Junk & Stuff

Both authors began by answering the question, “Why dystopia?”: Patrick Ness said that dystopias are “a good place to explore metaphors about today”; they’re about the world as it is now, rather than any actual future scenarios. He also referred to his recent review of Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker, where he explains why he thinks dystopias particularly appeal to teen readers: they mirror the feeling of powerlessness teens often experience; of being surrounded by rules that feel arbitrary; of having the responsibilities but not the most of the privileges of adulthood. These stories are often a better representation of what living in the world feels like as a teen than realistic fiction. And, crucially, they show that even the darkest scenarios are survivable, which is important to anyone going through difficult times.