Hellloooooo dear Readers!

Today I celebrate the wonderful Carrie Mesrobian! Why? Because I LOVE her book, SEX AND VIOLENCE (as well as her newest book, PERFECTLY GOOD WHITE BOY, but we're focusing here). If you haven't read S&V, you should immediately. It's not light, it's not airy. It digs into some deep issues we'll discuss below. But it will dig under your skin and stay there, in the best way that literature often does.


First, you should know that SEX AND VIOLENCE was Mesrobian's debut novel. Yup, you heard me. HER FIRST NOVEL! For a writer to come out of the gates like that is pretty amazing. Mesrobian kicked up a flurry of awesome reviews (examples, here and here) and then landed as a Morris award finalist and the winner of the Minnesota Book Award in Literature for Young People. Besides that, Mesrobian has become a bit of a spokesperson around sex and YA lit. Check out this interview from Minnesota Public Radio here.

I love the way Mesrobian digs into the deep and occasionally uncomfortable (for adults, anyway) landscape of teens and sex. The subject is fraught with fear and misunderstanding and unfortunately shut off by many of the gatekeepers out there. I touched upon this in my article about darkness in YA--it's understandable to want to protect teens--but the fact of the matter is, like what happens with Mesrobian's main character in SEX AND VIOLENCE, darkness finds teens. It just does.

Which brings us to Evan, the main character in SEX AND VIOLENCE and one whom I love dearly and also sort of despise.

It takes a deft hand to craft a character that you both want to kick and hug. But Mesrobian does this expertly. The story starts with a harrowing scene in which Evan experiences the titular violence--because of his sexual relationship with a girl who has a violent boyfriend. The scene is brutal--pun intended, Mesrobian pulls no punches. We feel each and every strike against him. After the incident, Evan has to piece his life together, try to manage the psychological repercussions of the incident, and figure out who he is at the end of the day.

Evan's character is the heart of this piece: he is strong, true, and honest. He is also maddening. His views on girls and intimacy are deeply flawed but we as readers watch as he confronts his own actions and motivations and comes to a better understanding of himself and the world. Evan makes real choices with real consequences. We follow him on this journey that isn't wrapped up neatly or prettily, but that speaks to deeper truths and attitudes we all may have. Mesrobian is a master of finding that liminal space where we live--the space between the person we are and the things we do to make ourselves the person we want to be.

SEX AND VIOLENCE is a must read and a must have.

As you can tell, Carrie Mesrobian (this link goes to her Twitter account) doesn't shy away from anything. Stay tuned for an interview with her and then her book recommendations. And if you still can't get enough, which I'm sure is the case, make sure to check out the podcast she runs with Christa Desir, The Oral History Podcast, about all things sex and YA.

As always, thanks for visiting the page and for reading these words. And also as always: READ ON, READERS!