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(Is it bandom blasphemy to use a My Chemical Romance album title in a review for a book written by the singer of The Birthday Massacre? Meh, I'm rolling with it.)
The increasingly arbitrary line between Adult and Teen fiction continues to bewilder me. Why is Sara Taylor’s (aka “Chibi’s”) Boring Girls not a teen book? I'd guess the violence, but Danielle Vega's The Merciless is on a comparable level of gruesome, so it's not that. Maybe it's the realistic setting, as opposed to fantasy or dystopia. This isn't a clearly imaginary world like Holly Black's The Coldest Girl In Coldtown or Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, which makes it feel like something that could happen, even though it's entirely fictional. Then again, Tiffany Jackson's Allegedly is in that boat too, so never mind.
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Honestly, what this reminds me of most isn't any particular novel in any age category, but horror movies centered on dangerous young women. Heavenly Creatures, Ginger Snaps, Stoker, The Craft--all films told from the point of view of the teenage protagonist, but with a restrictive rating that won't allow their age peers to view them in theaters without adult supervision. There's something insidious and fascinating about that. The truth is being a teenage girl is inherently dangerous, violent, and terrifying. Only this time, the catalyst for our main character, Rachel's, transformation, isn't witchcraft or lycanthropy, but death metal music.
( I’m the Wickedest Witch of All )
The increasingly arbitrary line between Adult and Teen fiction continues to bewilder me. Why is Sara Taylor’s (aka “Chibi’s”) Boring Girls not a teen book? I'd guess the violence, but Danielle Vega's The Merciless is on a comparable level of gruesome, so it's not that. Maybe it's the realistic setting, as opposed to fantasy or dystopia. This isn't a clearly imaginary world like Holly Black's The Coldest Girl In Coldtown or Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, which makes it feel like something that could happen, even though it's entirely fictional. Then again, Tiffany Jackson's Allegedly is in that boat too, so never mind.
View on Goodreads
Honestly, what this reminds me of most isn't any particular novel in any age category, but horror movies centered on dangerous young women. Heavenly Creatures, Ginger Snaps, Stoker, The Craft--all films told from the point of view of the teenage protagonist, but with a restrictive rating that won't allow their age peers to view them in theaters without adult supervision. There's something insidious and fascinating about that. The truth is being a teenage girl is inherently dangerous, violent, and terrifying. Only this time, the catalyst for our main character, Rachel's, transformation, isn't witchcraft or lycanthropy, but death metal music.
( I’m the Wickedest Witch of All )