How come trendy books are considered crap by critics like yourselves?

modern pulpfiction

>>9309360
i enjoyed dis desu

>>9309360
better than dickens

>>9309360
because they aren't good? they are liked by 10-15 year olds.

>>9309360
Only read the first one. It was ok, I guess, for YA. Nothing exciting and it spawned a million shittier derivatives for which I will always despise it.

Because there's nothing besides escapism in them. They appeal to the most vulgar of feelings, cheap sadness and tribalism. They're not shit really, they're just mindless entertainment, like the transformers movies or the reality TV.

>>9310454
Proper answer.

>>9310480
Pseud answer.

There's no need to analyze a YA trilogy that much.

they are basically a reflection of the mass hive-mind, everyone here is alienated

>>9309360
From an ideas/discourse perspective: Trendy books become trendy by repeating ideas and sentiments that already exist widely in a simple, approachable way. This means, if you are reading a lot, that the work says only things you've already heard: Not a response to earlier works, but a regurgitation.
From a more technical/prose perspective: Trendy books focus on execution over design, doing a simple thing very well, taking no new risks. Imagine going to a concert, and hearing a very excellent performance of "Happy Birthday", "Chopsticks" "Mary Had a Little Lamb". It's safe, it's workmanlike, and combined with the lack of novel ideas it's very BORING. It's the difference between Evil Kinevil jumping the Grand Canyon, and Evil Kinevil jumping over a ditch.

>>9309360
>The majority likes them
that's not even true

>>9310480
what needs to be in a book to make it good? if someone can connect to a book and its characters emotionally and is engrossed by the story, doesn't that make it good if many can do that?
>>9310454
most YA is bought by adults

>>9309360
Of course they do, they've been trained to.

>>9310612
>most YA is bought by adults
Source?

>>9310668
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/53937-new-study-55-of-ya-books-bought-by-adults.html

>>9310612
"Good" is too nebulous a concept. I'd rather stick with more or less literary merit. They don't present innovations in prose, literary techniques, or develop novel ideas in philosophy or literary theory. These are simply time burners, designed to make you have a good time for a little while (if you're the kind of person who enjoys them) and nothing else.

>>9310612
>most YA is bought by adults
Ya, for their children.
Saying this is like saying "most christmas presents are bought by adults".

>>9310738
So I'm not saying these books are "good" or "bad", there certainly are some books better than others in the same YA classification; but that they don't play in the same field as other books, because they strive for different things. For example, which kind of book do you think suffers more from spoilers? YA books rely heavily on plot, whilst books of highest literary merit tend to favor prose quality (there'll always be exceptions).

>>9310698
neat

>>9310747
If you read >>9310698
8 out of 10 adults admit to buying YA novels so they can read them, not their kids.

And what the majority likes is usually crap.

I read the hunger games as a teen and i found them awful even then

waste of time

also they all suck. you've read one and you've read all of them.

>>9310984
so you read one?

>>9310987
What he wrote implies reading all of them and comparing, reading some and extrapolating (fallacy), or reading none and making assumptions (fallacy).

>>9310480
Reality television is the most patrician avant garde experimental filmmaking on the planet. Blows Goddard, Tarkovsky, anything else away.

>>9311131
It would be if it wasn't scripted.

B>>9309360
Because for most people, books (and all other forms of media) are just a shallow form of entertainment. Do they care about the literary quality and originality in ideas ? Or do they care about being engaged by a 'page turner' plot with easy characters to relate to and chock full of familiar tropes?

>>9310612
But they can't. They think they can, because they've never tried better, but they can't.

>>9311325
Basically >>9311159 100%. People read the same way they watch Netflix: to turn their brains off. They're tired, it's early and they're on the way to work or it's late and they just got home, and they just want something to pass the time until they need to...do anything else.
>>9310974
Unless you read legit literature and liked it you were probably a pretty pseud teen tbqhwyf.