YA Lesbo Books
There weren’t any gay themed young adult books in my day. It might have helped—a lot. A blogger I follow, for girl-on-girl action in media, reviewed these. So I picked them up at the library and read them back to back. It was like being at the film festival.
The best and most typical one is called Keeping You A Secret. Here the story is laid out from the day they meet, follows step by step realization of a crush at hand, the inevitable questioning and realization and the obligatory abuse from society as the relationship meets the road, a bit overplayed here, but made up for by a near perfect kiss scene and resolution. I would put it right up there with Annie On My Mind, the only YA book I had read before on the subject.
Empress of The World follows a group of teens at a camp for smart kids. They come with an assortment of issues though none are too unusual. We have little idea what goes on in the head of the object of the crush so seems thin, but nicely done as an ensemble piece.
Pages For You does not really qualify as young adult fiction and is shelved in the adult section at the library. It features a 17 year old girl in her first year of college and her involvement with a TA, an older woman. Written in that literary way that annoys me so much for its attention to pretty description, but complete lack of ordinary detail as if trying to transcend time and place. Reminds me of Patricia Highsmith and those pulp novels of the 50s with the lurid lesbo covers, but not enough description of the sex. Good writing makes it easy to read though and probably makes a young reader feel very adult as I did when I read Mary Renault’s non-historical novels about women.
Stir Fry is by an Irish writer which automatically reminds me of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, (famous coming of age lesbian story set in Yorkshire). Doesn’t qualify as a YA book either. It follows another 17 year old going to college. This one answers an ad for a room in a two bedroom apartment with a lesbian couple only she doesn’t pick-up on that until later. This scenario was unpredictable so filled me with suspense. I liked it the best even though there is not quite a real kiss scene. I thought it had a very believable emotional development of the protagonist and realistic portrayal of the couple.
The larger theme of these LGBT stories, I realized, is the discovery of an unexpected destiny. One that will change the social status of the protagonist, but allow them unrecognized powers. That last part is not usually included in these stories (unless you count all the artistic talent), but I’m throwing it in anyway. Add to that the usual journey in search of identity and questions about what kind of life am I going to live and what am I going to be and it just about fills the mood I’ve been in lately since turning 51. I am trolling for a new destiny having fulfilled a huge one with the publication of my book last year. Also wondering what kind of book I would write if I were to tell a similar story. I have largely avoided writing about that past. Been done too much already since queers often come with literary gene. Do we need any more such books?
Posted by Earthworm on 2009-05-18 20:25:12
Tagged: , books , book , adolescents , LGBT , young adult , lesbian , it gets better