Magical Realism

Thank you for the link

I love magical realism & surrealism, and would like more of it in YA.

I read that today! I have an idea for a magical realism book, probably my next WIP.

I loved Imaginary Girls, but I can't think of any other YA magical realism.

Holes by Louis Sachar. May be the best book ever written... at least if you ask me. Read it!

I honestly don't know. For me it's hard to find anything like that and I only know about Gabriel Garcia Marquez because the way he writes reminds me of how my grandmother would just tell me these stories that sound true but also sound as if they were mixed in with a tall tale.

Thanks for the link too. I'd love to see some YA writers tackle something like One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Becca C. said:

I read that today! I have an idea for a magical realism book, probably my next WIP.

I loved Imaginary Girls, but I can't think of any other YA magical realism.

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Ditto!

The Book Thief, although I'm pretty sure there's not a soul who hasn't read it

How I Live Nowby Meg Rosoff is a pretty solid one.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

I Am the Messenger again, by the beautiful Markus Zusak

And I'm pretty sure Jellicoe Road is lowkey magical realism, too...but I don't know.

Good luck!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff.

Jellicoe Road has elements of it, too, imo. The way everything ties together, and that sort of spiritual link between past and present. Definitely hints of mysticism if not magical realism.

ETA: DrunkenLilacs beat me to it

Also adding This is Shyness by Leanne Hall.

David Almond's books, particularly Skellig and Kit's Wilderness.

Going back even further, Francesca Lia Block's books almost always have a magical element. It's been a while since I picked up her stuff, but I remember Witch Baby was a good one.

I was working on a magical realism YA for a while (which eventually I'll get back to) and it was hard to find other YA books to read for inspiration! I usually went back to the classic magical realism books for adults -- Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gunter Grass, Jose Saramago, and so forth.

There's one title coming in 2013 - After You by Jessica Corra. I follow her on Twitter. She's such a sweetheart.

So there's at least one more coming. Hopefully that bodes well since it's one of those genres I love to read but couldn't write for the life of me.

Francesca Lia Block!!! Omg, how'd I forget her? She's amazing. Weetzie Bat and Baby Bebop are my favourites, but all her books are soooo good.

PS - A prequel to Weetzie Bat is being published soon, it's called Pink Smog!

Echo and The Hanged Man by Francesca Lia Block. Her book Wasteland also has some magical realism elements, I think.

I have such a hard time defining magical realism. This was a helpful article!

To go by the description in the article, the closest thing I've read would be BLACK MARIA by Diana Wynne Jones. I also dimly remember a short story by Joan Aiken, something about a witch who turns into a cat, and it was all perfectly organic to a plot that was chiefly about gardening one-upsmanship . . . maybe more MG than YA, though.

Here's another great article about what magical realism is: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicRealism?from=Main.MagicalRealism

Well, not really an article. It's tvtropes. But it's also got great examples of magical realism literature--not much YA listed, though.

eastcoastgal said:

To go by the description in the article, the closest thing I've read would be BLACK MARIA by Diana Wynne Jones. I also dimly remember a short story by Joan Aiken, something about a witch who turns into a cat, and it was all perfectly organic to a plot that was chiefly about gardening one-upsmanship . . . maybe more MG than YA, though.

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guh Diana Wynne Jones. <3 <3 <3 Though BM is my least favorite of hers.

chocowrites said:

guh Diana Wynne Jones. <3 <3 <3 Though BM is my least favorite of hers.

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Oooh, it gets better?! BLACK MARIA was the first of hers I'd read, and I actually liked it pretty well. Her writing felt comfortable and very welcoming. I was drawn in right away, and I have several more of hers lined up waiting for my attention (would it have been you who rec'd her to me? I requested "ordinary" magic some time ago, and her name came up in the thread so I made a note of it)

Have you read much Joan Aiken? I looked up the short story I remembered, and it was THE QUINCE TREE-- one in a series of short stories about the Armitage family, who apparently handle that sort of thing all the time! I don't think I read (m)any of the others, so now I'm eager to lay hands on that book, too.

I thought of Aiken when I read the description of magical realism, though I may not understand the genre enough to be correct about that. She's not terribly gentle with her readers but she does have a special brand of grim whimsy in her work that I love.

yes, I remember posting in that thread! Yay, I'm so glad you picked up a few of her books I do like her other books much more. It's interesting, since her books range from stronger magical realism/magic-in-our-world to full-blown fantasy.

I haven't read any Joan Aiken, sadly. I should, I really should.

I understand magical realism is it's own art form, but does it overlap with speculative fiction?

I've only read one short story by her, but Aimee Bender is an adult lit fic magical realism writer. One of her books is called The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, about a girl who can taste the emotions of the chef in the food they make. That kind of concept could really, really work in YA.

Becca C. said:

I've only read one short story by her, but Aimee Bender is an adult lit fic magical realism writer. One of her books is called The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, about a girl who can taste the emotions of the chef in the food they make. That kind of concept could really, really work in YA.

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TPSoLC actually won an Alex Award from ALA for being an adult book that has special appeal to the YA audience.

I like Bender's short stories. Also, off topic: but I actually got a chance to go to a talk by Bender. She said some inspiring stuff, mostly about how she struggled for a long time against writing what she actually wanted to (fantastical, since a lot of the literary world looks down on that), and that you should never do that as a writer. Guh, now I wish I could remember exactly what she said, I'm pretty sure I'm botching it :/

RexZentah said:

I understand magical realism is it's own art form, but does it overlap with speculative fiction?

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I think that some lighter contemp fantasy or paranormal could overlap with magical realism, but it's not very common in my experience.