Teenage Crises and Dreams Coming True
Review of I Was Born for This — Alice Oseman
I read a lot of Young Adult (or YA, as it’s known to us bookworms). However, it recently came to my attention that most of the YA that I read are from fantasy or science fiction genres. This became obvious one day when I finished a book and was going to add it to my YA shelf on Goodreads, but was struck by the realisation that the shelf (entitled “YA Fantasy”) was not appropriate.
Yes, it’s true. Until recently I had not deemed it necessary to have any other YA shelf.
Perhaps it’s because I’m British? I once read an interesting article claiming that British writers are best at writing fantasy because of their inherited legacy of myths, legends and folklore predating Christianity. According to the author of this article, stories written by American authors usually have a more realistic outlook, focusing on the everyday problems that children and teens encounter and often include moral guidance. i.e.: they are more of a learning tool than a means of escapism. Maybe that says something about the British climate?
Joking aside, it’s an interesting theory, and the article gives numerous examples in support. However, I’m sure that there are also plenty of books from both sides of the Atlantic to disprove the notion that British can only write fantasy and Americans can only write realism. One of them being the YA book that I recently read: I Was Born for This, by Alice Oseman.
But before I continue talking about the book, let’s just take a look at why I — arguably a grown adult — love reading YA fiction so much.
It’s partly because so much of it is just so GOOD. Ask any adults about their favourite books, and they will surely include something that they read as a teenager. As an example, To Kill A Mockingbird, which is widely hailed as one of the 20th Century’s greatest books and which most people read at school. It was described in a BBC article as “The first YA novel”. And oh, look. It’s also another example of moral realism by an American author.
Aside from the quality, there’s something amazing in the way that YA captures what it’s like to be a teenager. Do you remember those times? Adrift in uncertainty; new knowledge and discoveries pouring in each day? Awash in hormones and confusing emotions? Can you recall those crazy highs and lows? The bittersweet poignancy of all those “firsts”?
Nowadays, I never get an adrenaline high over a message or email. Back when I was a teenager, an SMS from the right person was the difference between floating bliss or aching despair. And that was practically on a daily basis. But as we get older, our feelings stop being so dramatic and come to fluctuate within a much smaller spectrum, hovering mostly around the “satisfied/mildly-dissatisfied” mark.
So yes, part of the reason I love reading YA fiction is because it allows me to take a peek back into those days and re-experience the thrill of those rollercoaster emotions that I don’t get in real life any more, but with which I can wholeheartedly sympathise, because I remember what it was like.
And now back to the book itself.
I Was Born For This is a realist YA book by a British author Alice Oseman. It follows the stories of a group of teenagers who have arranged to meet up in London in order to attend fan events for, and watch a concert played by their favourite band — The Ark. But here’s the twist. Some of the main characters in the book are the members of the band itself. We get to see events from both sides. From the perspective of the fans who adore the band and romanticise everything that they do, and from the viewpoint of the band members themselves, who have learned the hard way that fame demands gruelling hard work and terrible sacrifices.
Notice that I said it was a British realist book, and therefore an exception to the rule I described above. That was one of the things that most stuck out for me in the beginning. Turns out that I’m so used to reading American realism that I found it hard to get into the dialogue at first. It seemed like the characters were talking in a very stilted and weird way.
Then I realised it’s because I simply wasn’t used to reading in a British accent.
It’s even my native accent! Duh. Once I’d realigned my thinking, it came to be great fun for me — as a 7-year expat — to relive this slice of home on my Kindle.
I even learned some new slang. I’d never heard the phrase “I ship them” before, but thankfully Urban Dictionary explained it all.
But here’s the thing. While I would class the book firmly in the realism category, I think that Ms Oseman defies the rule somewhat, getting a healthy amount of fantasy into the story too. One of the key themes is about dreams coming true. Several characters experience this, for example, the members of the band, who have achieved fame and glory before the book even starts.
For the main character Angel, it happens as the book progresses. She’s obsessed with a certain member of the band — Jimmy, she’s desperate to meet him and imagines that all her problems will be solved if she can just do so. Thanks to various weird events and the masterful plot construction, she lives out this dream, being thrown together with an acquaintance of Jimmy, and later Jimmy himself. As these events happen, we experience her excitement and the amazing feeling of the world opening up, giving her exactly what she wanted. It all happens for her and we get to live it with her.
But then the realism kicks in again and we experience another theme of the book: That sometimes, when you get the thing you’ve been dreaming of, it’s not always as wonderful as you thought it would be. Angel finds out that Jimmy is just a normal person. What’s more, he’s not the person she thought he was. He’s not the person she thought she knew from obsessively following The Ark news and interviews online.
Along the same lines, the members of The Ark realise that they don’t like being famous as much as they thought they would. Not when it means that their every movements are watched and they can’t go onto the street without being hounded.
Some of these realisations spark crises in the characters as they have to readjust to their new knowledge and figure out where to go afterwards, but they emerge the stronger for it. The book is ultimately about growing up, and is satisfying in its pragmatism. All of the characters have problems, whether it’s anxiety, family problems, insecurity or trying to figure out what they actually want.
Other elements that I found particularly satisfying
1. One of the main characters is transgender and gay, others are bisexual. This is all treated as just another aspect of their lives without needing to becomes the focus of the story or in any way a big issue. I loved that the book treated LGBTQ as a totally normal dimension of who you are as a person. As it should be.
2. The two main characters are male and female. They spend time alone together and develop a connection. However, they do not fall in love. And they do not have sex. They are far too busy trying to sort out their own issues. For me, that was realism at its best. As nicely expressed in this tweet:
3. Which brings me onto another great thing about the book. The super-important role that social media played in the lives of the characters. This is something that’s often missing in YA books. This is partly because of the afore-mentioned prevalence of fantasy (yes, I know, partly my fault for being selective. #sorrynotsorry)
…and partly (I think) due to the age of the average YA author.
Sorry guys! You’re behind the times.
But thankfully not all YA authors are past it. Ms Oseman did a great job of illustrating how social media plays a fundamental role in the lives of modern teens. Twitter and Youtube are responsible for various pivotal moments in the book.
I have to admit that no. 3 was particularly great for me, because, as I noted before, I’m far from being a Young Adult any longer. I can only imagine how it feels to be a modern teen growing up as part of the iGen generation. But books like this are invaluable in helping me to not only understand, but also experience it for myself.
