Bridge to Terabithia
by Katherine Paterson
(in relation to “Flies” by Michael Dickman)
Harper Trophy (An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
1350 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10019
ISBN 978-0-06-440184-5
163 pp., $6.99, paperback
www.harperchildrens.com
Rage
by Jackie Morse Kessler
(in relation to “Flies” by Michael Dickman)
Harcourt Graphia (An Imprint of Houghton Mifflin Company)
222 Berkeley St
Boston, MA 02116
ISBN 9780547445281
228 pp., $8.99, paperback
http://www.hmhbooks.com/hmh/site/hmhbooks/
Anyone who wants to write effectively from a young adult’s perspective – whether in prose or poetry – must do the miraculous. It is the literary equivalent of looking at an optical illusion.
Do you see a young woman or an old woman? You can’t see both simultaneously, yet that’s what the writing requires. The author must somehow conjure the authentic voice of an adolescent without losing – or fully revealing – the insight of the adult.
The novel “Rage” by Jackie Morse Kessler follows Melissa Miller, a dramatic, hackneyed, sulky teen from a conventional, privileged home who goes from cutting to pretty much falling in love with Death, who happens to look like Kurt Cobain (don’t get me started on what sort of underlying message that sends).
Like Michael Dickman in “Flies,” Kessler uses shortcuts to create emotional tension but fails to create three-dimensional characters. Melissa is sad, angry, self-loathing, and self-injurious. So of course she wears black (emo or Goth, you decide). Her loving parents don’t get her, her popular sister is embarrassed by her. Instead of complexity, we get a cliché suburban nightmare, a place where jocks are mean and dumb, parents are oblivious, and siblings are a source of anguish. Even though Kessler probably attempted complicated and conflicted, the characterization of Melissa only goes skin deep.
The premise of Kessler’s series – troubled teen* becomes one of the Horseman of the Apocalypse – is an interesting one, but execution should matter as much as plot points; writing for young adults should not sound like writing by young adults. Sure, the book is readable and entertains for the most part, but an author can bypass high diction without bypassing high quality. Considering how heavy the subject matter was, the book itself felt rather light.
(*It should be mentioned that a portion of the proceeds from Kessler’s “Riders of the Apocalypse” books will go toward an organization confronting the same issues as her protagonists. For example, “Rage” deals with cutting and self-injurious behavior. Hence, donations are made to To Write Love on Her Arms. I may not praise Kessler’s writing, but I praise her as a compassionate person raising awareness.)
Katherine Paterson’s “Bridge to Terabithia,” on the other hand, creates a believable – not to mention likable – character in Jesse Oliver Aarons, Jr.
Winner of the Newbery Medal, this coming-of-age story deals with family, alienation, loss, and fear, topic/themes shared by both “Flies” and “Rage.” Even though the diction is very simple, Paterson achieves emotional complexity in her young character. Lines like, “These girls could get out of work faster than grasshoppers could slip through your fingers” maintain a child’s perspective while displaying the author’s skill. Her phrases are layered in meaning and connotation. Here are a handful of other lines doing double-duty:
“The boys quivered on the edges of their seats like moths fighting to be freed of cocoons.”
“Jess’s feelings about Leslie’s father poked up like a canker sore.”
“…Brenda and Ellie looked like a pair of peacocks with fake tail feathers.”
“The icy mud sent little thrills of pain up their legs.”
Paterson manages to keep the novel fresh and interesting by surprising us with language. We have clever similes/metaphors that are imaginative but do not betray a child’s inner life. On a deeper level, the creative language reveals the socio-economic status of Jesse, his family, and his hometown. Paterson’s prose gives the right details in the right detail.
This is where “Rage” and “Flies” ultimately break down. They attempt to navigate an adult world through a youthful lens, and vice versa, but neither fully achieves it. The adult and child lens must be in cooperation with each other, not competition. “Rage” fumbles between the CW network and an after-school special while “Flies” wears a mud-smeared monocle.