Young Adult Novels with Multiple Narrative Perspectives

Koss, Melanie D. Young Adult Novels with Multiple Narrative Perspectives: The Changing Nature of YA Literature. ALAN Review, Summer 2009 (36:3)

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v36n3/koss.html

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Melanie Koss writes, “Adolescent literature, which continues to be a typical and valued print text in today’s classroom, increasingly reflects the changes taking place in society, adolescence, and adolescent literacy…Today’s multiple narrative perspective novels are characterized by multiple voices, narrators, points of view, structures, and perspectives.” Koss explains that there are three major causes for the increase in novels with multiple perspectives/narrators: a). textual changes  that “reflect  the changing nature of literature in general and the changing nature of society, which is becoming more accepting of diverse populations and multiple perspectives on single events.;” b). teen changes, because teens are dealing with issues that are harsher and more serious than previous generation of teens, and books that present “different perspectives  can provide teens with ideas on how to act in different circumstances, as well as allow them to experiment with different ideas of identity;” and c). technological changes, because teens “are now much more accustomed to writing and reading on the Internet and using other forms of digital communication technologies. They gather information from a myriad of sources and synthesize it to make sense of a concept or event.”

In general, I agree that the shift towards multiple perspectives comes from the increasingly complex nature of information gathering that we do.  As a technologically adept culture, we now read from multiple sources and multiple technologies (internet, books, magazines, cable TV, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and our general media landscape is broader than generations before.  This has shifted how we expect information delivered to us, so that when reading a textual novel, we expect to be challenged with non-linear texts.  These more complex texts are challenging, in a good way, and provide lots of opportunity to piece together a complex narrative from multiple threads and multiple perspectives.  But as Koss warns, “The nature of these books, specifically their metafictive characteristics—such as intertextuality, multiple narratives, and non-linearity—require readers to think critically in order to achieve comprehension… Teachers must be aware of these changing characteristics in order to help their students navigate these texts.” We must be prepared to work with readers on ways to critically assess multiple perspectives, question narrator credibility, and in general, assemble a story from the pieces presented.

Personally, I find that I especially enjoy literature with either multiple stories that intertwine or parallel stories that intersect.  I find this narrative structure, where the payoff comes when the multiple stories all begin to weave together, to be especially satisfying.  I love it when authors trust their audience to handle complex, intertextual narratives.  Most of my favorite adult authors do this, and I’m just now discovering YA authors that use these narrative strategies. I guess because I'm new to the YA lit scene, I'm more familiar with adult authors who weave together multiple story arcs.  Neil Gaiman has done so beautifully in his comic book series, The Sandman. Neal Stephenson habitually has complex, sprawling narratives with fragmented story lines that eventually intersect in such books as Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, The Cryptonomicon, and Reamde.  Stephenson's books, although not exactly with alternating narrators, have interwoven character stories that remind much of the way Libba Bray uses her various characters in Beauty Queens to provide a wide assortment of perspectives. I've seen it first in adult literature, but thanks to my growing exposure to YA lit, I'm discovering books like Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I'll Give You The Sun, Afterworlds, and Beauty Queens have been doing this type of complex, interwoven narrative structures for a younger audience.