Skip to main content

How can a teenager review or enjoy reading classics?

   Reviewing classics. That phrase sounds like an oxymoron. Add "as a teenager" to the end of the phrase, and it sounds even more oxymoronic. How can a person truly review a book from a time period they have never experienced? Books that have been beloved for decades by thousands of brilliant and qualified people? Books by writers who have such an extensive collection of titles to their name that the book you are reviewing seems like a minuscule part of their grand contribution to the universe? Even worse, what if you simply didn't like the book? What if your review is about to be a negative one? Scary, huh?

   A classic book is a book like any other. The only exception to this statement is that classics have years worth of support. A reviewer's job is to make comments on a book based on the writing quality and whether it is enjoyable to read. All classics must have good writing quality. If they didn't, they would not have received the amount of support that makes them a "classic". The second reason for a review, the likability of a book, is the part in question when reviewing classics on this blog. A classic book will have quality writing, you can count on that fact, but it may not be a great book for young women, as the purpose of this blog is to recommend books to young women. 

   The notion that classic books are not for young people is all too popular. A lot of readers think that classics are unattainable and can only be read in college classrooms, but that fact is not true. While analysis might be more thorough in university and more prestigious situations, reading classics solo or in pre-college years can broaden your perspective by conveying traditions, expectations, pitfalls, and successes in history; topics so vital to learn in such pivotal years. 

   In our time, a lot of people have the tendency to think and say that an event, time period, or whole generation of people in the past are either all good or all bad (people my age usually say that the past is all bad). Classics teach us the complexity of the past. Classics teach us that nothing is completely black or white, good or bad.

   While I used to feel conscientious and a little bad about reviewing classics (historically more often than non-classics), classics are often more important for a reviewer with my goal - getting young women to read more often and to find the next book they are going to love - than reviewing new YA books. YA books were written with the specific intention of reaching young adult readers - hence the category "YA". Classics, with the exception of young adult classics that have since their publication years, become adult books as well, were not intended for young adults. Most classics are extremely enjoyable to read because of their time-traveling capabilities. I speak from experience, a fact that this post conveys more than any other. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Author Spotlight: Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Kimberly Brubaker Bradley At my school, I am a Library Leader. (Library Leaders promote reading in the middle school and recommend books for the younger grades.) The Library Leaders had the fortunate opportunity of eating lunch and meeting with Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. We got to ask her questions and just talk with her. Mrs. Bradley also spoke to the whole seventh and eighth grade in assembly about her research. 1)      When/How does she write? Mrs. Bradley writes in the morning, but this depends on her chores for the day. She got into her routine when her children, now graduating college and out of college, were small and went to school. She would always wait until her husband took them to drop them off at school. She likes for her writing space to be very quiet. She prefers typing when she when she writes as to writing. (This may be pretty common; I do not know what the common format among writers is today. I just thought I would include eve...
Post a Comment
Read more

Long Way Down

A Long Way Down Written in verse, A Long Way Down by J ason Reynolds is a novel about making a moment’s decision. *DISCLAIMER: The story deals with grief, mild cussing, and gun violence. Plot Summary: Will doesn’t live in a so great part of town. This African-American teen’s brother, Shawn, is shot and killed by a member of gang member in a near-by part of town. Will decides to follow ‘The Rules’. (‘The Rules’ are passed on through generations of members of this community and they are: 1. DON’T CRY 2. NO SNITCHING 3. ALWAYS GET REVENGE.) Will decides to kill the gang member who killed Shawn. He HAS to follow ‘The Rules’. He gets on the elevator to go down to the Lobby and the elevator stops at every floor. People that have been shot in the past and were in his life get on the elevator at every floor. This thriller is written over one minute and nine seconds. Author Praise/Critique: Jason Reynolds is a very talented poet. The book is very visually pleasing because ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Reading and writing, reading and writing, reading and writing: that's what I hope to keep doing all summer (with some swimming and seeing friends mixed in there too!). Here's another review! This is Stuart Turton's The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle,  and it's a doozy.  SUMMARY THE RULES OF BLACKHEATH Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then let's begin... Evelyn Hardcastle WILL die. And every day Aiden Bishop WILL try to identify her killer and break this neverending cycle he has somehow found himself in. But every time a new day begins, Aiden inhabits the body of a different guest at Blackheath. Some of Aiden's hosts will be more helpful than others. Some of Aiden's hosts are more capable than others. Some of Aiden's hosts start to overcome Aiden's true personality. Then again, who is Aiden? A...
Post a Comment
Read more