Thoughts on Tuesdays (3): Dystopian Love

This is a weekly meme here on my blog featuring stuffs basically anything under the sun :)

Dystopian Love

   Now, I really don’t know when the dystopian YA genre started, or became popular. But for me, the first dystopian novel I’ve read was Matched by Allie Condie last January 2011. Even if the Hunger Games was published way before it. Matched was published last 2010 and the Hunger Games was published last 2008. Anyway, my point is I don’t know when it really started, but I’m pretty sure before this dystopian YA craze began, the dystopian movies arrived first, but just not the YA type. 

   When I read Matched, I liked it. The thought of having a future broken world trying to survive by building a strict society overwhelmed me. But when I read the Hunger Games, I was officially addicted to the genre. And when I’m overly addicted to something, I tend to share it to my friends. Like the time I started reading a lot of novels again, I lend my books to my close friends. Then when this genre caught my eye, I shared it to them too. Later on when they finished reading the books I shared, they said “why do you keep on letting us read depressing books?”. And we laughed at that because it was true. But I still don’t know the answer to that “Why?”.

   I don’t know what it is with this depressing genre that enraptured the teens nowadays. It can be the exciting adventure of survival, or the idea of rebelling against a system that is naturally wrong, or the dark story lines that is the opposite of the popular epic paranormal loves we found in Twilight and such? When you stop and think about it, there are a lot of reasons why. 

   Personally, as a young adult and a reader myself, I love dystopian novels because of the adrenaline rush I feel of the adventure of the story. Not to mention how each author create a new type of environment where their characters live. I believe each and every novel series or stand alones are unique to itself. Also, it has always been my dream to experience an adventure in my life. Like literally the adventure that requires me to walk the woods, hunt food, fire woods, and most of all how to fight & defend myself. I want to especially learn how to be an archer. It maybe impossible for it to me to happen in reality, so I dissolve myself into reading these novels. 

   And so whatever the reason you love dystopian novels, what’s important is we appreciate this new genre, and I think we can pick a lesson or two in every book we read. Well, I do. I now have learned how to value our environment more, leading me to change one step at a time. I hope we all do too. :)