E is for the Elephant in the room
You’ve heard the expression “the elephant in the room, right?”
According to Wikipedia, this means:
“Elephant in the room” is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed. The idiomatic expression also applies to an obvious problem or risk no one wants to discuss.”
I’m wondering how many times a YA book has an ‘elephant in the room’ and really ignores it. For example … are drugs, sex, violence, etc. in the book but not addressed as a problem? Should they be? Is that an elephant to the reader or is it only to the characters? Does it even matter?
I wonder sometimes, these unaddressed issues are just dependent on the author’s point of view.
For example, in After Dark (my book) several reviewers have said “What I don’t like about Mac is that she doesn’t ask questions. She hasn’t ever been curious about her life. That can’t be real.”
Can’t it? Really? Perhaps there is a reason for this and maybe that’s Mac’s ‘elephant in the room’. The ‘elephant’ even in one book, might be different by the reader and the perspectives and experiences they have – especially since so many adults read YA and thus their experiences are even more varied than the teens.
What do you think?
