If The Catcher in the Rye is
an adult novel, then why are so many teens obsessed with it? The distinction
between YA and adult fiction can be as thin as to be unnoticeable to the casual
observer. And such a petty thing as genre distinction will never hold back a
teen who loves reading. More than that, YA author Robin Wasserman, in an excellent essay about Stephen King’s ability to write great teen characters,
posits “There are some adult books that, for whatever reason, seem specially
formulated to wend their way into teenagers’ brains and take root, and I think
it’s because—like one of those high-frequency tones the rest of us are too old
to notice—these books are whispering secret truths certain teenagers need
to hear.” These are some books that whispered to me as a teen. And then
whispered again, and again, and again because I reread them so many times.
It by Stephen King
Here’s Robin Wasserman again: “What Stephen King reader didn’t fall in
love with him a teenager?” I fell hard when I read It. But I didn’t reread It for the way it made me terrified to go
to the bathroom or how I stayed up all night reading because I was afraid to
turn out the light. I reread it because it’s about a group of friends who love
each other, and how that love is the most powerful kind of magic. The young
versions of the characters are just on the cusp of puberty. The book’s
nostalgia for that age, as well as the late 1950s time period in which it is
set, perfectly reflect a teenager’s nostalgia for their lost childhood, which
seems to be an ocean of time away from their drastically different present. Also,
you’re welcome for not using one of the terrifying clown versions of this
book’s cover. I had the Tim Curry TV movie tie-in one, which had his picture on
the spine, and I would hide it behind my other books so that he couldn’t see
me. Eventually I just threw it away and bought another one, but I was still
scared it was going to reappear on my bookshelf one night, Talky Tina–style.
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