Amazonfail: In Hindsight

Remember last Wednesday's post?  About what is probably the biggest Amazonfail of all time?  No?  Read it here, because I'm about to talk about it again.  In short, Amazon sold a book targeted to pedophiles.  There was major fallout on Twitter ("major" is an understatement) under the hashtag #amazonfail calling for boycotts and cancellations of Amazon.com accounts.  The scariest part of the whole thing?  The book jumped 101,000% in sales.

In hindsight, the whole thing makes me tired.  And cynical.  Maybe it's just been a long week, but that feels kind of like forever ago.  And it raises very uncomfortable questions for everyone involved.  First of all?  The big, fat censorship problem.  Amazon's official reasoning behind not pulling the book was this:

Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable. Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.

And you know what?  I think Amazon is an unprincipled evil giant of a company.  They weren't getting my business before this all went down, and they certainly won't be getting it now.  But they're right.  That 101,000% increase can be directly attributed to bad purchasing decisions made by people, not by Amazon, though of course they should have pulled the book before it got to that point.  In the interest of journalism along the lines of I, Asshole's purchase, yeah.  I get it.  You wanted to see how bad this book really was, if it was all a prank, yada yada yada.  But, really?  This is something I regret about my post.  I drew too much attention to the book, and not enough to the company that allowed that book to be published and sold.  Amazon's statement is the smugly faux-virtuous statement of a company making a buck off of people's voyeurism.  I don't blame them for that one bit.

I'm anti-censorship.  Big time.  But I'm also a believer in self-censorship - don't read, or watch, or listen to crap that messes you up.  Such as a book on pedophilia.  Cancel your Amazon account, don't shop there ever again, but don't buy the freaking book and put a dollar in the pocket of someone who might have been planning on this all along.  A quote by Mr. Phillip R Greaves 2nd himself:

"I can see where they would come to that kind of conclusion and to a certain extent I wanted that kind of notoriety to effect the book. ... I wanted it to effect [sic] sales," he said.

It doesn't take a genius to write an inflammatory book and make tons of money off of it.  Seriously.  Just admit that the person's a freak and move on with your life.  But don't buy the freaking book.  Okay?

To paraphrase a tweet by Maggie Stiefvater, Amazon gets around having principles by not having principles.  Who knows what sick logic allowed them to pull gay and lesbian books without calling it censorship and not pull this book?  My point is, in hindsight, we should have let the book die a quiet death, and made Amazon die a longer, excruciatingly painful one.  Decide where your money goes.  Shop indie - it's much easier to see the effects of every dollar you spend.

I have an awesome grandpa, but he doesn't always understand why it's so important to me to know where my money's going all the time.  Within the next month I'm moving even further out into the sticks (and I say that without sarcasm, I'm actually thrilled) to a farm with my family, grandparents included.  A few days ago we were talking about how I was going to procure books way out there in the middle of nowhere, and I said I'd just make a list and make an indie bookstore run once a month.  Pretty much like I'm doing now.  "But isn't that why there's Amazon.com?" he asked.  How could I even begin to explain why they're not going to get any more of my money?  I just shrugged, and said I'd figure it out.

In short, I'll repeat.  Decide where your money goes.  Don't let it go to pedophiles, even pseudo-pedophiles like this guy.  That's the biggest lesson to learn from Amazonfails, past and future.

Waiting on Wednesdays #13

Ooh!  Thirteenth post!  *hides under desk* *does happy dance* I love the number thirteen.  Hooray for me.  Anyway, Waiting on Wednesdays is graciously hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine, so go leave the link to your thirteenth (or first, or hundredth) post over at her Mr. Linky.  My pick for this week is...

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card.

Only his father knew that Rigg possessed the power to see deep down the paths of people's pasts. But it was only after his father died that Rigg discovers that he has another special gift: the power to change the past. Unfortunately, with that knowledge, all certainty and safety began to melt away. Thinking of it as a coming-of-age novel at triple speed.

Despite his, shall we say, odd and occasionally disturbing opinions in real life, and the thinly veiled controversial allegory he slips into in some of his work, I love Orson Scott Card's storytelling.  Love love love.  I read Ender's Game on the recommendation of pretty much every science fiction fan on the planet, and loved it.  I read an old edition of A Planet Called Treason (before its name was changed to just plain Treason) and loved it.  I read his short stories in his Intergalactic Medicine Show anthology and loved them.  The worlds he creates are worlds I love to imagine and spend time in, and the book he wrote on writing science fiction and fantasy is one of my favorite writing books ever.

So it's a no-brainer to say that I want to read his official foray into YA lit, though Ender's Game was pretty much a teen novel in its fan base, anyway.

What are you waiting on this Wednesday?  Please share in the comments!

Review: Cut

Cut by Patricia McCormick
Find it at a local indie!

• Why I read it: Interesting premise, hype
• Disclosure: Received a final published edition from Paperback Swap

Fifteen-year old Callie is so withdrawn that she's not speaking to anyone including her therapist at the residential treatment facility where her parents and doctor send her after discovering that she cuts herself. Her story unfolds primarily through dramatic monologues, gradually revealing the family turmoil that led to her self-destructive behavior. Her little brother, Sam, is ill he nearly died in her care. Since Sam's illness, Callie's mother has become so worried and fragile that she rarely leaves the house. Her father has responded to the psychological and financial stress of Sam's illness by disappearing into his work, and when that doesn't work, into his drinking.
Callie's efforts to understand herself and her family illuminate her process of recovery honestly and with hope. Cut provides an insightful look at the psychology of cutting a form of self-abuse an estimated 2 million teenage girls inflict on themselves.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book.  Actually, no.  I've realized I say that a lot in my reviews, because I guess nobody really knows what to expect from this book.  I knew more or less what to expect from this book...an exploration of family problems, teenage psychology, and an eventual message that cutting isn't okay.  I'd heard people put it in a league with Speak, I'd heard people say that it was preachy, I'd heard people say that they'd never even heard of it, so what would they know?

Figuring I'd only be one swap credit down if I hated it, I picked it up, and surprise, surprise, it languished for months.  Since...er...June.  Something about the spare cover, the possibility of somebody trying hopelessly to understand the teenage mind, all put me off.  I don't think I even opened the first page until four days ago, and then, boy oh boy was it a quick read from there.  I think it took me an hour and a half, max.  To my pleasant surprise, it wasn't preachy.  Mostly, it was great.  Three cheers for second person POV done well; it hardly ever is.  McCormick skillfully guides us through Callie's head and her feelings.  Unfortunately, it also suffered from what seems to be the bane of my existence in YA lately, so-called "spare writing."

Let me clarify what spare writing means to me, and correct me if I'm wrong.  Spare writing means condensed plot lines, and showing instead of telling.  I could go on with what it means - the possibilities there are infinite - but I can definitely tell you what it doesn't mean to me: a lack of information that's important to the plot.  In Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson kept it spare by keeping the plot fairly simple, and exploring many sides of it.  In Cut, I kept waiting for more details on the why.  How did Callie even conceive of cutting as an escape?  Did she have friends at school that did it?  Did she start running with a bad crowd?  Was it a status symbol?  I know and have known people who cut, so I understand that the reasons aren't simple, but it still felt like we should have gotten some more information.  Callie felt hollow.  While she certainly had her problems - Sam in particular tugged at my heartstrings - I still felt like she was there for a teen to project themselves into.  It might not have been preachy, but it still didn't ring true.

That said, I loved the dynamics of the other girls at Sick Minds, Tiffany, Becca, and Debbie in particular.  That was the part of the book that stuck with me at the end - the fractured friendships that develop under pressure, when you've hit the bottom and somehow just keep falling through.  This book is about a decade old now, so I'm sure Patricia McCormick has done other work, and if she has I'd be willing to read it just on the virtue of the bickering and small kindnesses she captured here.

All in all, this book was very enjoyable and the prose was beautiful, but it didn't strike a chord with me the way that other issue books like Speak did - perhaps because it was very conscious of itself as an "issue" book, and not so much as simply a good teen story like the others.  Four out of five stars.

In My Mailbox #5/Read This Week #1

In My Mailbox is a meme graciously hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.  Don't forget to add your post to this week's Mr. Linky if you haven't already, and read about how to participate here!  While my mailbox was sadly empty this week, I did splurge and buy:

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld.  (ZOMG yes I did.  Read my review of Leviathan here!)

The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan's peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.
Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what's ahead.

As well as the heavyweight East of Eden by John Steinbeck.  I've had enough time to read no less than three young adult novels this week, so I figured with all of these scheduled reviews on my hands I might as well buy a 608-page doorstopper, too!  They're pretty sure of themselves in this description, aren't they?

The masterpiece of one of the greatest American writers of all time. East of Eden is an epic tale of good vs. evil with many biblical references and parallels. The story is ultimately that of good's triumph over evil and the human will's ability to make that happen.

Here's a slightly better one: 

Today, nearly forty years after his death, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck remains one of America's greatest writers and cultural figures. We have begun publishing his many works for the first time as blackspine Penguin Classics featuring eye-catching, newly commissioned art. This season we continue with the seven spectacular and influential books East of Eden, Cannery Row, In Dubious Battle, The Long Valley, The Moon Is Down, The Pastures of Heaven, and Tortilla Flat. Penguin Classics is proud to present these seminal works to a new generation of readers—and to the many who revisit them again and again.

What did you get in your mailbox this week?  Please share in the comments!

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Read this week (link = to review, * = upcoming reviews):

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

Wait for Me by An Na

Cut by Patricia McCormick*

Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli*