I've been having a difficult time deciding what to write about, and once I finally hit upon the right topic I found myself staring at a screen filled with a shamefully bad Reviewer Prose. If you haven't heard of that, I'll just say it's what tends to happen when a writer tries too hard to sound detached and professional in their critique of something, and in my experience it generally happens to people who don't know how to write a balance review while still retaining their unique voice or who are incredibly pretentious.
It was easy to fall into that trap while trying to write about Madeleine George's The Difference Between You and Me, primarily because this book was absolutely fucking awful from the first line to the last. Laurie Halse Anderson called it "achingly honest and empowering", and since she wrote Speak, a book which had a rather profound effect on me a few years ago, which not even Kristen Stewart and the Lifetime channel can take away, I decided that between the Anderson seal of approval and a review praising its wit and sexiness (possibly the Holy Grail of lesbian YA fiction) I would put in an InterLibrary Loan request for it. What could it hurt?
Actually, making it all the way through this book was excruciatingly painful, though I managed to do so in under two hours. I suppose that means it wasn't so bad, but then again there was once a time when I could read 600 pages in one evening, so getting through a poorly written YA novel with short pages and medium-sized text in a few hours isn't impressive. I think it would have been better if my expectations for this book had been lower, and really after reading as much lesbian YA fiction (not to mention lesbian fiction in general) as I have, I should have known better than to trust the Anderson endorsement.
There are a few things that just about every lesbian novel, YA or otherwise, has, and I could do an entire post just about that, so I'm only going to briefly discuss them. One thing that generally happens is it's made clear quite quickly whether or not the book is a Lesbian Novel or just a Novel. When it's a Lesbian Novel it usually focuses on coming out and Lesbian Issues and how to accept your Lesbian Identity. If it's just a Novel, then it's usually not a coming out story and the Lesbian Issues are either kept to a minimum or are presented as just Issues We Can All Relate To--because, you know, the author wants to sell books to the heterosexual crowd as well.
The Difference Between You and Me wants to be both, and it ends up being neither. Jesse, the Randy Dean of this story, though she's not nearly as believable or likable as Randy, is completely okay with her Lesbian Identity, and she has been ever since she came out to her hippie parents at 14. Now, I've reached a point in my life where I don't care if I ever read or see another coming out story again. It's a process I can still relate to, and in some ways you never stop coming out, but I really just want to read and see stories about characters who just happen to be lesbians. You know, the way the heterosexual crowd gets to do. The fact that this wasn't a coming out story worked in its favor at first, but it quickly became clear George wasn't going to bother exploring any of the obvious issues raised by Jesse's secret affair with Emily, who is not a stand-in for Evie, but rather for Reese Witherspoon's slightly psychotic character in Election, and instead she spends the entire novel unsubtly sending a message about Wal-Mart and other mega-corproations. Emily is so goddamn perky she may as well be in an acne cream commercial. Her perkiness even extends to a complete embrace of Corporate America, which Jessee and Esther, (yeah, there's a third main character, and she even gets to narrate a few chapters), the hollowest teen hippies ever, are not happy about when it means corporate sponsored school activities. The thing is, though, Emily could have been a fascinating character. Beneath her obvious obsessive-compulsive tendencies and perfectionism there may have been a stifled girl trying desperately to retain some grip on herself and her world. She all but admits she isn't attracted to her boyfriend, and it's Jesse she's really attracted to, even saying they have a cosmic connection. That's a little hyperbolic for a couple who spend the majority of their time making out in an empty bathroom and avoiding conversation, but that just shows how underdeveloped Emily is. She's nothing but a symbol of all the bright, well-meaning people who get duped by Corporate America, while Jesse and Esther symbolize the fight against corporate oppression.
I would be fine with a YA novel about corporate issues and the perils of letting corporations take over schools. Daria explored that issue rather well in the episode "Fizz Ed" when Ms. Li accepts a contract from a soda company to solve Lawndale High's financial problems. It worked because the show didn't take itself too seriously, and we know Daria as a character well enough to expect her dire predictions to come true and be amused by just how batshit things go by the end. We're in on the joke with Daria, whereas with Jesse and Esther, we're just being preached to. It doesn't matter whether or not I agree with them because the characters are such hollow, underdeveloped stereotypes. Furthermore, George doesn't just reduce the issues raised in the book to their simplest forms, you know, making them easy for a teenager of average intelligence to grasp, she reduces them to an annoying Us vs. Them scenario in which anyone who sees the value of a corporation existing is shallow, homophobic, and hypocritical while anyone who wants to take down corporations is true to themselves, has the greater good in mind, and are unsung heroes. I'm not saying I think Wal-Mart should take over the Earth (more than they already have) or don't prefer small businesses to corporations. I'm just saying the way George handles these issues does not make for an interesting or compelling book. She does not know how to blend issues into her fiction, and it shows.
It was easy to fall into that trap while trying to write about Madeleine George's The Difference Between You and Me, primarily because this book was absolutely fucking awful from the first line to the last. Laurie Halse Anderson called it "achingly honest and empowering", and since she wrote Speak, a book which had a rather profound effect on me a few years ago, which not even Kristen Stewart and the Lifetime channel can take away, I decided that between the Anderson seal of approval and a review praising its wit and sexiness (possibly the Holy Grail of lesbian YA fiction) I would put in an InterLibrary Loan request for it. What could it hurt?
Actually, making it all the way through this book was excruciatingly painful, though I managed to do so in under two hours. I suppose that means it wasn't so bad, but then again there was once a time when I could read 600 pages in one evening, so getting through a poorly written YA novel with short pages and medium-sized text in a few hours isn't impressive. I think it would have been better if my expectations for this book had been lower, and really after reading as much lesbian YA fiction (not to mention lesbian fiction in general) as I have, I should have known better than to trust the Anderson endorsement.
There are a few things that just about every lesbian novel, YA or otherwise, has, and I could do an entire post just about that, so I'm only going to briefly discuss them. One thing that generally happens is it's made clear quite quickly whether or not the book is a Lesbian Novel or just a Novel. When it's a Lesbian Novel it usually focuses on coming out and Lesbian Issues and how to accept your Lesbian Identity. If it's just a Novel, then it's usually not a coming out story and the Lesbian Issues are either kept to a minimum or are presented as just Issues We Can All Relate To--because, you know, the author wants to sell books to the heterosexual crowd as well.
The Difference Between You and Me wants to be both, and it ends up being neither. Jesse, the Randy Dean of this story, though she's not nearly as believable or likable as Randy, is completely okay with her Lesbian Identity, and she has been ever since she came out to her hippie parents at 14. Now, I've reached a point in my life where I don't care if I ever read or see another coming out story again. It's a process I can still relate to, and in some ways you never stop coming out, but I really just want to read and see stories about characters who just happen to be lesbians. You know, the way the heterosexual crowd gets to do. The fact that this wasn't a coming out story worked in its favor at first, but it quickly became clear George wasn't going to bother exploring any of the obvious issues raised by Jesse's secret affair with Emily, who is not a stand-in for Evie, but rather for Reese Witherspoon's slightly psychotic character in Election, and instead she spends the entire novel unsubtly sending a message about Wal-Mart and other mega-corproations. Emily is so goddamn perky she may as well be in an acne cream commercial. Her perkiness even extends to a complete embrace of Corporate America, which Jessee and Esther, (yeah, there's a third main character, and she even gets to narrate a few chapters), the hollowest teen hippies ever, are not happy about when it means corporate sponsored school activities. The thing is, though, Emily could have been a fascinating character. Beneath her obvious obsessive-compulsive tendencies and perfectionism there may have been a stifled girl trying desperately to retain some grip on herself and her world. She all but admits she isn't attracted to her boyfriend, and it's Jesse she's really attracted to, even saying they have a cosmic connection. That's a little hyperbolic for a couple who spend the majority of their time making out in an empty bathroom and avoiding conversation, but that just shows how underdeveloped Emily is. She's nothing but a symbol of all the bright, well-meaning people who get duped by Corporate America, while Jesse and Esther symbolize the fight against corporate oppression.
I would be fine with a YA novel about corporate issues and the perils of letting corporations take over schools. Daria explored that issue rather well in the episode "Fizz Ed" when Ms. Li accepts a contract from a soda company to solve Lawndale High's financial problems. It worked because the show didn't take itself too seriously, and we know Daria as a character well enough to expect her dire predictions to come true and be amused by just how batshit things go by the end. We're in on the joke with Daria, whereas with Jesse and Esther, we're just being preached to. It doesn't matter whether or not I agree with them because the characters are such hollow, underdeveloped stereotypes. Furthermore, George doesn't just reduce the issues raised in the book to their simplest forms, you know, making them easy for a teenager of average intelligence to grasp, she reduces them to an annoying Us vs. Them scenario in which anyone who sees the value of a corporation existing is shallow, homophobic, and hypocritical while anyone who wants to take down corporations is true to themselves, has the greater good in mind, and are unsung heroes. I'm not saying I think Wal-Mart should take over the Earth (more than they already have) or don't prefer small businesses to corporations. I'm just saying the way George handles these issues does not make for an interesting or compelling book. She does not know how to blend issues into her fiction, and it shows.
