SA Bodeen Reads

A few weeks ago, Ruth Graham lit some fires with her incendiary rant in Slate about how adults should be embarrassed to read YA. She accused YA of escapism, instant gratification, and nostalgia, and claimed YA novels tended to have uniformly satisfying endings. Some do, sure. But the level of YA coming out today tends to adhere to none of those stereotypes. I can't think of a better example than Complicit, which I spent most of the afternoon reading, turning pages as fast as I could. Complicit is complicated and stressful and yes, I found myself craving an easy, happy wrap-up. Didn't happen. Shouldn't have happened. Couldn't have happened. The ending was like the rest of the book, and like life: messy, complicated, maybe a little hopeful, but when all is said and done, maybe not. This is the kind of YA the naysayers need to read. Maybe some minds will get changed.