So I love boy POV books. Like, really love them. Heck, I've even had a go at writing one (although that was m/f dual POV, so I took the easy option!).
It's pretty cool getting a look into boys minds, whether they're troubled or in love or in hate - it totally changes the story, the POV. Books by authors like John Green and the author I'm reading at the moment, Albert Borris, are brilliant, but they knew what it was like to be a boy anyway. It's even better, IMO, when a boy POV book is written by a woman. And if the boy isn't just like a girl with different *ahem* bits.
So here are my top four - read them, and love them, people! They were really hard to choose between but I did my best
4) K.M. PEYTON
She was going to be on there somewhere. The woman that wrote Jonathan Meredith. Oh, and Patrick Pennington and Peter McNair, and a ton of others. She's got a talent in writing characters that are polar opposites. Jon and Pat, if they met, would probably despise each other. But each rings true, and she manages to make them current even though the majority of her books were written 40-50 years ago.
Book you have to try: Prove Yourself a Hero, for Jonathan and Peter.
3) HANNAH MOSKOWITZ
Nearly my no.2, for good reason. Jonah McNab is a heartbreaking character, and I love the fact that she writes in boys POV almost all the time. And I can't wait for Gone, Gone, Gone....
Book you have to try: Break, for Jonah and Jesse.
2) GAIL GILES
Aside from the boys POV, Shattering Glass haunted me for weeks. Especially since I did that thing I always do, and 'assigned' the characters faces (if a description sounds like, say, Justin Bieber, then the character is JB in my head). If anyone knows about Brit boyband One Direction, then you'll know Harry Styles, the annoying lead singer (who can't sing) - I assigned his face to evil Rob, and now I can't disassociate the two :/... But anyway, Young's voice is so real, and although he's an anti-hero, I still really feel for him and his plight.
Book you have to try: She's written other great books, but for me it's Shattering Glass all the way.
and....dun dun duuuuuuh.....
1) GILLIAN PHILIP
I may not be in love with him like K.M. Peyton's Jonathan, but Nick Geddes is one of my favourite characters ever. Smart, funny, tough and vulnerable at the same time, he's a great character. As are her other characters, male and female.
Book you have to try: Crossing The Line - ooh, and I love the little romance too!
So that's it, people! What do you think? Has anyone read any really well-written boy POV books by women (or men) recently? And do you think it's harder to write boys as a woman, or girls as a man?
I highly recommend What A Boy Wants by Nyrae Dawn - it's fantastic!
ReplyDeletePieces of Us by Margie Gelbwasser has some good guy points of view, and I am REALLY looking forward to Trish Doller's SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL (about a guy coming back after serving in Afghanistan)... Both are women writing in guy POVs.
ReplyDeleteBut, dude, Amy, sooo agreeing about Hannah Moskowitz. :)
I've heard good things about SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL - I'll have to check it out :)
DeleteHannah Moskowitz is so awesome - I read Break, the book she wrote at 17, and I was blue for, like, ages because the book I wrote at 17 (the one I'm subbing to agents now) doesn't even come close. She's also an Absolute Write Water Cooler member like me... x
I've written a number of male main characters and even full protagonists, though the majority of my characters still seem to be female. I think it's been a little easier for me to get into the mind of my male characters because I've never been very traditionally girly, and even now still prefer the company of male friends and less-stereotypically-feminine pursuits. I always try to make characters nuanced, unless they're meant as spoofs of, say, really girly girls, since there are many acceptable ways to be a male or female.
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