Mary Pauline Lowry is the author of THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE, a coming-of-age novel about a teenage girl named Rhonda, going on a soul-searching journey. Not my cup of tea, I know but Mary's a talented novelist who's book THE GODS OF FIRE has been optioned by a film company and is currently in pre-production. THE EARTHQUAKE MACHINE has come out to great praise, but also to some controversy, due to the highly sexual nature of some scenes in the book. Since Mary's protagonist is a teenager, her novel has been often read and reviewed on YA literature blogs, which is where she got the most resistance.
I thought it was a great opportunity to show the double standards that often plague this very trendy genre. While books who discuss anorexia and cutting your wrists are often quoted as landmarks of the genre, a book that explores sexuality would be smut? Isn't teenagehood the perfect age to expose the ins and the outs of sex with your kid? Aren't you happy somebody wrote a goddamn novel about it, so you won't have to? Anyway, I'll let Mary discuss the "smut" incident. Meanwhile...
To buy the Paperback
To buy the eBook
As soon as I published my novel The Earthquake Machine I started sending the novel out to book bloggers for review. While most readers were excited about the book, which intentionally pushes the boundaries between Young Adult and adult coming-of-age novels, one book blogger and author wrote:
Dear Mary,
My reviewer who was given the Earthquake Machine has rated it 0 stars, DNF (Did not finish). She tells me it was completly [sic] innapropriate [sic] for a young adult audience and after looking it over myself, I agree. This isn't YA, it's erotica. To be honest I'm appalled at the idea that this book might be picked up and read by thirteen-fifteen year old girls. Here is what the other reviewer had to say:
"Don't get me wrong, I like a little bit of smut, but maybe I am too much of a prude. I don't know. I am used to YA books being a little more clean. Here's the gist. It's about a 14 year old girl. The Earthquake machine is actually a vibrator and at one point during the book, she gives it to her 100 year old neighbor and watches her use it, while the reader gets a description. She talks quite a bit about the "cleft" between her legs. I stopped counting F-words. And the book ends with her having sex with a guy with gray hair (or some gray hair). I guess at the point she has turned 15, but still, NOT OKAY! The book is well written as far as the language, obviously a talented writer. I don't think I would ever recommend the book to someone under 18 and then still I would be wary. Half of me thought it was a well written, insightful book and the other half of me is appalled I could find anything positive to say about this trash. 0 stars, DNF"
Young adult books are meant for children 13-17 years old. I'm sorry to say we will not be posting a review of this book on the blog. To be honest, I'm surprised she found someone to publish it.
Friendly Neighborhood Editor*
To alleviate the sting of this misspelled disapprobation from Ms. Clean-Reads, I nightly read an editor’s rejection of Nabokov’s brilliant (and disgusting) novel Lolita.
The outraged editor wrote: “This book should be buried under a stone for a thousand years.”
Which served to remind me that good art often offends.
But I didn’t find true comfort from prudish disapproval until one of my girlfriends said, “When people say rude sh#t to me about my art, I just say to myself, ‘What would Madonna do?’”
That advice was so awesome I immediately watched Madonna’s Super Bowl Halftime show on Youtube. It was ameliorating to no end to think that Madonna likely has received more accusations of being smutty and inappropriate than anyone on earth.
But does Madonna give a flip about people who think she should stick to bland and non-offensive themes or say her act is “NOT OKAY”? Heck no! Hardly anyone would call her work “high art,” but she probably doesn’t give a damn about that either She’s too busy doing back walkovers and rocking it.
So anytime I feel the hot flush of shame that I’ve put an edgy novel out into the world I just imagine Henry Rollins saying, “Madonna, you go girl!”
*EDITOR'S NOTE: I deliberately removed the editor's name. She's a somewhat renowned YA writer and she will recognize herself. If you see someone walking around with a paper bag on her head in your town, it's her. Quite frankly, I'd do the same if I had written such a condescending and uptight email.
I thought it was a great opportunity to show the double standards that often plague this very trendy genre. While books who discuss anorexia and cutting your wrists are often quoted as landmarks of the genre, a book that explores sexuality would be smut? Isn't teenagehood the perfect age to expose the ins and the outs of sex with your kid? Aren't you happy somebody wrote a goddamn novel about it, so you won't have to? Anyway, I'll let Mary discuss the "smut" incident. Meanwhile...
To buy the Paperback
To buy the eBook
SMUT, by Mary Pauline Lowry
Dear Mary,
My reviewer who was given the Earthquake Machine has rated it 0 stars, DNF (Did not finish). She tells me it was completly [sic] innapropriate [sic] for a young adult audience and after looking it over myself, I agree. This isn't YA, it's erotica. To be honest I'm appalled at the idea that this book might be picked up and read by thirteen-fifteen year old girls. Here is what the other reviewer had to say:
"Don't get me wrong, I like a little bit of smut, but maybe I am too much of a prude. I don't know. I am used to YA books being a little more clean. Here's the gist. It's about a 14 year old girl. The Earthquake machine is actually a vibrator and at one point during the book, she gives it to her 100 year old neighbor and watches her use it, while the reader gets a description. She talks quite a bit about the "cleft" between her legs. I stopped counting F-words. And the book ends with her having sex with a guy with gray hair (or some gray hair). I guess at the point she has turned 15, but still, NOT OKAY! The book is well written as far as the language, obviously a talented writer. I don't think I would ever recommend the book to someone under 18 and then still I would be wary. Half of me thought it was a well written, insightful book and the other half of me is appalled I could find anything positive to say about this trash. 0 stars, DNF"
Young adult books are meant for children 13-17 years old. I'm sorry to say we will not be posting a review of this book on the blog. To be honest, I'm surprised she found someone to publish it.
Friendly Neighborhood Editor*
To alleviate the sting of this misspelled disapprobation from Ms. Clean-Reads, I nightly read an editor’s rejection of Nabokov’s brilliant (and disgusting) novel Lolita.
The outraged editor wrote: “This book should be buried under a stone for a thousand years.”
Which served to remind me that good art often offends.
But I didn’t find true comfort from prudish disapproval until one of my girlfriends said, “When people say rude sh#t to me about my art, I just say to myself, ‘What would Madonna do?’”
That advice was so awesome I immediately watched Madonna’s Super Bowl Halftime show on Youtube. It was ameliorating to no end to think that Madonna likely has received more accusations of being smutty and inappropriate than anyone on earth.
But does Madonna give a flip about people who think she should stick to bland and non-offensive themes or say her act is “NOT OKAY”? Heck no! Hardly anyone would call her work “high art,” but she probably doesn’t give a damn about that either She’s too busy doing back walkovers and rocking it.
So anytime I feel the hot flush of shame that I’ve put an edgy novel out into the world I just imagine Henry Rollins saying, “Madonna, you go girl!”
*EDITOR'S NOTE: I deliberately removed the editor's name. She's a somewhat renowned YA writer and she will recognize herself. If you see someone walking around with a paper bag on her head in your town, it's her. Quite frankly, I'd do the same if I had written such a condescending and uptight email.