books by the recently deceased
Jan. 15th, 2014 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psocopteraSo I was all set to write a mildly scathing review of Ned Vizzini's The Other Normals ("the clever bits get buried under the obnoxiousness") and then discovered in the process of looking something up about it that Vizzini committed suicide in December. Which on the one hand does not actually change the quality of his book, and on the other hand, speaking ill of the dead, cultural taboo, etc. And he had a two-year-old, which, I mean, any suicide is tragic but that just breaks my heart.
(Still, for the record, this is one of the worst things I've read in a YA book in awhile:
"Can I kiss you? Before we try to get out of here. Just in case."
"What?"
"Like, what if we get caught? I've never kissed a girl. I don't want to die without doing it. I - "
"No, you can't kiss me, Peregrine. Anna's the one you need to kiss. Didn't anybody ever explain to you that you shouldn't ask to kiss girls?"
"No. I thought it would - "
"If you want to kiss someone, you just have to do it."
"Right. Okay."
I pucker my lips and lean forward. Ada pulls aside. "Not me, Peregrine!"
No no no ugh ugh no no. Okay, "girls" not being a monolithic entity, there probably are some girls who like the lunging-lips thing, everybody gets their preference. I like "can I kiss you". I like it in romance novels, I like it in real life... yeah.)
(Still, for the record, this is one of the worst things I've read in a YA book in awhile:
"Can I kiss you? Before we try to get out of here. Just in case."
"What?"
"Like, what if we get caught? I've never kissed a girl. I don't want to die without doing it. I - "
"No, you can't kiss me, Peregrine. Anna's the one you need to kiss. Didn't anybody ever explain to you that you shouldn't ask to kiss girls?"
"No. I thought it would - "
"If you want to kiss someone, you just have to do it."
"Right. Okay."
I pucker my lips and lean forward. Ada pulls aside. "Not me, Peregrine!"
No no no ugh ugh no no. Okay, "girls" not being a monolithic entity, there probably are some girls who like the lunging-lips thing, everybody gets their preference. I like "can I kiss you". I like it in romance novels, I like it in real life... yeah.)
