A Coming-of-Age Story?

Use this forum to discuss the February 2020 Book of the month, "Opaque" by Calix Leigh-Reign
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Cristina Chifane
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A Coming-of-Age Story?

Post by Cristina Chifane »

Would you describe the novel as a coming-of-age story or even a buildungsroman? If so, which characters are on a path to maturity and wisdom? Are there any characters that stagnate or others on a descending path?
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Post by djr6090 »

What is a buildungsroman? I've never heard of that before.
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Post by Nym182 »

cristinaro wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 07:46 Would you describe the novel as a coming-of-age story or even a buildungsroman? If so, which characters are on a path to maturity and wisdom? Are there any characters that stagnate or others on a descending path?
I also haven't heard of a "buildungsroman"... But I think that the author's intent was this to be a coming-of-age story, especially Adam and to some lesser extent Carly (regarding her and Dauma fusing ) but I also think it fell flat.

I think the other Descendants Carly and Adam meet are pretty stagnant. It seems like they are only there to be used, such as Rye... she's a quick fix to allow the characters to move long distances in a short time frame and that's really her only value.
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Post by Cristina Chifane »

djr6090 wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 09:36 What is a buildungsroman? I've never heard of that before.
Sorry, I've accidentally added an extra "u". It's "bildungsroman", a genre dealing with the psychological and moral development of a character; it usually follows the character's growth from his/her birth and childhood to his maturity years, sometimes throughout his/her entire life. For example, novels like Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield'" or "Great Expectations" are famous novels belonging to this genre.
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Post by Nym182 »

cristinaro wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 11:19
djr6090 wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 09:36 What is a buildungsroman? I've never heard of that before.
Sorry, I've accidentally added an extra "u". It's "bildungsroman", a genre dealing with the psychological and moral development of a character; it usually follows the character's growth from his/her birth and childhood to his maturity years, sometimes throughout his/her entire life. For example, novels like Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield'" or "Great Expectations" are famous novels belonging to this genre.
hmmm interesting... that may have been the intent of the author, but I don't think she achieved that goal
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Post by djr6090 »

cristinaro wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 11:19
djr6090 wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 09:36 What is a buildungsroman? I've never heard of that before.
Sorry, I've accidentally added an extra "u". It's "bildungsroman", a genre dealing with the psychological and moral development of a character; it usually follows the character's growth from his/her birth and childhood to his maturity years, sometimes throughout his/her entire life. For example, novels like Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield'" or "Great Expectations" are famous novels belonging to this genre.
Thank you for the explanation. But I don't think (i)Opaque(/i) compares to Dickens.
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Post by readerrihana »

cristinaro wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 11:19
djr6090 wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 09:36 What is a buildungsroman? I've never heard of that before.
Sorry, I've accidentally added an extra "u". It's "bildungsroman", a genre dealing with the psychological and moral development of a character; it usually follows the character's growth from his/her birth and childhood to his maturity years, sometimes throughout his/her entire life. For example, novels like Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield'" or "Great Expectations" are famous novels belonging to this genre.
What age would be maturity years?
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Post by AntonelaMaria »

djr6090 wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 19:40
cristinaro wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 11:19
djr6090 wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 09:36 What is a buildungsroman? I've never heard of that before.
Sorry, I've accidentally added an extra "u". It's "bildungsroman", a genre dealing with the psychological and moral development of a character; it usually follows the character's growth from his/her birth and childhood to his maturity years, sometimes throughout his/her entire life. For example, novels like Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield'" or "Great Expectations" are famous novels belonging to this genre.
Thank you for the explanation. But I don't think (i)Opaque(/i) compares to Dickens.
I agree 100 %. I think we are trying to make this book much more that it is.
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Post by AntonelaMaria »

Nym182 wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 12:14
cristinaro wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 11:19
djr6090 wrote: 15 Feb 2020, 09:36 What is a buildungsroman? I've never heard of that before.
Sorry, I've accidentally added an extra "u". It's "bildungsroman", a genre dealing with the psychological and moral development of a character; it usually follows the character's growth from his/her birth and childhood to his maturity years, sometimes throughout his/her entire life. For example, novels like Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield'" or "Great Expectations" are famous novels belonging to this genre.
hmmm interesting... that may have been the intent of the author, but I don't think she achieved that goal
I can't for the life of me understand what the intent was. Because I clearly can NOT connect the first and second parts of the book. It is like intent changed.
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Post by Brenda Creech »

I guess a coming-of-age story, especially for Adam. I think Carly may be descending since the loss of her parents. She can't accept it and she is becoming angry over it. Anger is a part of the grief process, but she seems to be getting stuck in that stage of grief. I wonder how she will be in the next book in the series? Hopefully moving on!
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Post by Howlan »

I think this definitely is a coming of age story. However, Adam's character is like a roller coaster goes up and down, Carly is pretty stagnant, and I think the side characters have no development what so ever so They too can be stated as stagnant.
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Post by OfficialEmma »

I will say the author should have slowed down so as to properly develop the characters. Adam developed more than others. And this book doesn't meet up with a coming-of-age book. However, the tale is an interesting one.
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Post by Cwaganagwa Dorothy »

Yes, your idea is a good suggestion. Adam is on his way to maturity. There no stagnate characters, only that they were not as well developed as Adam was.
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Post by That Reviewer »

Bildungsroman? Haven't heard that before. I'm going to look deeper and see how that genre works.

For your question, if I consider Adam's life journey, I would say this book passes for a coming-of-age story.
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Post by Howlan »

OfficialEmma wrote: 17 Feb 2020, 03:27 I will say the author should have slowed down so as to properly develop the characters. Adam developed more than others. And this book doesn't meet up with a coming-of-age book. However, the tale is an interesting one.
Yes, definitely the story is a unique one. It is rare to see such dark mental states tackled in a YA story.
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