A Challenge! Can you recommend some recent literature with a teenage protagonist?

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05-09-2009, 05:55 PM
Charlene

A Challenge! Can you recommend some recent literature with a teenage protagonist?

Hi everyone,

I'm on the hunt for some books here for a research project and I have very strict critera! Any help would be very much appreciated. :)

I need some top-notch literature that:

*Has a significant teenage character (i.e. must be ages 13 - 19)

*Was written anywhere between 1985 - present, though the more recent the better

*Preferably by an Irish or British author as I already have quite a few books by American authors

*The novel cannot be based on a true story

*The novel MUST be an adult novel - not a young adult fiction / teenage novel!!

An example of some of the books I already have are:

The Wasp Factory
The War Zone
Vinegar Hill
White Oleander
Atonement
The Lovely Bones
Vernon God Little
My Sister's Keeper

I'm pulling my hair out trying to find the right novels - I know it's a lot of critera but thanks so much for all your help.

Charlene
05-09-2009, 06:09 PM
Dark Lady

Had a quick scan of my bookshelves and the only novel I can find that might fit your critera is The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter. In terms of the guidelines you gave:

*The protagonist, Melanie, is fifteen at the beginning of the novel (and if I remember correctly she does not grow past teenage years within the novel).

*I think it was first published in 1967.

*Angela Carter is English.

*Fairly certain it is not based on a true story.

*The last point is the one I'm not sure about. I know adults do read it and have much to say about it but I don't know if it is classed as 'young adult fiction'. I would look it up but I already think I'm procrastinating too much just now and should get back to studying.

Hope that's of some use. Good luck!
05-09-2009, 06:24 PM
JBI

Heh I read that one too - it's cracked out :p. I think it goes down as Second Wave Feminist fiction, and I am of the mind it wasn't written for young adults.
05-09-2009, 06:26 PM
blithe_spirit

You might like to consider 'Seesaw' by Deborah Moggach.The author is British and the main character is Hannah, who is seventeen years old. It was first published in 1995 and is an adult novel.
05-09-2009, 07:12 PM
sixsmith

Blackswangreen - David Mitchell

Protagonist turns 13 along the way i think.

You could check out The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe. I cant recall whether Francie (the protagonist) is a teenager or 11-12 (perhaps its not disclosed)
05-09-2009, 07:25 PM
mayneverhave

The Buddha of Suburbia (Hanif Kureishi). I recently read this for a Non-Western lit. class. Its a bildungsroman of sorts, dealing with the exploits of a young half Indian, half Englishman living in 1970s London. Perhaps this fits the bill? It is not that long, relatively easy style, and quite comical.
05-10-2009, 10:43 AM
kelby_lake

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlene

Hi everyone,

I need some top-notch literature that:

*Has a significant teenage character (i.e. must be ages 13 - 19)

*Was written anywhere between 1985 - present, though the more recent the better

*Preferably by an Irish or British author as I already have quite a few books by American authors

*The novel cannot be based on a true story

*The novel MUST be an adult novel - not a young adult fiction / teenage novel!!

An example of some of the books I already have are:

The Wasp Factory
The War Zone
Vinegar Hill
White Oleander
Atonement
The Lovely Bones
Vernon God Little
My Sister's Keeper

I'm pulling my hair out trying to find the right novels - I know it's a lot of critera but thanks so much for all your help.

Charlene

Curious Incident of the Dog in The Nighttime is sort of a crossover.
05-10-2009, 11:05 AM
Mr Endon

Andrea Levy's Never Far from Nowhere
- British author (with Jamaican parents)
- 1996 postcolonial novel set in the 1970s
- two teenage sisters, one is 17 and the other is younger
- there are probably some autobiographical bits, but it's definitely not based on a true story.
05-10-2009, 01:03 PM
Dark Lady

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBI

Heh I read that one too - it's cracked out :p.

Have you read any of her short stories adapted from fairy tales and legends? Very strange lady!
05-10-2009, 09:34 PM
livelaughlove

The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay... not based on a true story but based on Melville's letters... don't know if that cuts it too close or not.
05-10-2009, 09:54 PM
JBI

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dark Lady

Have you read any of her short stories adapted from fairy tales and legends? Very strange lady!

Yeah, I've read the collected stories - very strange lady indeed.
05-13-2009, 02:58 PM
General Urko

Edisto by Padgett Powell
Edgewater Angels by Sandro Meallet

Both American novels, I'm afraid. And I'm not 100% certain the characters in them are 13. I think they might be just short of that. Never the less, I recommend both of them.
05-13-2009, 05:23 PM
prendrelemick

White Teeth, by Zadie Smith
05-13-2009, 05:31 PM
Niamh

What about the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 and 3/4 by Sue Townsend? :)
05-13-2009, 05:36 PM
JuniperWoolf

Stardust by Neil Gaiman was kind of cool. It might be young adult though.
05-13-2009, 05:41 PM
JuniperWoolf

Oh, and A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews was pretty neat. It made me listen to the Doors and pretend I was living in the seventies for like, a week. Its Canadian, and is from 2004.
05-13-2009, 06:38 PM
emily00

'Unless' by Carol Shields fits all your criteria except that she is (I think) Canadian. It's set in Canada, anyway.
05-13-2009, 11:04 PM
*Classic*Charm*

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuniperWoolf

Oh, and A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews was pretty neat. It made me listen to the Doors and pretend I was living in the seventies for like, a week. Its Canadian, and is from 2004.

An interesting read!

Quote:

Originally Posted by emily00

'Unless' by Carol Shields fits all your criteria except that she is (I think) Canadian. It's set in Canada, anyway.

Yes, Carol Shields is Canadian.
05-14-2009, 08:13 AM
Whifflingpin

"Foxfire" and "Spider Monkey" by Joyce Carol Oates - OK, she's from US but you could keep her in and throw the rest away.

The "young adult/teenage fiction" objection is a problem though. Anything with teenage protagonists is likely to be classed as "young adult/teenage." I'm thinking, for example, of Peter Dickinson, one of my favourite (British) authors. His books that win awards in the young adult categories, and which have young protagonists, tend to be those in which he explores his more serious themes - EVA, AK, Shadow of a Hero. Some of his "adult" books, on t'other hand, could best be classed as "fluff."
05-14-2009, 05:38 PM
emily00

'Girl with a Pearl Earring' (Tracy Chevalier) is beautifully written and matches all your criteria.
05-14-2009, 08:52 PM
lyni

Jan Siegel is an English author. her books are Prospero's Children, Dragon Charmer and Witch's Honour. her main characters are a sixteen year old girl and her younger brother.
05-14-2009, 08:59 PM
FalseReality

Maybe

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Diaz
05-17-2009, 01:10 PM
Kafka's Crow

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Lost-Th...2579986&sr=8-2
07-11-2009, 01:30 AM
AmericanEagle

The Queen's Fool - Philippa Gregory
- British author
- 2004 novel set during the Elizabethan era
- follows the main character from ages 14 to 19
- draws on historical narratives, but the main plot is fiction
07-11-2009, 05:40 AM
wessexgirl

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon. A 15 year old autistic teenage boy as the main character, 2003, British author, winner of book prizes, classy book. The only thing is some people put it in YA category, but I think that's because of the protagonist. It's won adult book prizes.

Oops, just noticed Kelby mentioned it....:blush:
07-11-2009, 07:38 AM
meh!

God's Own Country - Ross Raisin. About a teenage boy who lives with his parents on a farm in Yorkshire; quite similar to the wasp factory in some respects. Good read. Some great yorkshire words in it.