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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Top Ten YA Characters in Need of an Intervention Letter

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
You know those moments where you yell at a book and you really wish the made up people inside it would just listen to you? Like, you can see that the path they are headed down is DOOMED TO MISERY, and if only they'd just heed your words, everything would be fine. You could save them.

I have those moments a lot. So this week, I am going to write intervention letters to some of YA's most deserving candidates.

AKA the character that inspired this topic. Girl. Reconsider every single one of the choices you make in Her Dark Curiosity. I so wished I could step into this book and save her from herself and her awful, DANGEROUS judgment.


Thank God for Kenji who basically serves as a walking, talking intervention letter in Unravel Me I adore Juliette for the progress she makes, but poor girl always gets too much into her own head and you just want to take her by the (hopefully covered up) shoulders and tell her to PULL HERSELF TOGETHER.

(Also, actual Juliet. As in Juliet Montague) (Apparently Juliet(te) is the name for girls who need reasonable people in their lives to give them reasonable adult advice)

Oh, Mal. Oh Mal, honey, no. Noooo. Let me help you STOP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING. 

I understand where Tris is, mentally, in this book, but it's so hard to watch her make so many reckless, downright suicidal decisions. LET ME SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELF.

I wish I could squirrel her away to a land without disco ball virgin vampires or rage-challenged, shirt-challenged, underage dogpeople and teach her how to not endanger her life on the regular.

PICK A BOY MAXON. Make a decision, girl. It's okay. We can talk this through. I'm here for you. You can do it. I promise.

I ADORE Bianca, and I adore that she makes rash and sometimes questionable decisions and she doesn't care what people think of her, but I so wish I could have been there to help her avoid the rock bottom she reaches. I'M HERE FOR YOU, BIANCA.
Honorable mention: Whitley from A Midsummer's Nightmare

ADAM. OMG. YOU POOR SELF-LOATHING MESS OF A BOY. LET ME HELP YOU. STOP THINKING AND DOING THE THINGS YOU THINK AND DO.

Violet no ohmigod no seriously no no young lady be wise omg OMG

Cath, my kindred spirit, my bookish twin, I have been there. More than anything, I wish I could crawl into Fangirl and a) hang out with Cath, because she is awesome, and b) help her through the issues she goes through and the fears she's forced to conquer and the boundaries she's forced to stretch.

 Have you ever wanted to write an intervention letter for a character?

22 comments:

  1. Your post is dead on! I agreed with every point you made! Especially with Tris and America!! What a great post!

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  2. What a good idea. I definitely agree with sending letters to Tris, Cather, and Bella Swan. I would also like to send one to Naomi from ELI AND NAOMI'S NO KISS LIST, by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn.

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  3. Adam! Yes! That poor fool. He is so frustrating.

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  4. Fantastic post! I completely agree with you about America from The Selection series.

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  5. This is brilliant on so many levels! Intervention letters were a great idea. I get like this too. You see what's going to happen and you want to make them choose something/anything else and yet, you're stuck on the other side of the book looking in and there is nothing (and I mean nothing), that you can do. GAH!
    My TTT

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  6. Your post is so awesome! I loved reading it and agree with pretty much everything you said especially when it comes to America, Adam and Violet

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  7. This list is perfect! I would totally send a letter to Bella as well, just to tell her a couple of things about relationships.
    Also to Cath, because she is awesome!

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  8. ahh I love this topic! I haven't read ALL of these books but I most certainly agree with the ones I have - TRIS, Bella, Juliette (I love Kenji), Mal, AMERICA (Team Maxon). Love the little loose leaf graphic too!

    Nicole @ The Quiet Concert

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  9. I totally agree with a lot of these! And some of them do have me curious.... I did top ten characters who induce the swoons xD Needed to love me some bookish boyfriends for the first time in a while, but this was a really unique idea!

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  10. The only character I recognise off your list is Bella Swan, but this post was awesome. Really hilarious.

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  11. I love your take on today's topic! I so badly wanted to shake America and tell her she was being stupid not going with the right guy...MAXON! :-)

    My TTT List

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  12. What a great post! I agree, Tris really needs a letter--intervention something. She does some crazy things.

    Shelly @ Books and Writing

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  13. I really enjoyed this one! You made me laugh and nod my head so much Gillian!
    Cath I just wanna hug her, and for Violet... I felt like screaming at her "that guy really looks like bad news run away nooooow!!"

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  14. Ooh, I would write that letter to America. I had to put the book down for a bit because of all the waffling she does. The choice is obvious!! :D And, I would want to hang out with Cath too, and send her a nice note that says you are awesome!

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  15. Hahahahah I love this list. Seriously. You are like one of the funniest people I know. I only read The Madman's Daughter, but even in that book I'm like GIRL WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? I agree with most of the other ones as well (though I think Mal is fine just the way he is :) ).

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  16. Once again you make me laugh! Love the topic you chose! I totally agree with you on Tris, it was so frustrating to read Insurgent for that reason.

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  17. HAAAAAAAAAA, this is a thing of beauty. Though you're nicer than I am, because a lot of these people I was just going to push off a sharp cliff toward some rocks. If they don't listen to you and shape up, they better watch out.

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  18. Oh boy. This post nails many of the thoughts I've had myself and brings to mind several other stories where I questioned the choices of the MC. Love how you put this post together. Very clever.

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  19. This was a great idea for today's TTT! I haven't read a lot of those books, but I understand the feeling very well. Sometimes it really sucks that you can't just hop into a book and shake/slap/hug a character.

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  20. I agree with you on all the points you made....I wish I could slap a few of them myself and shake them screaming STOP IT!

    My Top Ten Tuesday is here.

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  21. Best. Post. Ever. This is me when I'm reading all the time. And when I'm watching movies. And when I'm watching TV shows. And when I'm listening to my friends. And, most of the time, with myself when I'm not listening to my own goddamn advice.

    Tris in Insurgent. Juliette in Shatter Me. Bella in all the books and Cath, oh Cath. I just wanted to wrap her up in a cosy fleece blanket, sit her down, and tell her how life works.

    This post entirely made my week.

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  22. Haha! So basically, we just need to sit Adam between us, cuddle him close, and whisper soothing things in his ears until he gets his head on straight. Is that what you're saying?

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