Andrew Smith has a peculiar way of writing: he defines Young
Adult as a genre in itself, not as just an audience type. He is adamant in his
expression of YA as genre so that teens are treated as adults. This is apparent
in his recent work, The Marbury Lens.
The main characters, their friends, lovers, and rivals are all teenagers.
However, the content and situations they find themselves in are most definitely
not typical for modern YA. The book is edgy, gritty, raw, graphic, violent,
sexual, explicit, and apologetically honest. The protagonist, Jack, must lie,
cheat, steal, murder, and worse in order to survive. He often finds himself
face to face with his enemies over and over again, and sometimes those enemies
are his best friends. At this point you’re probably wondering why you should
even pick this book up, right?
It will change you. It will get inside your head and make
you feel like Jack feels. Paranoia will unexpectedly creep into the back of
your mind; you’ll hear Seth’s “Tap, tap, tap” in the middle of the night.
You’ll keep asking questions, the same ones Jack is asking, and when you don’t
get the answers you’ll want to read the sequel. Trust me. You won’t be able to
escape Marbury. Pick it up, read the first page. Get sucked into Jack’s world,
into his head, and then with him into the hell that is Marbury.
If you don’t believe me, check out what some critics,
experts, and such have to say about it: "The Marbury Lens"
Read more about author Andrew Smith, his books and his views
on writing and publishing on his website: http://ghostmedicine.blogspot.com/
~Written by guest blogger Eden Rassette, our Young Adult Programmer at Erlanger
