Wednesday, April 8, 2015

TELL ME TUESDAY #38


TELL ME TUESDAY is a feature that oozed from the fried brains of myself and one of my best blogging buddies. It is a weekly, or bi-weekly feature (depending on your reading style), where you tell us what you are reading now, and why, and what you will be reading in the future from your tbr pile, and why. I am oh so curious why people read what they read. So tell us!

JOINING US THIS WEEK
Shannon at REX ROBOT REVIEWS
Go have a peek at their newest book grabs and tell them yours.

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This is what I am reading right now. It deals with schizophrenia. I went to college with two students suffering with schizophrenia: one was in most of my music classes and the other I tutored in Human Biology. I am having all sorts of problems with this book, both as a YA Contemporary in general and with the mental illness aspects. I looked at the author's Q&A section on Goodreads and she admits she wrote this story based on information gotten from the internet about the illness, and has never even met anyone with schizophrenia. She has written the schizophrenic MC in first person and I think that is overwhelmingly the wrong thing to do when you have no first-hand knowledge, or experience, with such a serious subject. Anyway, this has been getting almost all four and five star reviews, so I am going to be a HUGE black sheep.

I am also listening to Jane Eyre as an audiobook.

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I have no clue what I am reading next.



What are you reading?

6 comments:

  1. Hmmmm, that is quite a risky thing to do... I mean, if you haven't met someone with squizophrenia, how do you jump to writing a story about someone with it in first person? =/

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  2. I think you bring up some excellent points! It surprises me that the author wouldn't have researched with actual people with schizophrenia. I think that is important for anyone handling things like that.

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  3. Hmm. I'm sure with have spent time with people that have it, the discrepancies really stand out. LOVE Jane Eyre!!

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  4. Oh, it's kind of disappointing to know that the research done into this book are all stuff the author got from the internet. I agree, schizoprenia is such a delicate subject that one needs a first-hand experience or account or close friends to truly capture the feeling. I'll still read it someday, but the fact that this is a 1st person narrative written by someone who just researched the net about it would weigh heavily upon it...

    Faye at The Social Potato

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  5. Hmm. On the one hand, writing about any sensitive subject - mental illness, physical disability, etc. - definitely requires a lot more experience than Google can provide. On the other hand, I can understand how awkward it could be to seek out someone who has that experience without seeming to SINGLE them out. I'm not sure there would have been a correct way to handle that, other than to choose another writing topic.

    In other news, I've been stalking your Goodreads shelves and notice that you don't seem to have read The Beekeeper's Apprentice, by Laurie R. King. Seeing that I'm currently on a Laurie King kick, myself, I'd like to put forward that volume as a potential candidate for your next read. I don't know that it's strictly YA, but it is sometimes shelved with them, being a coming-of-age story.

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  6. Oh no! I have been hearing all sorts of good things about Made You Up too! (And that cover *drools*) I have a really good friend who was diagnosed with schizophrenia...maybe a year ago now? So I'm sure that would color my experience. I think it's important when you're writing something you don't know about to pass it on to people who DO have first hand experience (or even second hand). And lots of them, because everyone's experience is different. With schizophrenia I'm sure it's tricky to approach...but if you want to do the story justice and help mental awareness...that's what should be happening.

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