Peace and E. Lockhart

It's strange.

After figuring out the college deadline I (almost) missed, after handing in a trillion assignments, after preparing for an all-day field trip and then Thanksgiving, after writing multiple college essays and re-writing and re-writing (about which I'll write more later), after surviving cold temperatures, after worrying and worrying and worrying and fixing a Physics lab, I'm feeling like there's not a heck of a lot to worry about right now.

Strange.

Oh. And the fact that the title of E. Lockhart's third Ruby novel is The Treasure Map of Boys. She is writing. The third. Ruby Oliver. Novel. By the time I read it, I'll almost be at college.

Wow.

The Character Was Being Passive

One of my biggest peeves in novels, and one of the most common, is when I don't have a vested interest in the main characters. It means I don't care about what happens to them. I checked out A Curse as Dark as Gold last week and let me tell you, this is one exquisite piece of literature. The writing is beyond superb. But I didn't finish the book because I didn't care enough about what happened to Charlotte. She was so stoic, strong and impervious to Wheeler's bad dealings. I'd rather see the story from Rosie's perspective, because she was superstitious and fun.
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Another book this week, Good Girls, had the same problem. It's the story of what happens when a compromising photograph of an honor student is spread around the school. Fantastic premise. But I found Ashley, however realistic, slow and depressing and not inviting. I didn't finish that one either, because it didn't matter to me whether she fixed it or not.
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Although annoying or mean characters tick me off, I hate passive main characters most of all. That is: characters to whom things happen, rather than characters that cause things to happen. Briony, in Atonement, is one heck of an unlikeable person but she makes things happen. Holden, well, Holden Caulfield was produced by a genius pen. If you're writing a book about the circus, should you write it about the BFF of the ringmaster or the ringmaster him/herself?
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The best example, as always, is Frankie Landau-Banks from E. Lockhart's March 2008 book. Frankie starts out as a "normal," intelligent girl with one ex-boyfriend. We can all relate. But as the book goes on, Frankie changes into someone who makes big things happen and pays the price for it. Gretchen Yee, in Fly on the Wall, goes on a similar transformation. I think of Maddie in Lauren Myracle's sharp and brilliant TTYL (more on that later), Jerome Foxworthy in The Moves Make the Man, Riley in This Book Isn't Fat, It's Fabulous.
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I have hated Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen the movie like no other movie. It redefined stupid. But Mary/Lola made things happen, as much as you hated her. That's an effective protagonist.

Don't Forget How to Be Bad

E. Lockhart (The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks), Sarah Mlynowski (Bras & Broomsticks) and Lauren Myracle (TTYL) have teamed up to write a book about three girls, one road trip and too many mangoes. How to Be Bad is in stores now.

And inconsequentially, this is our 200th post.