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ccbc-net digest 9 Jul 1999
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From: Nancy Werlin <nwerlin>
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 06:47:20 -0400
Patty Campbell said, re Megaboy:
For me, too, MEGABOY simply doesn't work as a novel. The shallow characterizations (with no more insight than you actually would get from sound bits on the news); the lack of tension/resolution; and the lack of any
"argument" (which is the way I think how a novel normally dances with its theme, introducing and then building on it so that a conclusion of some kind is reached and the reader experiences some kind of epiphany) -- all these left me empty. Now, maybe this was the intended effect, but I expect something else (something *more*, is what I really mean, although it grieves me to diss this well-intentioned book) from a novel. It struck me as artifice, not art.
Other novels that swap perspectives DO work as novels (e.g., Fleischman's WHIRLIGIG.) This one doesn't. So inventing a new category so that we can call MEGABOY successful doesn't satisfy me either.
But Ginny is really asking: does this work with kids? Does it spark discussions that "complete" the book? I used this book last summer in a one-week writing class for high schoolers, because it let us quickly review a range of characters reacting to a single event, and I wanted us to work on characterization. It gave me exactly what I wanted: a fast example of how you can attempt to depict different people reacting in different ways to the same event. I'd use it again, because my kids were able to read it quickly. But it did *not* spark a discussion about the issues, although I did pause to ask if it had had that effect on anyone -- it's one of the measures of good writing, after all -- and this was a chatty group. In fairness, however, I didn't push it and we moved on to their own work, which WAS the primary focus. And I can *imagine* the book working in this way, though I have not seen it happen myself.
But then, if I were going to lead a real discussion on the issues the book depicts, I'd get out actual clippings from a real tragedy and use those instead. Why use Megaboy when you can talk about Arkansas or Colorado? What does Megaboy give you that reality doesn't? I have only one answer -- a faster, simpler ride through the issues -- and obviously this is not what I want or expect from a novel. BUT it might aid discussion. Dunno.
I wonder if it's simply too early for people to really have used this in the classroom, and give us real responses? It's only just out in paperback.
-Nancy Werlin nwerlin at world.std.com
Received on Fri 09 Jul 1999 05:47:20 AM CDT
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 06:47:20 -0400
Patty Campbell said, re Megaboy:
For me, too, MEGABOY simply doesn't work as a novel. The shallow characterizations (with no more insight than you actually would get from sound bits on the news); the lack of tension/resolution; and the lack of any
"argument" (which is the way I think how a novel normally dances with its theme, introducing and then building on it so that a conclusion of some kind is reached and the reader experiences some kind of epiphany) -- all these left me empty. Now, maybe this was the intended effect, but I expect something else (something *more*, is what I really mean, although it grieves me to diss this well-intentioned book) from a novel. It struck me as artifice, not art.
Other novels that swap perspectives DO work as novels (e.g., Fleischman's WHIRLIGIG.) This one doesn't. So inventing a new category so that we can call MEGABOY successful doesn't satisfy me either.
But Ginny is really asking: does this work with kids? Does it spark discussions that "complete" the book? I used this book last summer in a one-week writing class for high schoolers, because it let us quickly review a range of characters reacting to a single event, and I wanted us to work on characterization. It gave me exactly what I wanted: a fast example of how you can attempt to depict different people reacting in different ways to the same event. I'd use it again, because my kids were able to read it quickly. But it did *not* spark a discussion about the issues, although I did pause to ask if it had had that effect on anyone -- it's one of the measures of good writing, after all -- and this was a chatty group. In fairness, however, I didn't push it and we moved on to their own work, which WAS the primary focus. And I can *imagine* the book working in this way, though I have not seen it happen myself.
But then, if I were going to lead a real discussion on the issues the book depicts, I'd get out actual clippings from a real tragedy and use those instead. Why use Megaboy when you can talk about Arkansas or Colorado? What does Megaboy give you that reality doesn't? I have only one answer -- a faster, simpler ride through the issues -- and obviously this is not what I want or expect from a novel. BUT it might aid discussion. Dunno.
I wonder if it's simply too early for people to really have used this in the classroom, and give us real responses? It's only just out in paperback.
-Nancy Werlin nwerlin at world.std.com
Received on Fri 09 Jul 1999 05:47:20 AM CDT
