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Rainbow Rowell
Attachments (February 2017)
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Rainbow Rowell ~ the author
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She writes both adult contemporary novels (Attachments and Landline) and YA novels (Eleanor & Park, Fangirl and Carry On). She also wrote short fiction, such as "Midnights" (featured in My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories) and "Kindred Spirits" (a collection of originals).
Rowell published her first novel, Attachments, in 2011. Since then she has been acclaimed by the press, having granted her first novel to be listed as one of the outstanding debuts of 2011 and her two next novels to be named as among the best YA fiction of 2013, their publishing year.
A recurrent theme in her books is love and how people fall in love.
DISCUSSION
Eleanor & Park was challenged in by a parents' group at a high school in 2013, which led to Rowell being disinvited to a library event. They were calling its content "pornographic" and "sexually explicit" and they viewed it as too controversial for a teenage audience. They counted 227 offending words, including 67 Gods, 24 Jesuses and 4 Christs.
This was Rowell's answer:
. About the profanity: “The main characters rarely swear and don't feel comfortable swearing.”
. About other content: “Eleanor and Park don't smoke or drink or do drugs. They decide not to have sex.”
. About the bullying and abuse: “Teenagers swear and are cruel to each other. Some kids have terrible parents. Some girls have terrible stepdads who shout profanity at them and call them sluts — and some of those girls still manage to rise above it.”
. “When these people call 'Eleanor & Park' an obscene story, I feel like they're saying that rising above your situation isn't possible,” she said. “That if you grow up in an ugly situation, your story isn't even fit for good people's ears. That ugly things cancel out everything beautiful.”
If you want to read the whole article about this case: http://www.omaha.com/news/grace-minne...
What do you think about this case? Do you agree with this example of censorship? In which cases is censorship acceptable in your opinion?