Ok, seriously, I will be so disappointed if you go and leave me behind, please send me a message when they come for you. … and yes, I’ll help build
OUR spaceship, IF I can be of help, that is. I am sure I can help with design issues, we can hang some paintings, or I can come up with a colour scheme, not sure that kind of thing will be a priority
"Juvenile fiction" may be the bookshelf classification for Ms. Simner's work but I want to make it clear that I don't think something that could impact a 40-year old man this deeply should be pigeon-holed. I haven't felt many deep emotions in my life for a long time. I think that's the way things are for many of us. We are passionate in our teens and young adult years but, as time goes on, something fades. This story helped rekindle some of that in me.
Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)
I completely agree with you there, classifying this story as ‘young adult fiction’ to my mind is slightly beside the point, for it is clearly targeting at an audience that is very likely to have experienced similar things in their life, no matter what age. Too bad though that the realization “we are not as different as we think” comes much later in life. Thinking back now, when I was a teenager I didn’t know anyone with similar interests and passions, but now I know I might have passed people by, sat next to kids who did in fact share these passions, but social restraints, stereotypes, …whatever… kept us from finding out. Sounds sad, but I think that is our reality. It takes a lot of effort and time to get to know people, we don’t want to force ourselves on others and will remain at a stage where we think of someone as a “jock”, never knowing that “jock” might have just read one of our favorite books.
The social retreat and solitude that some teenagers seek is a very dangerous phenomenon IMO, for especially teenagers and children need social interaction to find their place in society, as someone else has mentioned before, human beings are not ‘islands’, we need other people. This reminded me very strongly of
Hikikomori (extreme agoraphobia as a social phenomenon amongst Japanese teenagers, who never leave their home and don’t communicate with anyone. I listened to something about that on the BBC4 Thinking Allowed podcast.)
And Sylvan, it made me sad to read that the 'passion' in your life has faded … see my experience is very different, I have never been as passionate as I am now. As a teenager I was so occupied with figuring things out, finding my place, … so that my ‘passions’ were a bit all over the place and it took me a long time to figure out my priorities. Now that I am in my thirties I
KNOW who I am and what I like, I know what makes me tick and I am very passionate about a lot of things. The problem is, that as a teenager it is much more accepted that one is enthusiastic and passionate about things, when adults act like that, they are often considered immature.
Ok, to summarize, a great story and perfect for this audience, for most of us can somewhat identify with it.