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Book rec
Heeee.
I have sort of a love-hate relationship with Nancy Springer's books. As in, I either love them or I hate them. In fact, I've sometimes wondered if there could conceivably be more than one author writing under that name, because it's a weird Jekyll-and-Hyde thing. I never really know what I'm going to get when I pick up one of her books; it'll either be awesome or it'll make me want to throw it across the room, but I'm never sure which.
Anyway, I picked up one of her young-adult books at the library that made me giggle and squee: "The Friendship Song". It's just about the coolest example of "write what you know" that I've ever seen, because she is CLEARLY writing from personal teenage-girl experience in this book, she's got to be. And I could relate to it so strongly -- yet the idea of writing about this particular aspect of myself never occurred to me. It's just not something that I would have thought you COULD successfully write a book about. And then she did.
It is, I kid you not, a book about a couple of teenage fangirls who crush on h/c and male friendships. It's hilarious and so damn accurate -- I was alternating between laughing and cringing, because it's written with an adult sensibility and so you can pretty clearly see what the female protagonists don't see, as they concoct ever-more-fanciful and romantic illusions about the (largely imagined) best-friends-till-the-end-of-the-world relationship between the guys in their favorite band. It's an interesting mix of genuine teen-girl fantasy -- as the girls realize that the boy band in question is in actual danger from a supernatural entity that only they can see -- and an adult deconstruction of the real-world implications of that particular fantasy. Probably the crux of the book for an SGA fan like me -- I think I'll put this under a cut; it's a mid-level spoiler, not a "and then they all died" caliber spoiler, but it *is* kind of a pivotal scene in the book ...
So the girls spend most of the book idealizing male friendships and wishing that they could be boys because only boys get to have that "die for you buddy" type of relationship. And then there's this scene where they have a conversation with one of the objects of their adoration and are completely astounded when he tells them that he envies girls for their ability to form close friendships:
"Okay, you two, you're girlfriends, right?" We both nodded. "Okay, right there you got something most guys never get. ... Thing is, guys don't know how to be friends, not really. We don't really talk with each other. There's a lot of stuff we'll never say, afraid we'll look like sissies or something. We're always competing with each other."
*laughs* Sound like anybody we know?
This barely scratches the surface ... there is just a LOT in the book that I could really relate to on a teenage-girl level, and a lot of ideas that are just cool all by themselves. It's basically a fans'-eye-view of being a fan, and not just any fan, but a fan like me. It's short and it *is* written for a middle-school reading level, and certain aspects of the ending in particular were unsatisfying to me, but still a very fun book for all of that.
I have sort of a love-hate relationship with Nancy Springer's books. As in, I either love them or I hate them. In fact, I've sometimes wondered if there could conceivably be more than one author writing under that name, because it's a weird Jekyll-and-Hyde thing. I never really know what I'm going to get when I pick up one of her books; it'll either be awesome or it'll make me want to throw it across the room, but I'm never sure which.
Anyway, I picked up one of her young-adult books at the library that made me giggle and squee: "The Friendship Song". It's just about the coolest example of "write what you know" that I've ever seen, because she is CLEARLY writing from personal teenage-girl experience in this book, she's got to be. And I could relate to it so strongly -- yet the idea of writing about this particular aspect of myself never occurred to me. It's just not something that I would have thought you COULD successfully write a book about. And then she did.
It is, I kid you not, a book about a couple of teenage fangirls who crush on h/c and male friendships. It's hilarious and so damn accurate -- I was alternating between laughing and cringing, because it's written with an adult sensibility and so you can pretty clearly see what the female protagonists don't see, as they concoct ever-more-fanciful and romantic illusions about the (largely imagined) best-friends-till-the-end-of-the-world relationship between the guys in their favorite band. It's an interesting mix of genuine teen-girl fantasy -- as the girls realize that the boy band in question is in actual danger from a supernatural entity that only they can see -- and an adult deconstruction of the real-world implications of that particular fantasy. Probably the crux of the book for an SGA fan like me -- I think I'll put this under a cut; it's a mid-level spoiler, not a "and then they all died" caliber spoiler, but it *is* kind of a pivotal scene in the book ...
So the girls spend most of the book idealizing male friendships and wishing that they could be boys because only boys get to have that "die for you buddy" type of relationship. And then there's this scene where they have a conversation with one of the objects of their adoration and are completely astounded when he tells them that he envies girls for their ability to form close friendships:
"Okay, you two, you're girlfriends, right?" We both nodded. "Okay, right there you got something most guys never get. ... Thing is, guys don't know how to be friends, not really. We don't really talk with each other. There's a lot of stuff we'll never say, afraid we'll look like sissies or something. We're always competing with each other."
*laughs* Sound like anybody we know?
This barely scratches the surface ... there is just a LOT in the book that I could really relate to on a teenage-girl level, and a lot of ideas that are just cool all by themselves. It's basically a fans'-eye-view of being a fan, and not just any fan, but a fan like me. It's short and it *is* written for a middle-school reading level, and certain aspects of the ending in particular were unsatisfying to me, but still a very fun book for all of that.
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And spoiler? That's probably the most OOC thing I see in fanfic, what I've always called "women writing men the way women wish they really were, i.e., just like women." Alan Alda is the exception, far more than the rule. ;9 come to think of it, Hawkeye Pierce is great to crush on from afar, but live with the man? No?
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I wonder how universal this is. It often feels like tv and movie media emphasizes the closeness of male relationships and makes female relationships catty and prone to dissolving over a disagreement about a male. We look at the male friendships and think "they're so close they don't need to talk about it" and the reality is what you mentioned in your post - they don't talk and that makes it very different.
But that quote is SO very John and Rodney.
(also, I wanted to ask if you'd be willing to friend me because I'd like to see your posts about the current SGA episodes, but I totally understand wanting to keep your flist smaller and manageable)
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I love it when the "real world" acknowledges fannish behaviors - makes me feel less like I'm crazy.
I think that was what thrilled me about this book -- it made me feel like "I'm not alone!" And I guess I already knew that from online fandom, but it was just such a delight to see it in print, if that makes any sense.
We look at the male friendships and think "they're so close they don't need to talk about it" and the reality is what you mentioned in your post - they don't talk and that makes it very different.
Yeah, and that's precisely the point the book made -- the girls were seeing the guys' friendship as being much closer than theirs because (as one of the girls says) "They never have to say they're sorry" ... while being blind to the reality of their own, different friendship.
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I don't know. I liked the book, but it didn't make me want to read anything else she'd written.
Really, I'm just kind of rabbiting on here in amazement that I'm not the only person to have read that book.
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(Anonymous) 2007-02-02 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)Erika (emergencyfan)
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She is a very ... eclectic writer. Like I said above, some of her books I absolutely loathe, and in part it is because of that really distinctive writing style. She's sort of like CJ Cherryh in that regard -- another writer I have a love-hate thing for. Some books, I feel that her style really compliments the story she's trying to tell. Others, it just drives me insane.
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