In Others’ Words, Part 4: Milksop Must Be Banned!
At Least Among French Teenagers, Maybe All Teenagers
I’m normally against book banning, but I’ll make an exception for my debut novel, Milksop. It must be shelved even before it hits bookstore shelves, e-readers, and night tables—for the protection of French teenagers. Maybe for all teenagers. Above all, it must not get into school libraries and classrooms.
This warning stems from a teenager’s reading of Milksop that almost ended in catastrophe. Let me explain.
Seventeen-Year-Old Tina (2026) vs. Seventeen-Year-Old Evan (1979)
My publisher, Alanna Rusnak, has working for her a high school co-op student, Tina, who’s from France. To give Tina some practice proofreading, Alanna gave her my book to review. According to Alanna, here’s how Tina reacted:
“She was very dramatic: throwing her hands in the air, groaning loudly, sighing, tossing the book down.”
Apparently, Evan and his story annoyed Tina so much she was distracted from her task. She couldn’t channel the cold, clinical eye of the professional proofreader. I don’t know if she caught any errors, but she caught something from Milksop—a bug that clearly proved a danger to her mental and emotional health. And depending on her aim throwing the book across the room, Milksop might have damaged the physical health of innocent bystanders. Tina could have put out someone’s eye, including Alanna’s. I can’t afford to lose my publisher!
I speculate that Tina’s reaction was due to two factors: her young age and her French identity, both of which lend themselves to naturally dramatic, even theatrical behaviour. I know whereof I speak. Though my daughter-in-law is no longer a teenager, she is Quebecois and has therefore brought plenty of drama into our lives. Most days our home life includes scenes fitting of a theatre-of-the-absurd play.
All of which leads me to conclude that Milksop is too dangerous for French teenagers anywhere in the world, not just in France and Quebec. I’m having nightmare visions of classrooms filled with students falling out of their chairs and injuring themselves, or, worse yet, so enraged they’re throwing their copies of Milksop at their teachers. Imagine the trauma! Imagine the lawsuits!
Better Milksop be banned than that. Better it be burned.
Little Love for Evan and His Story
Alanna also wanted to give Tina some practice writing a review and asked her to do one based on her reading of Milksop. I thought that was a brave thing for Alanna to do, given the potentially incendiary power of Tina’s judgement. Her words could have set the Chicken House ablaze.
I won’t share the entire review, as it contains some spoilers, but here are two excerpts which get to the heart of Tina’s problem with Evan:
From the very beginning of the book, it seemed obvious to me that Evan was deeply immature and selfish, but he also harbored morally reprehensible thoughts toward the women around him. The historical context offers a plausible reason for his thoughts but, in my humble opinion, does not excuse them in the least. Indeed, as a girl of the twenty-first century, I find it very difficult to connect with or identify with the main character, which makes the book hard to read. . . .
In conclusion, it seems to me that Milksop is, all in all, a good, entertaining story with twists. Nevertheless, Evan’s old-fashioned way of thinking makes him a bit unlikeable and I found it quite hard to ignore. This stopped me from enjoying the story as I could have if the character was actually respectful.
I now understand why Evan was never a ladies’ man. Far from being a chick magnet, he was a chick repellent.
While I may have lost the French-teenage-girl demographic for Milksop, I do console myself with my three previous “blurbs”: the endorsement from Larry Link of Linkhaven Farms, a second from Joseph Kertes affirming Milksop’s fresh take on coming-of-age stories, and a third from Melissa Kuipers praising my novel as a rich and vivid fish-out-of-water tale.
On top of that, I’ve received this lovely review from a book blogger in the UK.
Judge for Yourself
In less than two weeks now, you can judge for yourself the level of danger Milksop poses. Despite the risks involved, please consider ordering it ahead of its release on May 23. Check your options at my website.
Thanks for considering my request! Once Milksop arrives, just be careful. I’d hate to learn that it’s caused teenagers in your vicinity to spontaneously combust.
As always, if the spirit moves you, please share your thoughts and this post.