breathless feeling of reading about Wing Jones finding her own potential, or realising that Theodore Finch always held his own power in his hands even if he felt it was slippery, or reading the journey that Caddy went on to realise that she didn't need that Something to happen; that she was enough and that things take time. It's getting to share Eleanor and Park's first love story and knowing that nothing is ever perfect and struggles happen but something good and wonderful always comes from it. There's always some massive realisation of self-worth in young adult books and that's why I need them, why I think they need to keep being written and flourishing in the literary world.
I find contemporary books inspiring, above anything else. My wall is full of notes and scraps of paper because I read about Finch doing that and I realised that I wanted everything I write on them in front of me, like him. Sometimes, there's even forgiveness in contemporary young adult books. Night Owls by Jenn Bennett raised a particular subject within family relations that I had taken similar action to in my on life and had never quite forgiven myself for. But Night Owls helped me come to terms with those choices, it helped me forgive myself as I needed to.
The likes of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, I think, inspires fanfiction writers and readers to embrace what they love and that there are many more people out there who will like it. Cath was obsessed with Simon and Baz, and she made friends and a boyfriend from that love. And she was proud of it; she got to read her fanfiction to her boyfriend, who enjoyed listening to her and loved her even more for it. I think a lot of fanfiction has a stigma against it that it's silly or not-serious and that's untrue. Whilst I don't personally write fanfiction anymore because I no longer feel able to carry on with characters that aren't my own, it's been the start of writing for many writers. I've read about so many authors who started out writing or reading fanfiction and they became inspired for their original stories from it. That's Cath. That's set an example in Fangirl and I think Rainbow Rowell sends out a great message through her book. It's an important part of the literary world, so much that some authors have hosted fanfiction competitions to encourage writers by that method.
I've read wonderful and devastating and heart-breaking in these books. But the thing about it is that it can build you back up again with a paragraph. It's not so complex that you forget the worse parts for the better; contemporary makes everything important, in one story, so that you remember all of it.
Contemporary is needed, and especially in an age where mental health is becoming so much important to see and made aware of. Young adult books aren't just an escape anymore; they're answers and help for those who don't know how to find it otherwise. There are helplines and personal, shared stories in the back of these books for those who need it. And another thing: contemporary books don't glamorize mental health. The authors make it real and raw and as insufferable and uncomfortable as it is. They show how much toxic relationships and friendships and past can weigh on someone's mentality and they show the recovery--or are not afraid to show the worse endings to untreated mental health. They show journeys of first sexual experiences or the male protagonist realising that he likes boys. Books like Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and I'll Give You the Sun show the fear and denial and hesitation of coming to terms with sexuality and then showing the happiness in their lives once they can accept and embrace the love they feel. Noah's and Brian's story touched me deeply in IGYTS because of how torn and happy Noah was, when he grew up to realise that his feelings for Brian went a lot deeper than childhood fun. Ari was protective of Dante's acceptance of liking boys and liking him and it took him a long time to know that he shouldn't be scared of ashamed of loving Dante back as he did.
In the world, LGBT and POC are topics often skimmed over, ignored, but young adult books are incredibly diverse and they raise the issues and things otherwise overlooked by everyone. They're needed for those who seek them or want to learn more about other cultures. For me, reading THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR was a history lesson as well as reading enjoyment. It explores the diversity and culture of the two protagonists, massively and widely explaining their backgrounds as well as their families' stories.
Young adult... it bases around topics like mental health, sexuality, diversity and real life situations and emotions. It faces it head-on rather than leaves it as a side-plot. These writers are brave; they're not afraid to write about these things and make them as raw as they actually are. And that's why they're important, why they're needed, why most young adults would be lost without these stories.
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