Wednesday, September 9, 2009

General Question

Do you think some readers might be offended by teenagers reading this book due to its language and references to drug use? If so, who or what types of people? Is their offence justified? If yes, why? If not, why not?
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5 comments:

  1. BobSeptember 9, 2009 at 12:55 PM

    Some readers may be offended, and it's their choice to stop reading the book. They have a right to be offended by the material. But they don't have a right to impose their offence on others. But I think it's important to acknowledge reality. Some teenagers curse. Some teenagers use drugs. This really shouldn't surprise anyone, and I don't think pretending it doesn't happen serves any purpose.

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  2. ChantelleSeptember 9, 2009 at 4:28 PM

    I imagine this book could have an significant impact on young readers who are living out their own coming-of-age stories; but I don't think that there is anything in these pages offensive (or influential) enough to warrant censorship from concerned parents or teachers.

    First off, Proulx paints drug use as a cowardly escape from emotional emptiness. Secondly, the use of curse words and the over-used "Jesus Christ," comes off like a tired gimmick, as if the author was eager to get inside the head of a self-centered, hormonal small-town boy.

    To be completely honest, I can't shake the feeling that this book is a very cheesy version of "Catcher in the Rye"... and maybe that's the best we can hope for these days.

    Jaded? Probably.
    I'm just not terribly impressed. I would love to hear any ideas to give me some hope.

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  3. SharonSeptember 10, 2009 at 10:00 AM

    I don't believe that the content of this book is offensive at all. There are many other books out there that contain questionable content. The content in this book is simply portraying how teens really interact.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 5, 2009 at 1:45 PM

    Seriously lame book, who picked this one?

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  5. AnonymousOctober 5, 2009 at 4:01 PM

    I may not agree with Chantelle (Holden is a loner, Luke has friends; Holden is in metropolitan New York, Luke is in small town Stokum; Holden has run away, Luke has not; Holden has parents who don't even know he's missing, Luke has parents who do care; Holden attends a boarding school for the elite, Luke goes to a public school); Catcher takes place over 3 days, Anthem over several months), but at least she gave informed reasons for not liking the book.

    "Seriously lame" is a serious cop out - why bother commenting if you have nothing whatsoever to say?

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