I completely agree with you!Nym182 wrote: ↑06 Feb 2020, 15:28 One of the thoughts that kept occurring to me as I read this book was that Opaque would have been much better if it was not a YA book.
I dig gritty and dark books like anything by Bret Easton Elis or Stephen King, so when it turned as dark as it did I had mixed feelings. I enjoyed it but did not think that it fit in a YA book.
Between the darkness of Adam and the sexual undertones, I really think that Leigh-Reign would have made a much better book if she had leaned into the darkness. It would have made the strange sexual parts of the book less strange, especially if they were expanded on. I didn't like the scenes where Adam watches Carly wash or Carly's admittance that she wore socks to prevent stirring up Kane's foot fetish (what high schooler has a foot fetish?) in the context of a story about high schoolers.
Do you think writing it a YA book held the author back? Would you have preferred to read this as a sci-fi thriller?
Better as an adult book
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Re: Better as an adult book
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My impression at the end of the book is that it drew me in when I didn’t expect it to. However you hit on most of the things that bothered me about this book. I feel horrified by the idea of a 14 year old girl reading this. An older teen that is closer to adulthood ... bothers me less. I think that marketing this as an adult book and not young adult genre would be better based on the content.gilliansisley wrote: ↑07 Feb 2020, 14:08I couldn't agree more with you on this. The heavy sexual undertones, the themes of kidnapping, rape, murder, and such are wildly inappropriate. And while this may not be a popular opinion, as so many people are raving it's 4-star quality, but I really did not enjoy this book, at all. The best I can give it is a 2.AntonelaMaria wrote: ↑07 Feb 2020, 08:30 There is more to the book genre than the character's age. Just because they are what high school age that makes it okay to put this book in the YA category. I agree with you..topics in this book are better suited to be a sci-fi thriller more than anything else.
I think that the relationship between Carly and Adam is anything but healthy. He is an immature child, who attacks and screams at his loved ones, and is both obsessive and possessive of Carly. While his "character develops", I never felt he actually redeemed himself. And when Carly finds out Adam kidnapped, almost raped and facilitated the death of a young girl and it's like, "Yeah, okay, whatever. But we're in high school and in LOVE and I'm going to fix you and that's all that matters!" I wanted to chuck my eReader out the door and into the freezing rain, it was so cringy.
I imagine my young daughter reading this book thinking this kind of relationship is normal, and it truly disturbs me. A lot. I've been in an emotionally abusive relationship before, and have been sexually assaulted, and to me, Adam is not a hero-- he's a garbage human being, and I just could not get past what he did to Terry.
In no universe is this a YA fiction novel. Sexually explicit thoughts of f*cking his mom? What he did to Terry? Nope. Nopers. So incredibly wrong.
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The book was definitely very dark at the beginning. I think it could've been so much more as an adult book. However, things that could be forgiven in a YA book, such as the instant relationship and attachment of Carly and Adam, are more obvious in an adult novel.