Tag Archives: teens

POINTE, CLAW – a rallying cry

Reviews, , ,

This week Novel Novice, one of my favorite book blogs, posted a really great review of POINTE, CLAW. It’s the kind of review that makes me blush a little but also fist-pump the air because when a reader really gets what you are trying to do as a writer, it feels like victory!

Here’s the whole thing:

A cutting look at the many ways teen girls’ bodies and lives are viewed as objects, Pointe, Claw by Amber J. Keyser is the rallying cry for young women everywhere to stand up and own their voices, their bodies, and their selves.

Steeped in a subtle, barely-there magic realism, Pointe, Claw is at times surreal, at times jarring, but always poignant and relevant. Keyser has written a bold and unforgiving look at the lives of teen girls today, told through the dual narratives of Jessie and Dawn. Connected by a childhood friendship, their stories are both starkly different and eerily similar.

A book that feels more important now than ever before, Pointe, Claw forces the reader to face the reality of life as a young woman today and consider the unique challenges and expectations they/we face on a regular basis. So regular, in fact, that we often forget to question it. Dawn and Jessie forget to question it.

Until they do question it.

Until they break free and start pushing for something more. Pointe, Claw follows these girls on a journey to self awareness, acceptance, strength, and freedom. We see what can happen through the power of grace and self-ownership. It’s only through letting go that these characters can move forward, and it’s a powerful, startling thing to witness.

With barely-there touches of magic realism and superbly wrought prose, Keyser invokes a powerful and unforgiving set of emotions. Regardless of how you feel after reading this book, it will make you feel. And isn’t that the sign of a truly remarkable book?

You Do NOT Have To Save the World

Antics, Events, My Reads, Writing, , ,

On VivaScriva.com, a blog about critique and the writing process, I recently blogged about using Publisher’s Marketplace to get a handle on what kinds of manuscripts are and are not selling in today’s YA market.  (Get the nitty gritty details here.)  These patterns are still dominating my thoughts.

Even as the number of titles featuring zombies, dystopias, ghosts, murders, etc have surged, peaked, and ebbed, I’ve notice one thing that doesn’t seem to be changing.  There are a whole lot of main characters who have to, at least according to the log line, SAVE THE FREAKING WORLD.  Think Bruce Willis plus asteroids for the YA set.   Confession: I’ve written log lines like this for my own book.  (Hangs head in shame.  Plans to revise.)

As a fan, I love epic fantasy, but as a reader and writer, I’m captivated by fully-fleshed, step-off-the-page-real characters.  Hence my love for THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green and CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein.  The characters in these books are heroic.  They are heroic because they live richly and die bravely.  They don’t have to save the world.

Real teens live many lives–protected and dangerous, religious and not, lonely and social, quiet and loud, painful and triumphant–but very few of them have to single-handedly deflect an astroid from hitting Earth and thus save all humankind.  They just don’t.

They often have to survive terrible things and books can buoy them up.  (If you weren’t immersed in the loud and raucous #YAsaves conversation last year, this link will get you up to speed.)  They also like to have fun (one of the reasons I often prefer spending time with teens rather than adults).  Fun in real life and fun in reading.

Last night I attended to book launch for POISON, the debut YA novel by the late Bridget Zinn.  The tag line reads “Can she save the kingdom with a piglet?”  That’s right!  WITH A PIGLET!  What follows is about as far from the doom-and-gloom of the recent rush of teens-killing-teens as you can get.  Think THE PRINCESS BRIDE–good, silly fun.

It’s a good reminder in these dark days of YA that we can write stories about characters who don’t have to save the world.  All they–and we–have to do is create authentic lives, whatever that may look like.  And like Bridget, we should try to leave something good behind.

My heros (and genuinely FUN adults): the YA literati of Portland launching Bridget’s book with cupcakes and good cheer