Our former bookseller Lewi, poet, writer and aficionado of all things art and Victorian, posted an interesting comment on Facebook about Brian Selznick's beautiful book The Marvels - nutritious food for thought:
"I go to bed tonight a little saddened. I have just finished reading the most beautiful book, recommended to me by my even more beautiful friend Patty, which is 'The Marvels' by Brian Selznick. It is a tale of two halves where 60% or so consists of hand-drawn scenes which tell one story (and reminded me of a visual representation of a Sigur Ros song), while the rest is dedicated to the written word, which frames the first story in another incredibly delicate, plot-twisting, happy-and-sad-at-the-same-time theme which rounds everything off so sweetly. Without giving too much away, there are a gay man and a gender-fluid girl in the story (who just so happen to be gay and non-binary without having the story revolve around those aspects), which, considering the book is primarily aimed at teenagers, I think it is an absolutely incredible way of showing diversity and a 21st century attitude to "different" types of people with whom we share this planet, no?
However, upon looking to amazon to see what others thought of it, I was upset and, to be honest, quite angry about how many adults consider the aforementioned themes as, and I quote, "controversial", "not suitable for a young audience" and "requiring parental involvement".
I'm sorry, but what? How on earth can the account of a fictional man expressing his love for another man, and a girl who does not wish to necessarily be represented as such, be considered as "not suitable" and "controversial"?! How else will teenagers, especially those who are struggling with gender and sexuality identity issues, empathise with others, real or not, who are or have gone through the same thing? How else will they learn tolerance for homosexuality and so forth, if this is being attempted to be taken away from them by fully grown adults - a lot of those reviews were from teachers too! What is it going to take to make people realise that it is okay to have gay and gender-fluid characters in books and for it not to affect the storytelling and the plot and so forth?
I don't know if it is because of the friends I have or how I was raised or my liberal, mostly left-wing views but I see absolutely no problem with any of it in the slightest, and people suggesting that others do not buy this book for their children because of those "issues" (yet they are quick to say how good Selznick's other books are, which contain heterosexual, gender-conforming characters) are purely adding to the problem by creating a stigma around two already very sensitive issues. I thought this was 2015, not 1815. Many, many people are becoming more open-minded, I know, and I think that is fantastic, and I know those reviews are just electronic words on an electronic screen but they have dampened my spirits and shed a perhaps unwanted light on the fact that we still have a long way to go in the name of social equality."
