Tuesday 4 August 2015

Teaser Tuesday: Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm.
To play along just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella.

Finding Audrey –
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
They talk about “body language,” as if we all speak it the same. But everyone has their own dialect. For me right now, for example, swiveling my body right away and staring rigidly at the corner means, “I like you.” Because I didn’t run away and shut myself in the bathroom. I just hope he realizes that.
— Chapter 11

He didn’t say anything. He stopped mid-sentence.
Except that stopping mid-sentence is the worst thing people can do. It’s, like, totally passive aggressive, because you can’t take issue with anything they’ve said. You have to take issue with what you think they were going to say.
Which then they deny.
— Chapter 14

Some authors, who are enormously successful on the adult side of publishing, sometimes get it into their heads, maybe egged on by their publicist, to try their hand on writing for a younger audience. In most cases the result reads like a mix of what they seem to remember liking when they were young and what they think a book for this age group should sound like. And if it’s not patronising, you’re in luck.
However, Sophie Kinsella managed this transition with an elegance that is admirable. Her voice is neither bland nor does the story seem shallow. I think she has found a very relevant topic and put it into a story that speaks to readers off all age groups ... possibly mostly the female percentage, but you can’t expect a tiger to change its stripes altogether. And why not address the audience you have anyway and organically expand it downwards? That’s certainly healthier than forcing out a book that should have never seen the light of day.
Audrey is in her own way a very relatable character. Maybe not every girl feels the need to hide from the outside world behind large sunglasses, but everyone has experienced situations where they would have rather run away than stay just a second longer. I like the characterisation of our lizard brain and I also like that the problem isn’t magically resolved completely, but that the reader gets to see steps of improvement as well as setbacks.

Do you know of other adult authors who have published books for a younger audience that you can recommend? Share them and your teasers in the comments.

7 comments:

Vonnie said...

I haven't read any Sophie Kinsella books. My friends have suggested that I'll her books out. Maybe I should after your teasers. :)

My TT

Literary Feline said...

I am glad to hear that Sophie Kinsella has made the transition into YA well. I admit to having the same concerns as you when I see adult fiction authors trying their hand at YA or children's books. It doesn't always work out for the best unfortunately. I have read and enjoyed a few of Kinsella's Shopaholic books. I may have to give this one a try.

Here's mine if you are interested: http://www.literaryfeline.com/2015/08/where-is-your-bookmark-08042015.html

Lisa-Marie Jordan said...

This is a great teaser! I've wondered about this book, and now I think I'll have to put it on my TBR list! Cheers!

Unknown said...

I'm reading this right now. My first book by this author too!

Here's my TT - http://fuonlyknew.com/2015/08/04/teaser-tuesdays-124-my-life-as-a-white-trash-zombie/

Sandra Nachlinger said...

I've read other books by this author and enjoyed them. This sounds like it could be a good one, even though I don't often read YA.
My Tuesday post features SHELTER US.

HeatherAnne said...

Another author who made the leap "backwards", as it were, successfully is Sherman Alexie. Alas, he has only written ONE young adult novel but absolutely hit it out of the park when he did. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. My son loves the book and has read it multiple times (only the Harry Potter books share that distinction).

My teaser this week is from Pretending the Dance by Diane Chamberlain: http://www.foofynotfoofy.com/foofynotfoofy/2015/8/4/teaser-tuesday-pretending-the-dance

Elisabeth said...

I think i have read her adult books, good to know she can transition well. Might have to pick this one up!

Here's mine: http://www.girl-who-reads.com/2015/08/short-stories-for-light-summer-reading.html

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