Where has the laughter gone?
- Published on Tuesday, 10 July 2012 11:45
- Erin
- 3 Comments
Sharon Rawlins over at the YALSA Hub wrote yesterday about how YA books are getting less and less funny. And it’s true: the last YA book I remember making me laugh is The Fault in Our Stars, and it also made me cry.
I am definitely struggling at the moment to think of anything that really made me laugh. I can remember all the books that made me cry:
- The Book Thief
- The Fault in Our Stars
- Bitterblue
- Delirium
- Born Wicked, etc.
Not that I’ve been feeling the lack of humor though. There is definitely something about being a teenager that lends itself to the dark drama. Take a look at the popular YA titles such as Crank and Speak. Those books are so far from funny they’re not on the same bookshelf as the funny books.
Strangely enough, as I was writing this a customer at Powell’s came up to buy a copy of Good Omens, which is perhaps one of the funniest books I’ve ever read (and Sharon also mentioned Terry Pratchett). The adult world is full of doom and gloom books too, but they’ve got their fair share of the funny.
Maybe this will be the next big YA trend: books that make you laugh without also making you cry.
I had this really interesting moment with a customer at work where a mother said the same thing to me. She claimed that YA books were so dark now she didn't want her daughter reading them. The claimed the subject matter didn't reflect how she felt at the age NOR did it reflect how her daughter felt at 16. I wanted to slap her a little bit. Yes, some YA is very dark, but it has moments of humor. That to me reflects what it is like to be a teenager. It can be really hard at times but it's not all bad. I recommended The Fault in Our Stars to her and also some Sarah Dessen books. Mostly I just wanted to ask her if she had really spoken to her daughter about what she likes to read, rather than just assuming she is a clone of her mother at 16. Ah, the joys of working at a bookstore.
You should have recommended George Carlin's Brain Droppings – in the humor section.
I think she would have recommended I be fired. She did not look like a George Carlin fan. Which makes her a communist.