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lizbeeThere's a handful of unofficial criteria that I've use to judge the children's category Aurealis Awards: is this book enjoyable? Well-written? Does it appeal to me? And would it appeal to a hypothetical Kid Today?
This is all completely subjective, especially the final criterion. Kids Today are not a monolith, except to the extent they need to get off my lawn, and it's difficult to separate "appealing to me personally" from "appealing to my idea of a contemporary young person". But I try! (For example, one entry for the Aurealis was a book with a lot of gross-out humour. As a kid, I'd have found it repellant; as an adult, I actually enjoyed how chaotic it was, and I think a lot of kids would be into that.)
Anyway, these are the criteria I'm applying to the Lodestar.
Catfishing on CatNet is about an AI which runs a social networking site dedicated to the exchange of animal pictures, and a girl named Steph, whose longest-standing friendships are on CatNet because she and her mother are on the run from her abusive dad.
I have no plans to do a PhD in creative writing, because it would be cheaper and less stressful to set $80 on fire every day for three years. But if I did, I would explore AI as a metaphor for adolescence and teen identity in YA science fiction.
So I have some feelings about Catfishing, which mostly boil down to, "Eh, it's fine." As an adventure, it's pacy, compelling and suspenseful. As a depiction of abuse, and the dysfunction that trauma leaves in its victims, it's no worse than any novel in the field. As a work of science fiction, it's quite good: we don't know the exact year this is set, but within a generation of the present day -- 25% of cars on the road are self-driving, MIT graduates set up bakeries staffed mostly by robots, there's a brief scandal when the main characters hack the robot sex ed teacher.
So all that is fine. But as a work for teenagers? Catfishing on CatNet is didactic -- if not patronising -- as its teen characters debate non-ableist alternatives to "lame" and earnestly explain the single-they pronoun. It's not that teens aren't having those conversations, but the presentation is so ... rote. Not unlike the sex ed robot.
Then there's this, from the AI:
Teenagers are more interesting than adults. The people in the adult Clowders want to talk about things like mortgages and weight loss surgery, while teenagers talk about much more stimulating topics.
"IF YOU'RE OVER TWENTY-FIVE, WHY ARE YOU ON THE INTERNET LIKE A CREEP INSTEAD OF LOOKING AFTER YOUR CHILDREN AND KNITTING YOUR TAXES?"
AI as adolescent, remember? (It was at that moment that my thesis presented itself!) But I was also reminded of, ummmmmm, that particular type of adult that coos over how adorable and woke the Zoomers are, and they're all going to save us, and they're just so great!
(Don't get me wrong, this upcoming generation seems pretty solid, but it's all a bit condescending, y'know?)
In conclusion, I enjoyed a lot of things about Catfishing on CatNet, but I wouldn't say it succeeds as a work for young adults. I'm not yet sure where it'll go on my ballot, but not at the top.
This is all completely subjective, especially the final criterion. Kids Today are not a monolith, except to the extent they need to get off my lawn, and it's difficult to separate "appealing to me personally" from "appealing to my idea of a contemporary young person". But I try! (For example, one entry for the Aurealis was a book with a lot of gross-out humour. As a kid, I'd have found it repellant; as an adult, I actually enjoyed how chaotic it was, and I think a lot of kids would be into that.)
Anyway, these are the criteria I'm applying to the Lodestar.
Catfishing on CatNet is about an AI which runs a social networking site dedicated to the exchange of animal pictures, and a girl named Steph, whose longest-standing friendships are on CatNet because she and her mother are on the run from her abusive dad.
I have no plans to do a PhD in creative writing, because it would be cheaper and less stressful to set $80 on fire every day for three years. But if I did, I would explore AI as a metaphor for adolescence and teen identity in YA science fiction.
So I have some feelings about Catfishing, which mostly boil down to, "Eh, it's fine." As an adventure, it's pacy, compelling and suspenseful. As a depiction of abuse, and the dysfunction that trauma leaves in its victims, it's no worse than any novel in the field. As a work of science fiction, it's quite good: we don't know the exact year this is set, but within a generation of the present day -- 25% of cars on the road are self-driving, MIT graduates set up bakeries staffed mostly by robots, there's a brief scandal when the main characters hack the robot sex ed teacher.
So all that is fine. But as a work for teenagers? Catfishing on CatNet is didactic -- if not patronising -- as its teen characters debate non-ableist alternatives to "lame" and earnestly explain the single-they pronoun. It's not that teens aren't having those conversations, but the presentation is so ... rote. Not unlike the sex ed robot.
Then there's this, from the AI:
Teenagers are more interesting than adults. The people in the adult Clowders want to talk about things like mortgages and weight loss surgery, while teenagers talk about much more stimulating topics.
"IF YOU'RE OVER TWENTY-FIVE, WHY ARE YOU ON THE INTERNET LIKE A CREEP INSTEAD OF LOOKING AFTER YOUR CHILDREN AND KNITTING YOUR TAXES?"
AI as adolescent, remember? (It was at that moment that my thesis presented itself!) But I was also reminded of, ummmmmm, that particular type of adult that coos over how adorable and woke the Zoomers are, and they're all going to save us, and they're just so great!
(Don't get me wrong, this upcoming generation seems pretty solid, but it's all a bit condescending, y'know?)
In conclusion, I enjoyed a lot of things about Catfishing on CatNet, but I wouldn't say it succeeds as a work for young adults. I'm not yet sure where it'll go on my ballot, but not at the top.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-25 01:46 pm (UTC)HAH.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-25 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-25 06:07 pm (UTC)(And yeah, I know Kritzer isn’t a teen; but I’m willing to bet she included that sentiment in the book because she’s seen so many teens expressing it, and not because she herself only ever talks about mortgages and weight loss surgery.)
no subject
Date: 2020-06-25 10:45 pm (UTC)(Evidence: not having children myself, I spend a lot of time casually eavesdropping on young people, eg, on the bus. Aside from a touching belief that they're not going to end up with boring office jobs as adults, but will instead pursue! creative! dreams!, they don't seem to have any odd ideas about adulthood.)
no subject
Date: 2020-06-26 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-28 12:54 pm (UTC)