Dear Becca,
For some reason I keep putting off the writing of this
blog post. I don’t know what it is. Maybe I just don’t have a lot to say about
the book or maybe I’m just tired of working on the computer all day long. Whatever
it is, I won’t delay any longer….
The first thing that struck me about YOU AGAINST ME is
how British it is. In reading your last post, I overlooked the bit about Jenny
Downham being British. And even though I did a bit of reading about her myself
and knew – somewhere in my subconscious – that she was British, it didn’t occur
to me that it would be so apparent in her novel. My first clue: Mikey’s mom
walks into the room with a fag in her hand. My jaw dropped until I remembered
what fag is slang for in England (cigarette). And then there was the spanner
that Mikey carried around for a whole chapter… I would be curious to know if
there are two versions of the book and if you happened to purchase the
original, British version. When I studied abroad in the UK, I picked up a Sarah
Dessen book and the publisher had changed common American slang in order to
make it more British. Pants became trousers, etc. But it doesn’t seem like that‘s
the case this time. It just seems like a very British book. (And there wasn’t
anything wrong with that once I got used to the slang!)
As you mentioned, there was a good balance of “all the
lovey-dovey stuff” which was good because I trend toward far more fairy-tale
romances than you do. I have to hand it to Downham – she wrote the most
beautiful sex scene that I have read so far in YA. From Ellie’s perspective it
was very moving and captured the sentiment without being too blatantly
physical. I loved it.
SPOILER ALERT: One thing I want to say which is immensely
cynical …Despite the fact that Mikey and Ellie overcome their “Romeo and Juliet”-like
conflicts and wind up together, I can’t help but question the longevity and
practicality of their relationship. On the one hand, I truly do believe that if
you love each other enough you can overcome any obstacles. But on the other
hand, as a very family-oriented person, I can’t imagine being in a relationship
where there is such deep-rooted conflict between your families. In Shakespeare’s
Romeo and Juliet, there is no good reason for their grudge against one another
so they can overcome it if they put their minds to it. But in this novel, the
conflict makes perfect sense. I can’t imagine Mikey’s sister, Karyn, ever
forgiving Tom for what he’s done to her. She’ll probably never be able to stand
in the same room with him again. If Mikey and Karyn’s relationship is going to
last for the rest of their lives, they will continue to face obstacles like
that and what a challenging environment to start your own family in!
If I haven’t made it clear up to this point, though, I
definitely enjoyed this book. It’s one I might not have picked up on my own –
when it comes to YA, I don’t usually pick up books about sexual abuse –but the
main characters are really compelling and it has a feel-good ending which I
always appreciate!
Til we read again,
Megan
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