MADreads

Banned and beautiful

September 8th, 2009 Kylee

Banned Books Week is approaching, so if you’re looking for some rebellious reading, here’s a book for you.

Margo Lanagan’s novel Tender Morsels is pretty controversial right from the start, since it begins with a few scenes involving incest and gang rapes.  However, despite these disturbing events, the book manages to use tragedy to create a sense of wonder.  Predictably, this young adult novel has faced some individuals who want the book banned, but fortunately, librarians are sticking up for this startlingly beautiful book.  Critics are also supporting it: it was named a 2008 Printz Honor Book and was a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award.  (Lanagan’s first three books of short stories, Black Juice, White Time, and Red Spikes, are also pretty great.  I definitely recommend checking these out if you’re not sure you want to start with Tender Morsels just yet.  I bet after reading these, you’ll want more of Lanagan’s work.)

Tender Morsels is a fairy tale in a very real way; like the original stories by Hans Christian Andersen and the brothers Grimm, this tale is filled with darkness while still maintaining a sense of hope.  Lanagan’s heroine, Liga, lives through such horror as a girl that when she finally hits bottom, magical forces work in her favor to transport her to a parallel universe created especially for her.  Here, she is free from the daily humiliations of poverty and the cruelty of men.  However, the boundaries between her universe and reality are thin, and will not keep everyone out (or in) forever.  Liga is a fascinating character, and the world she lives in is so perfectly described that it seems just as real as the world she left.  The book unfolds slowly like an old-fashioned, traditional fantasy, but the events that take place are utterly new and original.  This is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, and I hope its rebelliousness only works in its favor.

Entry Filed under: Fantasy, Young Adult