The Problem w/ YA books

Submitted by Ectoplasmic-fungi t3_122x7re in books

Recently I have found brilliant books with similar premises that irk my senses. These are three questions/ mild rants.

  1. Why do most YA books contain romantic relationships when the protagonist(s) are/is a teenager or young adult?

  2. Sticking with romance, the books I am referencing ( Illuminae trilogy by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff) all have very staked together relationships with their respective partner. It brings a rigid struggle to find ways to like their relationship.

3)The climax is rushed to mere minutes, which yes, brings anticipation and adrenaline, but it seems like a running theme for the climax to end just in the nick of time. It makes you wonder if everything leading to it was worth it.

Lastly, if this is an unoriginal post- it probably is-, what concerns do you have about YA or Young Adult novels?

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LoreHunting t1_jds6sm5 wrote

I’m sorry, are you asking why a YA book contains a romantic relationship between two YA characters?

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Born_Tackle_9933 t1_jds7mxn wrote

Are YA books not allowed to have romance in them? I’m confused

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Y_Brennan t1_jdsarrb wrote

I'd say it's the opposite if there isn't a tacked on romance it can't be young adult.

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lucia-pacciola t1_jdvan9t wrote

In hindsight, I feel like most real-world young adult romances are tacked on, even though all the ones I was involved in seemed incredibly central to my life story at the time.

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Hopeful-Exercise-546 t1_jdsal1v wrote

You know teenagers have romantic rationships right? Why was this your first issue? Is it because they are fade to black?

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Ireallyamthisshallow t1_jds9n1e wrote

>1) Why do most YA books contain romantic relationships when the protagonist(s) are/is a teenager or young adult?

With no disrespect intended, you have been a teenager in school right?

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Ectoplasmic-fungi OP t1_jdsbm3s wrote

Yes I have been. Perhaps it was only my experience, but I didn’t have real romantic relationships ‘till I became an adult.

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Raindrops_On-Roses t1_jdsbxos wrote

I had a two year relationship in high school. A lot of people have relationships in high school. Is it the same as an adult relationship? No, but they do happen, and it feels intense and real at the time.

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Ireallyamthisshallow t1_jdsc6jl wrote

I get that not everyone does, but you must have noticed all the ones going on around you - maybe with friends, but certainly throughout the school as a whole ?

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Ectoplasmic-fungi OP t1_jdsd9ag wrote

Thank you for your opinions, first off. My real problem with teen relationships is that in books, mostly fiction, the couple are in horrible circumstances and they fight together against all odds. It feels like they make the relationship the most important to the plot and not the story. It also gives them an adult perspective which most teens don’t have.

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Ireallyamthisshallow t1_jdsetyn wrote

Most teens might not, but you're not looking at stories about Bob and Brenda going to school with each other every day where their biggest obstacle is getting their homework done on time. You have the example of Illuminae - a massive futuristic space opera - and the suspension of disbelief ends at being too mature for the type of relationship you'd really attribute to a teenager in a 2023 school ?

It's also worth remembering who these books are aimed at. When you're at age, relationships often do feel central to your life. If you're going through a horrible circumstance, the one good thing in your life often is the most important. I think that works on a relatability that you move past as you age.

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hyperdream t1_jdsdso2 wrote

Regardless of whether someone has one or not, negotiating the ins and outs of romantic relationships are huge part of being a teen. It's one of the last great unknowns for kids, so they tend to obsess over them and that obsession helps sell books.

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Nithuir t1_jds8gl9 wrote

If you don't like those books read different books.

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Handyandy58 t1_jdsmjvl wrote

If I found there were a category of books which seemed to never be enjoyable for me, I would simply avoid reading books in that category.

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gentasearchgates t1_jdt2phr wrote

I get that YA can be comforting to some readers who are older than its target audience, but I really struggle to understand the appeal, especially when there are semi regular posts from presumably older people complaining they don't find it relatable.

Might be time to pick up something written for adults?

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rowan_damisch t1_jdsh0ai wrote

>Why do most YA books contain romantic relationships when the protagonist(s) are/is a teenager or young adult?

Considering that many people have their first romantic adventures during or shortly after puberty, I'm honestly not surprised that YA books try to tackle such things.

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PartyPorpoise t1_jdtfxgh wrote

You know that real teenagers often get into romantic relationships, right?

Now, I CAN understand the complaint that the YA market as a whole has too much focus on romance. As much as people tout YA for its diversity, it's actually a pretty limited category in terms of stories and plots. I actually have a whole rant on how American media does a poor job of catering to teenagers, ha ha. But that's a problem with the market as a whole, it's not a problem with individual books. There's nothing inherently wrong with a teen romance story.

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philosophyofblonde t1_jdtwlg2 wrote

  1. Shockingly, teenagers are interested in boning. See: high school.
  2. "staked together?" I wish I knew what this question means. I have no idea. I dunno man some people totally marry their high school sweethearts so....
  3. Welcome to: the resolution of the plot is beside the point. The point is the romance/betrayal/friendship-fest/coming-of-age/whatever
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bluesam3 t1_jdsjib5 wrote

  1. Because most teenagers and young adults are involved in romantic relationships at some point in that period, and also are interested in reading about them.
  2. Because it's easy to write.
  3. You've written exactly the reason.
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[deleted] t1_jdta2zp wrote

As a fellow not-fan of YA, here are my two cents:

  1. Simply, because of the target demographic. The major consumers of YA tend to be teenage girls who are either experiencing their first romance or are curious about it. YA novels provide an outlet for this, and there’s nothing wrong with that when done well. When it is not done well is another story, but again, nothing wrong with it in principal. Teenagers are going through puberty, they are curious, and literature is a perfectly acceptable place to go looking for answers (better a YA book than a porno).

  2. If by “staked” you mean the characters are inseparable and their personalities disintegrate, then yes, it makes the relationship and characters unlikeable. IMO, a healthy relationship is one in which two (or more) people come together because of mutual interests and chemistry, but do not lose their identity in the process. An example of the inverse of this would be something like the relationship in “The Owl House”; the relationship between two of the characters is insufferable to me because it seems that they are only defined by that anymore now. A lot more to say about this, but I am not trying to write a master’s thesis.

  3. To be fair, this is an issue of bad editing rather than the YA genre. Lots of authors write themselves into a corner, say “oh shit” once they realize it, then have to deus ex machina their way to a satisfying conclusion. This often leads to rather abrupt and anticlimactic endings which, as you perfectly said, makes you wonder if everything leading to it was worth it. Another example worth giving is the final season of “She Ra: The Prinesses of Power”, which is a show I like very much, but completely flopped in the last season for this very reason. The actual conflict of the season felt rushed, unexplained, then suddenly there was a big battle and the day was saved; that’s not an issue of the show being targeted towards younger folks, that’s an issue of bad writing.

With regards to your last question, my main concern with YA is that I am too old for it. I loved “The Hunger Games” when I was a teenager, but I am a teenager no longer. I rarely find relationships in YA books healthy, there is either too much or too little worldbuilding, and the stories become ridiculously convoulated when the first book inevitably turns into a multi book series where each new entry is longer than the previous one and it seems like it’s going nowhere and suddenly it just ends.

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twenty-six-sixty-six t1_jdtmshq wrote

they're for juveniles and I'm not a juvenile so i don't read them

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CrazyCatLady108 t1_jds9kev wrote

is this the issue with YA books in general or the Illuminae trillogy specifically?

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Ectoplasmic-fungi OP t1_jdsb74l wrote

It is most present in the Illuminae trilogy, but I have found the same problems with other space fiction YA books. There are some that do it well. For example: The Monsters of Men trilogy by Patrick Ness.

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CrazyCatLady108 t1_jdshlhl wrote

i think you are using a single example to cast judgment on a whole genre, with is not really fair. while YA does have a lot of romance, this is the case of 'all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares'.

your romance example is also not limited to YA, or space fiction. i am currently reading a fantasy adult novel and the number of times i have rolled my eyes over the romance relationships are giving me eyestrain.

so i think if you were to re-frame the discussion as more of 'this is a trope i do not like in a genre i otherwise enjoy' you would get more interaction. rather than the 'don't like it, don't read it' reaction.

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Beyond_Reason09 t1_jdt73pq wrote

  1. because it sells. Romance is the most popular fiction genre by far.

  2. because it's simple for the plot.

  3. because it's simple for the plot.

Concerns about YA? None really, it's not my genre. I'm more interested in children's literature because at least there's a possibility I'll have to read those to kids.

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WTFwhatthehell t1_jdver72 wrote

Re:1

Young adult stories contain romance because that's one of the most impactful parts of most teenagers experience of growing up.

First love, first kiss, the emotional impact etc.

The relationships are often unhealthy but that's partly being true to life because everyone involved is learning how to have such relationships as they go along.

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Holodoxa t1_je6mxd4 wrote

YA is a learning genre. The growth and competition in the YA space should be concerning to lit culture minded folk because this is on the back of adult readers not young readers. Adults should be reading better literature.

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chortlingabacus t1_jdsn4s2 wrote

Would you lot please take a deep breath & count to 10 before downvoting OP's posts just because her/his years as a teenager weren't exactly like your own?

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crixx93 t1_jds8y5f wrote

YA is cheap entertainment. The authors aren't that skilled, the editors don't care that much and the audience just wants to not be bored

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