Anyway, I did actually have time on Sunday to sit down and blow through an entire book for you guys. I picked a nice thin Young Adult novel, thinking that although it might not be my favorite, at least I'd finish it on time and be able to put something up for today. And lo and behold, after so many high hopes and disappointments from my YA reading material, when I was least expecting it I was actually pleasantly surprised.
This book, called Spanking Shakespeare, by Jake Wizner, was certainly $8 well spent. It's been sitting on my shelf for quite a while (obviously--I can hardly remember the last time I picked up a new, physical book at the store for only $8), but it's really one of those unassuming books that you don't necessarily need to read right now. You picked it up because it had a nice quirky title and you thought some day it might be worth reading--sadly, sort of an "always the bridesmaid, never a bride" book. But as I said, when I was fishing for something quick this weekend, it finally caught my eye. And I'm really glad it did.
This book follows the main character, the unfortunately named Shakespeare Shapiro, through his senior year at Hemingway High School--a high school boasting one of the finest writing programs in NY State, where the students are required to complete a major year-long writing project about their lives to graduate (and a school that, while reading, I more than once wished I could have gone to). Anyway, Shakespeare's name betrays his talent--though he personally feels that his name is more trouble than it's worth, he actually is a good writer. The book follows him as he grows as an adolescent boy, and as a writer.
The regular writing in this book is just about average, perhaps a little above average when you consider the other books that inhabit the YA realm. The story is relatively simple, realistic, and funny. Shakespeare's life, though mostly average despite his name (and by average I mean he's not a werewolf, vampire, or boy wizard or anything), is certainly not boring. Wizner spends just the right amount of time on the right events and subjects, not wasting too much time with many of the boring frivolity that runs rampant in the genre--especially with female main characters. Though Shakespeare's own views of women--mostly his reducing them to depthless dating candidates at best, and sex objects at worst--can sometimes make a girl cringe with feminist indignation, they are nothing more or less than a reader would expect from a teenage boy.
Where this book really stands out in terms of writing though is not in the narration, but in Shakespeare's own "writing" instead, which he frequently shares with the reader. Certainly Shakespeare the narrator is often a humorously biting teller of events, but in his "writing" his voice really shines. He shares the most embarrassing and personally frustrating of events in a way that both masks and betrays the significance he places on them. He is at once downplaying these events with humor, while also showing how much of an impact they had on his life simply by including them in his memoir.
In addition, his narration in relation to the writing, brings the story to the next level because it reveals a very realistic element--one that is both relevant to Shakespeare's own story, and relevant to any reader who's ever felt like the world was conspiring against him: Shakespeare is aware of his own self-indulgence, but is still rather unwilling to change it. Yes, he's telling the story like the world is against him, but he still admits his own culpability in many of his downfalls--he has faults, he knows about them, he knows that if he really wants things to change he himself must change--but, for the time being, he would rather just stay as he is, complain, and blame the world. At one point he even states that the reason he doesn't want to see a therapist is that a professional would reveal to him only what he already knows, but doesn't want to admit--that most of his problems are of his own making.
To me, this particular element of the story is what makes it great and worth reading--especially by the young adults it's intended for. Certainly the humor draws you in, and the writing doesn't dumb-down the reader, but this message--that everyone thinks their own problems are the biggest, and that this feeling is natural, but something we need to be aware of--is one that I found not only striking and relatable, but also worth discussing. I myself am a shameless complainer. Not all, but many of us are. Sometimes I just want to unload my problems on others and on the world and pretend that they're not my fault and/or there's nothing I can do to change them. Is this immature? Yes. Is it productive? Most of the time, no. But its something that we, as human beings (and especially in our young adult years) do. Sometimes we just want to whine and complain. Perhaps because we're inherently selfish, perhaps because this unloading of complaints is somehow therapeutic, who knows--I think there are a variety of reasons. What it comes down to is that sometimes we're just not ready to admit that there is a solution in our grasp if we're willing to work for it. We need some time to wallow. I think the strongest part of this book is that it critiques and accepts this.
Wizner does not allow Shakespeare to idolize his problems, as maybe Shakespeare would like to, but nor does he throw those problems out as completely whiny and irrelevant. We witness, instead, a couple of things: Shakespeare's problems are put into perspective, both for himself and the reader, by the problems of other characters. He comes to the realization that sometimes his issues are not as bad as other people's. He also comes to terms with the fact that he cannot blame everything on other people and on his odd name. Yet, in the face of this growth, Wizner maintains realism is in the fact that Shakespeare is not easily cured, as though by some biblical miracle. The essential character growth is there, but he doesn't turn this into some utterly unbelievable, forcedly inspiring crap. Shakespeare is still a teenage boy. Though he does mature slightly, he's still a young adult with a long way to go--just as we all reach realizations throughout our lives, but not all of them lead to our turning over a completely new leaf.
This, I think is something essential for all readers, but especially YA readers to know and I was very glad to see Wizner putting the idea forward. It's not productive to always beat yourself up over your faults and spend every second of your whole life working to better yourself. Certainly we should all be trying to be better, but sometimes you have to give yourself a break and say "Look, I know sometimes I'm a brat. And I'm working on being better in time, but for now I'm okay with the fact that I'm a brat." Change doesn't happen overnight, especially when you're trying to change big character flaws. But the fact that you're working on it is sometimes enough--everyone has their own faults. And, while you should strive to be aware of those thoughts and not indulge them forever, sometimes it's okay to wallow a little.
So this is a book that I feel belongs firmly on the shelf. Not only will it make you laugh, but it sort of sneakily asks you to think about your own faults, how you indulge them, and how they're holding you back--AND, on top of that, it doesn't beat you over the head for with moral indignation about why you're not perfect yet. It lets you, the reader, know that you're allowed to be who you are, faults and all, but if you're willing to work for it and stop denying your responsibility and ignoring your faults, you are able to reach for and be something better.
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