Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Breakfast with the Bookie - Readers: Coming-to-Age Novels - Love them or Hate them?

Breakfast with the Bookie is a weekly feature here at Badass Bookiw where I post and we discuss while we drink our morning cuppa coffee!

This Week’s Topic – Readers: Coming-to-Age Novels – Love them or hate them?


Coming-to-Age novels are fairly common in YA fiction. Since when we think Coming-to-Age we think teenagers. Lots of authors write them, on the top of my head I can think of – Sarah Dessen (to an extent), Judy Blume, William Nicholson and Louise Rennison. It’s a widely written topic/genre/theme and most Coming-to-Age novels are popular among readers.

However what if you've already Coming-to-Aged? Do you still get the same enjoyment from them? Do you still read them? Do you think they're silly? Helpful? Nothing like what is actually is? I'm curious to see what adults think when they read Coming-to-Age novels.

As a teenager, I don’t like Coming-to- Age novels. They’re boring, mostly embarrassing and sometimes silly. They helpful in a way to prepare for what you're up against but at the same time, it's not what I would call fiction. The plots are usually dry and the romance has no passion. However there are exceptions to that statement, right now I'm reading Rich & Mad by William Nicholson and I'm actually quite enjoying it! Compared to other books I have read, it's definitely not my favoruite, some parts are a little boring or should I say slow-paced but it's not bad and for a Coming-to-Age novel it's pretty good!

So that's my opinion. I don't like Coming-to-Age novels but I don't hate them. You just have to find the good ones!

Badass Bookie xx

2 comments:

  1. I'm torn... sometimes I hate them, sometimes I love them. If in the synopsis it says "a great coming of age story" I will probably pass because I figure it'll be more blah blah blah than I like!
    The Bookish Brunette

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  2. I'm on the fence about them as well. I admit that I don't read many of them since I typically enjoy my novels with a paranormal element, but if the prose is done well, I will enjoy it.

    Most coming of age stories are more focused on character development over plot, and I'm huge on character development. So if an author can make me care about their characters then they've done a good job.


    My Latest Review: Dead Rules by Randy Russell

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