So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld
“I do adore that Westerfeld, but he always kills me with his epilogues. Did you read Midnighters? I LOVED that series–it just built and built until book three was so amazing! Till you hit the epilogue. Why, Scott, why?? He creates such amazing and original worlds. Someday he’s going to accidentally write a happy ending.”
When I read the above in a letter from a friend, it made me think – of all things – Buddha. From Buddha’s teachings, the first of the “The Four Noble Truths” is that life IS suffering. However, once we see this truth we can transcend it. Thus, by truly knowing that life is difficult it ceases to be difficult. Because once you accept this truth, then the fact that life is suffering no longer matters.
I was trying to decide if the same thinking could be applied to reading Westerfeld’s works. That by knowing and accepting that the endings to his novels are going to suck it up big time – that they then cease to do so. I have no idea if applying Zen Buddhist teachings to young adult fiction will work, but I’m willing to give it a shot!
As for this stand alone novel, meh – it wasn’t even really worth a shot. I’ve already ordered Midnighters though and am willing to move on to bigger and better things than some overly wrought underwritten story about technology and the levels of innovation and trendsetting.
