Winger

“Joey told me nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was, that things expand and contract- like breathing, but you could never fill your lungs up with the same air twice.”

Winger
by Andrew Smith
439 p. Simon & Schuster. May 2013.
Gr. 9 Up

14-year-old junior Ryan Dean West, nicknamed Winger for his position on Pine Mountain’s rugby team, is a self-proclaimed loser.  Told through frenetic first-person narrative, short comics, charts, and diagrams, he relates the story of his first couple of months at school.  He’s hopelessly in love with his best friend Annie, who sees him as a little boy and stuck in Opportunity Hall, the dormitory for troublemakers, rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team.  Ryan Dean’s narrations of his missteps are laced with wit and profanity, revealing the thoughts of a 14-year-old boy authentically.  Smith’s writing displays his understanding of teenage boys and he cleverly depicts the inner turmoil of boy just trying to fit in.  Despite being 400+ pages, the book is a quick read with a fast-moving and engaging pace.  Humorous, and ultimately devastating, this moving, coming-of-age story is impossible to forget.

The Feels

I am utterly heart broken. I had heard that something happened in the end of this book that would probably make me cry–one review I read said they cried until they were dehydrated!–but I still wasn’t quite expecting the emotional gut punch.  I was laughing out loud for 400 pages to the hormonally charged humor and misadventures of Ryan Dean until the book took a dark turn.  There are subtle hints along the way, so I thought I was prepared, but I was wrong.  I was completely shocked by the climax that left Ryan Dean speechless and forever changed, and I couldn’t help but cry.  I’m glad no one was around, because I was curled into a ball crying big, ugly tears.

No, I take it back. I actually could have used a hug at that point, in all honesty.

I wish there had more attention given to the aftermath of the dark conclusion, but I am still blown away by Smith’s book.

Also, there is apparently a sequel in the works: Stand-Off.Welcome to my TBR list, Stand-Off.

“The John Green Effect” and “GreenLit”

I just finished Andrew Smith’s Winger, which last year had been given the title of GreenLit by New York Times.  “GreenLit” according to New York Times is a thing used to define writers that either write in the style of John Green or writers John Green celebrates (e.g. Rainbow Rowell, A.S. King, e. lockhart).  I’m not going to go into what I think of the whole “GreenLit” definition (some people even call it a “genre”!) too much, but BookRiot pretty much sums up my thoughts on the term.

I know Green really helped bring the realistic genre featuring smart, self-aware teenage narrators with witty dialogue back to life, but he did not invent the genre.  Anyone else remember Blume, Hinton, or even Salinger? (Okay, technically, The Catcher in the Rye (1951) was originally published for adults, but it has since become really popular with youth because of its themes.) …And can we just talk about the reigning queen of contemporary YA? Sarah Dessen, folks. Sarah Dessen.

To me, it is honestly kind of demeaning to the authors’ talents and accomplishments; I’m sure these other authors would appreciate their books being evaluated on their own merits.

I recognize the importance of John Green. In fact, my blog might not have existed without Green, because he really did help usher in the trend in the revival of contemporary, realistic fiction.

https://twitter.com/johngreen/status/467020907169738752

But even Green think it’s ridiculous to claim he is the sole reason for the contemporary YA revival.

I want to make it clear that this blog is not about GreenLit; it’s about emotionally intense contemporary YA of which John Green’s books belong.  As a librarian, I love read-alikes, which are so important in reader’s advisory, and therefore can appreciate the whole, “Oh, you liked John Green? You may like one of these…” But what I can’t get behind is the idea that authors’ books be generalized based on the narrative style of Green or that Green should somehow be placed on a pedestal for all other YA contemporary realism to be compared against. There is so much range and nuance in contemporary realism, and grouping them all into GreenLit (or not GreenLit) really ignores the innovation and brilliance of the other authors.