One thing I've realized in the past week is just how much influence a book can have on my mood. Especially if that book happens to be Living Dead Girl. Reading this book last Thursday put me in one of the worst moods in recent memory. I told co-workers, friends, my mom and my boyfriend about the book. Feeling depressed and morose at work, I decided I could not recommend this book to anyone, at any point in time. The next day, as I read The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, the world suddenly seemed not so bad after all.
As disturbing as Living Dead Girl was (at least to me), the author, Elizabeth Scott, certainly accomplished a powerful work. I don't think an author has ever been able to plunge me in to such a mood in such a short amount of pages. What I'm not sure about is whether I would want to inflict this on other readers, especially a young adult who might not need any help in feeling down. Is this a book people recommend as a cautionary tale? Sort of a don't-talk-to-strangers type of thing? Or something to give a teen fascinated by serial killers or other morbid subject matter?
At any rate, I'm glad to have read the book and also to be done with it. When I read the jacket of 13 Reasons Why, I thought, "Oh God here we go again, more depressing stuff." I'm finding myself wanting to know what happens, though, and get to the end of the tapes. Almost lunch time -hooray!- and I'll be finishing it up over my sandwich. And when this class is over I'll probably be sticking to strictly light-hearted fare for a while.
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Yes. Living Dead Girl is totally a tough read and I think I went through a similar experience after I read it.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right when you say it's a tale for those who like to read about darkness, serial killers, etc, though the funny thing is with this book there's none of the distance a reader experiences when reading about famous serial killers. Instead, you're right up there in Alice's mind as it's all unfolding. This does make it a hard book to give in many cases. That said, I don't think it's that horrific (compared to a lot of other stuff out there) that you should feel too too worried in giving it out. It's meant to scare, and I think you should let teens know that when you hand it to them. Give it to the teen who loves depressing music, books, movies, etc. There are lots of them out there.