- there is a summary of bullet points at bottom *
(it doesn't need to be as strictly following to this post these are mostly ideas)
There are so many good coming of age stories out there, but I've found i don't know many girls ones, at least that are serious.
I'm looking for myself because I'm a late teen and I feel a little lost and I love reading, especially classics, and good writing. descriptive imagery is great.
I'm looking for themes of guilt, mental illness, anxiety, love, indecision, complex family relationships, or even themes of religious/moral guilt.
I think it's good to have nice romances, but I'm also interested in girls who have mixed or uncertain feelings about love.
I feel like there is not a lot of good girls stories of moral decisions that aren't simply either always does good, or remorseless. I think it's good to portray morally apprenhensible characters but I want a girl who struggles and still might not choose the right thing
This does not have to be about teens, it can be young adults or older, or even kids, I just want it the character to discover things about life or struggling with decisions morally, socially, or academically/career related.
I'm not particularly fond of YA novels mostly because of a lot of sensual related stuff but if it's for the plot and specifically about growing up maybe, but I still lean away from it.
I feel like it sounds weird to say a coming of age novel that's not YA, but books like A Separate Peace is considered adult literary fiction not YA usually.
I typically read fiction, but could be interested in creative nonfiction, like a collection of narrative(or just growing up related) essays from the author's life
honestly I would also be willing to hear bout or non binary stories as long as it's good and especially if it touches on these topics
Summary:
• Coming of age story (could be any age just dealing with big struggles/questions of life)
• themes of possibly:
(might only contain one theme, or contain many)
• guilt
• mental illness
• complex family relationships
• complex relationships in general
• indecision
• morality
• gray areas and just general, uncertain moral decisions
• not super into YA usually
• I don't read a lot of romance, but if interesting
• I like reading classics and love good writing with good imagery or just interesting writing styles
• fiction mostly, but creative nonfiction and narrative essays are good too
I am really open though, literally I put a lot just to help come up with ideas and give a good sense of what I'm thinking but if you have an idea that doesn't exactly fit, that's fine
by lavender0ghost
1 Comment
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter
The main character has a tumultuous relationship with her mother and her father is dead. She wants to go to school but her mother won’t fund her going so she was told in order to go, she’d have to figure out how to pay for it herself.
It is one of my absolute favorites.