The topic this week is ‘Gritty and Edgy YA Realistic
Fiction’. This topic is a particularly
contentious one. Some like Meghan Cox
Gurdon believe that such fiction should be censored. She sees it as depraved, brutal and hideously
distorted portrayals of real life that encourage YAs to succumb to ‘turn to the
dark side’ (or slip deeper into it). In
other words, the cutter will be encouraged to try new ways of cutting, criminals
will be encouraged to try new crimes since or the reader will be encouraged to
try these behaviors for the first time.
Others, like Jennifer McDaniel and Chris Crutcher, believe that dark and
edgy YA fiction actually has a therapeutic effect and provides a safe way to
experience new ideas without having to try them out in person. The latter are the ones I most closely align
myself with. I can see, for example, a
YA caught in a spiral of bad decisions taking a hard look at themself after
reading about Kyle in You or deciding
that killing themself is not such a good idea after reading The Last Summer of the Death Warriors.
YOU
The story of Kyle Chase could be the story of many teens in
the real world. He was a model student,
never questioned authority, participated in criminal actions and had good
friends who cared about him and shared his interests. Then one day he decides that school has no
value that everything he has been doing is pointless and just drifting along
doing his own thing with little regard for others is the best course of
action. He drops his former friends and
hangs out with other troublemakers and rebels – or ‘Hoodies’ as they are called
at his school. Bad choice follows bad
choice as he stops doing schoolwork all together, punches out glass windows,
breaks into school at night, associates with a psychotic manipulator and other
decisions that leave his life spiraling further out of control. A spiral that, if not corrected, can only end
badly.
I think that Benoit did an excellent job here of
highlighting one particularly pressing issue in any YAs life: identity. Kyle decides to give up his (though he
doesn’t seem to consider it quite that way) and as a result drifts through life
almost like a ghost. Enter Zack McDade,
a slightly disturbed teen who uses his wit and overwhelming personality to
manipulate those he meets. Zack turns
Kyle away from his aimless drifting and down a dark and dangerous path seeing
Kyle as a blank slate that he can write upon at will. He has no problem finding the chinks in
Kyle’s armor including the beautiful Ashley, Kyle’s late blooming desire to
turn his life around and Kyle’s desire for revenge.
I also found the writing style used to be very
refreshing. Normally such books use a
third person or first person point of view but Benoit decided to give his main
protagonist/narrator a second person point of view. This made it easier for me (and I’m assuming
any YA reading this book) to project myself into Kyle’s shoes. Every time Kyle spoke or took an action it
was ‘you’ that acted. All in all, this
book should encourage any YA reading it to consider the consequences of their
actions and how decisions build upon each other. After all, if a decision to not care anymore
can lead Kyle to the bad situation he found himself in it could do the same for
you.
