The first case of "Book Hysteria" that came to mind when I read your post, Alli, was
The Hunger Games. But I already talked about that once. So, then I thought of
Twilight.
*Sigh*
Twilight.
I wasn't a member of this craze. In fact, I was adamantly opposed to it. I'm EXTREMELY sorry if this offends you, but I just couldn't wrap my mind around the popularity of these books. For me, it was like the Justin Beiber of books, i.e. how in the world is this some famous? No joke,
I had a friend tell me that it
was every women's moral duty to read these books.
So I did. I read the first one. I'm not sure if I was missing something
or if all the hype created a perfect environment for let-down. But
whatever the case may be, I just didn't get it. I was creeped out that
Edward kept joking about killing Isabella. I was having a hard time
getting it through my skull that Edward was really super good-looking
because all the guys I've seen who have pasty skin, black shadows under
their eyes, and stone-like bodies are NOT good-looking. I wasn't impressed by Stephanie
Meyer's vocabulary which seemed to consist of these three words: cold,
marble, and chest.
I also thought of was
Room by Emma Donoghue.
This is not the story of Jaycee Lee Dugard who was kidnapped and kept in a shed for 18 years. But it is a fictional story in the same vein. I've never gotten up the nerve to read it, but I know about it because it was one of the books that President Obama took with him on Spring Break in 2010. In fact, I know MANY people who read this book simply because President Obama's name was associated with it.
Finally, I remembered the book
A Child Called "It".
Again, didn't read it because I shy away from hard-to-read stories, but this book definitely caused hysteria in my junior high school and hometown. I would bet it did the same elsewhere. The subject matter of this book was so brash and raw that people just couldn't look away. Everyone knew that child abuse happened, but no one really talked about the extent, nor heard it from a child's perspective. What's more, the author Dave Pelzer confronted allegations from his brother that he fabricated the story (it's about his experience), much like James Frey. Only....unlike Frey, it's been proven that Pelzer did not make it up.
