I'm going to need a YA novel where, when the main character acts that awful to her friends all the time, the friends just stop hanging out with her. Much more satisfying to read.
I wish I could remember the name but I remember reading one in middle school where the main girl gets left and told off by her best friend for being controlling and always putting her down! Books like those are so necessary
There's a reverse version of this that's actually a fairly common thing in YA lit, where the main character's best friend(s) are pushy assholes who bully and manipulate them into doing things they don't want to do- oh, but it's okay! The main character is too *shy,* too *quiet,* not *outgoing* enough, so they *needed* a friend to totally ignore their feelings and opinions and push them into doing things they've explicitly said they don't want to do. You know, because it's for their own good. It's almost always portrayed as perfectly okay, not at all dysfunctional or disrespectful, and I *hate* it.
As a high school English teacher (and novelist, though nothing major yet!), I have to say that a lot of YA authors really underestimate how intelligent and insightful teenagers are. Literature doesn't need to be dumbed down for them. They don't need stupid plot lines or pedantic language. They need plot lines that feel real and relevant to their lives in some way and language that sounds like the author actually respects them as people with functioning brains.
ALSO the fact that readers are supposed to dislike all of the adult women but the adult men seem to be pretty cool REEKS of internalized misogyny on the author's part...
For reeeeaaaaalllll like... We dont need to stop the plot to talk about "weed is bad" because the author decided to use it as a short hand to make the character look like a deliquent. Weve been to health class. Also weed bad but a teacher trying to sleep with the underage op is ok? What?
Exactly! I've learned so much in my teens by reading great books. Looking up words I didn't know was a bonus challenge. Just because you are reading a YA book doesn't mean you shouldn't have to use your brain. They are more capable than we make them to be.
I read Dune as a 17 year old… it’s the favorite book that I’ve ever read to this day at almost 22 years old. It made a HUGE impact on my life! I completely agree that teenagers are a lot more intelligent than media gives them credit for.
I honestly don't mind this kind of cute technical names too much because I had an ex who was a programmer calling me stuff like "my variable, because you are whatever I need". I would still take "my kilobyte" as an insult though if there is no explanation for it, you can barely fit anything in a kilobyte so I'd wonder if they are calling me dumb or forgetful - so it does fit for the main character.
To be fair, the gifted kid who everyone praises as being a genius being absolutely incompetent in every other way is probably the most accurate depiction
absolute mood, speaking as someone who is out of school (due to illness) and literally incapable of studying (mostly not due to illness) but was in a gifted program for two years
@@Schnort Nah. You’re not stupid. People call you gifted because you DO have strengths in areas that other people don’t. You may be “gifted.” You just don’t know how to use these strengths to your advantage yet. Thinking you’re stupid is the reason why you don’t. Don’t let your self-doubt undercut what you can actually accomplish.
not to hype the hunger games books cause I haven’t opened them in 10 years but all the ya dystopia it inspired are failing so hard because the protagonist is always a ~special~ middle-upper class girl choosing to fight is faceless concept that doesn’t even affect her enough to have noticed it was Bad before the begining of the story. Katniss was already disillusioned when she was forced to become a hero, she didn’t cope well at all with the horrors cause she actually had feelings like a normal person, and she was fighting an actual institution that had real impact on her life. like the whole point is that she wasn’t special, she didn’t chose to do this, and she wouldn’t have made it far without her friends and mentors.
hell, even the end of the rebellion that leaves so many people disappointed (understandably) couldn't make it clear enough just how unspecial katniss was. whole ass war waged and resolved whilst she was unconscious. and if that wasn't enough, time and time again during her time in D13 it was constantly drilled into the narrative that katniss everdeen was nothing more than a prop. she wasn't even "katniss everdeen", she was "the girl on fire".
The Hunger Games got way too much backlash because of how many people tried (and failed) to copy it. I think it was actually really good for the points you mentioned! She wasn’t special, she had to pretend to be to survive.
Yeah, and there are some stories where the main character knows about The Bad Dystopian Thing that is happening to unfortunate people (but not them), but the storyline often tries to explain away that “oh if I say or do something I’ll get in trouble so I’ll just keep my head down” which is a privilege in of itself, the ability to *not* be a target. It’s one thing if it’s a dystopia where absolutely no one knows “what’s on the other side of the wall/the doors/underground” except the government until someone manages to escape. That’s at least an “oh shit, the government has been doing this and been feeding us lies that it was something else the entire time?” moment, but I’m absolutely done with the tone deaf, tired af “oh I didn’t know this thing was happening because I didn’t bother to give a shit about anyone but me and my life”, as if the self-centeredness in of itself is somehow a reasonable excuse, as if it’s ok to not have empathy for people who are different from you. It isn’t. Yeah, it’s a tactic that governments employ in order to make it easier to exploit marginalized groups without others kicking up a fuss, but still.
The Hunger Games have always been super interesting to me in that while I was never personally a huge fan of them, I loved the way they were written. The only thing "special" about Katniss is that she's got some sweet archery skills because she was able to successfully sneak out of the district to hunt for food, and in the kind of society that was created by the books that's less "special" and more "mildly uncommon," because everyone that can get away with it (not many, but enough) know better than to say anything about it. The special thing about her sets her apart in a realistic way that isn't overpowered or even actually all theat special. In addition, as the series progresses you begin to see what a toll the things she's had to do and the situations she's been in has had on her, which was really cool to see. People are't fine after traumatic experiences, and if you keep pushing them, eventually they break - which you can see in Katniss. I even think the side-plot romance was handled pretty well, even though that's honestly the main reson I wasn't a fan of the books. I liked the first one, and then I liked the second one less and the third one even less, as the romance became a more significant part of the series. I cannot emphasise enough that it was well-written and well-done, I just didn't like it. To be fair, though, I tend to be pretty picky about any romance I read, and tons of well-written romances don't make the cut, simply because I'm usually not a huge fan.
And also "I tried reading 'Brave New World', but could just understand it ... before it was taken away from me, because it had 'too much sex, and drug taking' in it ..." kind of energy, as well ...
Can we just get like- ONE young adult novel where the love interest is just a guy who likes the main character and treats her nicely? Do they ALL have to be tortured souls/angry boys? Or is the, "I CAN CHANGE HIM!" mentality just too powerful of a trope?
I wish we could, but apparently setting a bad example for young teen girls and boys is the standard. Honestly when I was writing one (it was cancelled) the male love interest was a genuinely kind guy who worked hard to protect others while still being gentle with others who needed it. He was really sweet to a lot of people, but he didn’t let people just walk all over him or his friends. I just wanted a kindhearted love interest to juxtapose the somewhat abrasive but still caring lead character.
Can't we have a gentle giant who loves flowers and puppies? Or that one kid who is just a genuinely good friend, maybe a little clumsy, that isn't a supermodel and doesn't just want to get in her pants? There are so many ways you could present a good role model for both boys and girls where neither one is just depressed and cynical; who present nothing but a toxic relationship that I would be horrified to see in real life. This is one of the main reasons why I hated romance as a kid. Nevermind the lack of anything gay that destroys my bi heart on a multitude of levels.
The Hunger Games: What if America was run by insane people who forced literal children and teens to fight to the death for their entertainment? Divergent: What if the world became a society where you could only be one personality trait? Hungry: What if food didn’t exist... *AND YOUR STOMACH GROWLED?*
Honestly tho if this was written well it would be a great concept. Way freakier to me than other dystopian themes like mentioned above… bc food is something that plays such a huge role in our health, our social connection, different cultures, it brings joy, it nourishes us, it’s something we take for granted but imagine for real if suddenly you weren’t allowed to eat and there was no real food. Fuck that. And then to be raised never knowing what real food was and hunger being a foreign concept and then feeling hunger for the first time? Around people who don’t? Like that would be scary, and you’d realise one of the things that MAKES us human had been suppressed and stolen from everyone. It needs to be written better lol I’m sure it’s not a new concept but idk. It freaks me out more lol.
That's the benefit of reading bad books! Besides being an example of what you find suspension-of-disbelief destroying, I actually find them inspiring! Suddenly my writing doesn't seem so awkward. Never stop editing though I suppose. 😅
It's books like this that keep me writing tbh. I was never more productive than after Ready Player One came out and I realized that a) Cline is a mediocre hack, and b) getting your book recognized is pure luck. Just write, it'll suck but I've been told that this is what editors are for. For real though, the only person who can say your story is worth telling is you, but an editor is what helps you make it worth reading by others.
@@KristenReviews tbf you can make alcohol out of almost anything with sugar, natural yeast, and time. Real life examples include potato vodka, cynar (fermented vegatables and herbs), fruit wines or honey wine (aka mead) :D
The "futuristic" names for the new technology in this book sound like what a senile boomer would use when triggered at their gen-z grandchild to get off tiktok.
Why do people feel the need to divide themselves into generations so much? It IS true that as time goes, people are getting more and more attached to superfical social media usage. If you don't see that, that's blind
I mean is Tik-tok not a weird ass name for something to watch five second videos of people on? People throw shade at weird lingo from books predicting the future but the mutants from dark knight returns saying things like “he don’t shiv, he slice and dice” is probably on the level of hearing somebody say “that’s cap on god on god
Speaking as a huge Hunger Games fan, I can assure you Peeta and Katniss did NOT argue constantly: they had occasional spats but their relationship was actually pretty healthy given the genre and extreme circumstances they're placed in.
Also they had spats bc they were in a life or death situation and Peeta was on the verge of giving up + she didn't understand his concept of professing love to get ppl to root for them so she was angry. its more complex than just arguing
@@bariatric-parasite not only that, but shes like 15-16, like a feken child. like, imagine how goddamn stressful *all* of that is for an adult, shes not even that yet
I would not necessarily call their relationship healthy, because from Katniss' perspective it began with distrust, then she was lying to him, basically exploiting his feelings towards her in order to survive and when he finds out, the distrust shifts to his side. They then start to develop a friendship, which was actually nice and healthy, but right after Katniss began to develop deeper feelings, he got brainwashed and from then on out they try to kill each other or themselves some few times. But even with all that considered the net sum of their relationship still comes out on top of the garbage of this book 😂
"Would you eat lab-grown human meat?" Yes, but I'd need to decide if I want it to be grown from *my* DNA, the DNA of a historical figure I admire, or the DNA of someone living I hate. (Let's be real: there would be a whole cottage industry of influencers and celebrities selling their own meat, and it would get a *lot* weirder and worse than that.)
@@thatoneguy9582 that's part of a plot point in Warren Ellis's masterpiece Transmetropolitan a cyberpunk transhumanist comic book where there is a chain restaurant that just serves cloned human meat
@@shadoeboi212 Oh, I'd managed to wipe that plot point from my mind, thank you!! :D (Transmetropopolitan is a great read, full of thought-provoking and/or chilling moments, but as someone with a phobia of cannibalism, this somehow was an especial Bad Time)
"It's illegal to think about food!" characters named Apple and Basil exist ???? I mean it sounds like the author had a 70 year old name all the technology and has a 12 year old name the characters.
For some reason I never thought that Alizee had a bookcase. I just assumed that she read books... somehow.... maybe just absorbed the knowledge whenever she just walked past a library.
Wait, if they get all of their nutritional needs from a drink, that can be considered a food since it does have calories including carbs. It’s food in liquid form but still. These people are technically eating.
I once knew a girl with an eating disorder who said she hadn't eaten in 2 years and I freaked out like wth how that's not possible?? But what she really meant was she hadn't consumed solid food in 2 years. She made all her food into liquid smoothies. She was still eating. That's what this reminds me of lmao. Everyone's still eating they're just eating in liquid form. It's still food (food that makes you not feel hunger apparently which sounds bad for a multitude of reasons but I assume most people still remind themselves to drink their nutrijuice despite having no desire to).
I remember hearing that William the Conqueror died in an accident caused by his weight and got that fat in the first place because he tried to work on the logic of "drinks aren't food" and tried to lose weight by consuming only alcohol.
@@chelonianmobile I mean you can literally die from drinking too much water so that was doomed to fail lmao. But the guy's got spirit I guess? Uh, pun not intended, in either the ghostly way or the beverage way.
As someone best friends with a prodigy ballet dancer, YES someone can have graceful arms. I cannot express to you enough how important arms are in making ballet and jazz look good/slick/graceful. So they DRILL THAT TRAINING INTO YOU right away as a kid which results in, like her excellent posture, graceful arms.
I think the reason it sounds weird is that it's hard to imagine someone with graceful arms only, you'd probably have to have an overall graceful body to notice the arms
It sounds more like a dream the author had. Would certainly explain the ridiculous pacing... I personally enjoy writing stories based on my dreams, so this definitely feels very familiar, but usually there's quite a lot of work I have to put in to make it well-paced and fix some logical handwaves of my subconsciousness, plus remove anything that was obviously inspired by something I read or saw lately. This feels like the author fell asleep after reading Brave New World or something of that sort and then just wrote down her dream word by word and published it like that with no revisions whatsoever.
Literally right after the food porn bit when you said you would get arrested I got a real intense ad for a big mac. Even the corporations are taking the piss out of this book.
It sounds like it would have been more compelling if she was like everyone else and liked technology then slowly changed her mind as she discovered more.
Yeah. And it makes zero sense that she even has this much disdain for technology considering she was completely born into it. People who have these opinions about tech have them for the pure fact that they once enjoyed life without it. They know what it was like without it. This even further makes her not only an unlikable character, but an one unbelievable.
Yeah, kinda like This Perfect Day where the main character is a good boi in a futuristic society and then slowly discovers things and is no longer a good boi
I want a book about a super special group of aspiring YA authors who have to fight each other Hunger Games style to earn the privilege of getting their book published and having to deal with the consequences if everyone decides it's bad. They'd get put on trial for murder and must defend their work or they'll be put to death.
The answer is yes. Little known fact about YA author publishing contracts: if they write a good book, their souls will be collected immediately. Joke’s on the reaper, though. There isn’t any danger of that happening in the first place.
I kinda don't understand the young adult genre even as a concept. Can't 13 year olds just read books? They know about sex and drugs and all that stuff anyway. And then, I don't know, maybe just have a conversation about the book and listen to their thoughts and opinions?
Why even write books for ya, just write. And ya will read whatever they'll find, it's not like teenagers are dumb and need special books for them da fuck
The thing that mostly annoys me most about the premise is that the author seems to be ignorant of the fact that bowel movements are not solely comprised of food waste; feces contain cellular and bacterial debris as well. How are these people removing spent red blood cells from their bodies if they are not pooping?
Thalia: *doesn't know what food is* Papa Pete: *talks to her stomach, listing off a bunch of foods she wouldn't even understand, and therefore would not make her hungry* Unless, of course, they're allowed to *talk* about food, while *thinking* about food is illegal? K. Sure. Makes sense.
Maybe she's been secretly reading the forbidden tomes of ancient Fourchanian fornography? What started as a simple 'food porn' meme, where part of the joke was its absurdity; somewhere along the line it was accidentally censored under some zero tolerance anti-porn legislation. Rather than admit their law needed rewriting, they funneled the National Budget into creating the food alternative found in this book.
„I’ve been chased! I’ve been shot at! I’ve stolen a car! Everyone knows I’m HectorProtector!“ has to be one of the most hilarious lines in the book. That name is just so ridiculous.
I actually reread the hunger games recently and I can say with full confidence, as someone who's read their fair share of ya dystopia novels, that it's lightyears ahead of all the ya dystopias it inspired
Yeah. I'm not sure if that's sad or what. Some of the ya dystopias it inspired were downright nonsensical. Like Divergent. I'll never understand how /that/ worked at all
It's because the premise for Hunger Games clearly came straight from Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. If you've ever read it or seen the movie, it's pretty obvious! So it doesn't follow any typical YA Dystopia formula at all. Both are good though. I wouldn't let my kids watch or read BR, so Hunger Games is a great alternative.
@@loud6037 You know that makes me think how after so many people tried to replicate the success of The Hunger Games, the real successor in terms of fame and relevance and actual biting social commentary is... Squid Game.
@@PermianExtinction That’s the kind of comment that deserves a video essay. I’d love to see someone follow the media thread from the widespread success of Hunger Games to how Squid Game became one of the most beloved shows during the panini
@@sillylilly1645 that's would be such a good video essay if done well, it could show the development of the dystopian genre into the mainstream, and how different things inspire eachother, and how so many things have tried to copy both squid game and hunger games while missing the entire point of both of them. And compare how they are actually very similar concepts, essentially both a battle royal system to put your life on the line for the reward of survival, and why that works as an anticapitalist novel/show
OK so I have a nitpicky thing to add about this book re: the 15 year old pregnant girl having her second pregnancy. SO as it turns out the onset of menses is determined in large part by nutritional availability -- that's why the age has been coming down since the industrial revolution. While it's pretty common now for girls as young as 11 or 12 to have menses started, under what is basically tribal living conditions I find that EXTREMELY unlikely that she had her period start at the same time as the average modern Londoner with unlimited and varied food options? And managed to get pregnant twice in the 3 years since then? And also not DIED during labor from being so young? yeah yeah ok book sure.... I guess it doesn't have to make sense.
@@voidify3 not what I mean. Obviously their nutritional needs would be met by the magic potion they chug every day. I was referring to their teeth and gum health being affected by never chewing anything. In real life if people are on liquid diets for whatever reason, they use chewing gum to help with that.
I know nothing about hunger suppressants so I'm willing to believe there are people it wouldn't affect. But I imagine there'd be a few of them and at least some of them would whine about it constantly. There's someone out there who blames everything bad she's ever done on the fact that she gets hungry. You cannot convince me that this girl thinks she's the only person this ever happens to unless RUclips no longer exists in the future.
For a book about hunger I was expecting alot more actual cannibalism. The whole stem cell thing is stupid because you would only need to do it once as then you can just use the meat. And agriculture is not natural how is that the way humans are suppose to live. Boomers the book. I would 100% eat lab grown human meat especially of it was myself.
I would absolutely eat lab-grown meat, human or otherwise. A sustainable source of food that could end hunger? Sign me up! Can't be any worse than whatever hot dogs are made of.
@@kazmine6831 I’m assuming they’re referring to prion diseases, which are very dangerous, but iirc you are only at risk of those if you eat the human BRAIN specifically. Everything else is fine - at least if my memory serves, I’d still go look it up to learn more.
@X Dr If I'm being horribly incorrect at any point of this, someone please correct me. The disease is called kuru, and it's caused by prions - the same group of pathogens that cause mad cow disease, for example. They're misfolded proteins that can cause other proteins to misfold, those wrong shapes clump together and gradually wreck the brain. Here's the kicker: people can develop prion diseases on their own, BUT they can also catch them through contact with infected tissue. This includes eating it. The tribe in which kuru occured had a tradition of eating bodies of the deceased, including the brain. Someone randomly developed a prion disease and died, people ate their brain and shit got progressively worse from there. So, yeah, I think that lab-grown human meat would be pretty safe to eat.
yeah, if health concerns like parasites etc were taken care of what would the problem be lol (heck i think most of the built-in disgust most people have towards cannibalism evolved due to the risk of transmitted disease, especially from corpses, as well as social bonds and emotional attachment to the deceased, which wouldn't be the case for lab grown meat.)
"Why do a lot of YA authors not think it's possible to have a relationship without ending in an argument and stomping off every conversation?" The knowledge I've gained from watching "old American ads" and "boomers on social media" reaction/commentary vids on youtube has taught me that the reason is because many of those YA authors are either boomers or grew up following their boomer parents, and back then the point of marriage was to marry the person you despise the most in the whole world.
In America I live in North Georgia and Kudzu plants are a invasive vine that is all around horrible. Kills natural plants and is super bad for the environment. 😂 Why the writer picked that plant is beyond me.
lmao I live in South Carolina and there's literally some kudzu growing like half a mile down the road from me near an elementary school. I'm totally giggling imagining someone trying to roll it up and smoke it - like ??? you don't do that ???
I live in the southern states and occasionally we’ll go for a car ride somewhere and see that blasted ivy EVERYWHERE, suffocating trees, covering god knows what else. That plant is the demon spawn of hell, Satan brought it specifically to jump start our apocalypse and I am more than a little terrified of it.
@@Barakon Basically your stomach (and intestines) are in perpetual motion, always flexing around to mush up stuff (think of your inner stomach muscles like hands constantly kneading a bag). (Also the movement is made more pronounced when your stomach is gearing up to eat and not when you start eating, which is really cool, it's basically going "THROW IT AT ME BOSS I'LL MASH IT UP".) That happens to be why it's mostly okay to not chew your food perfectly, the enzymes and constant kneading help to turn it into paste.
@@Liliputian07 libertarianism is so weird to me because the ideal of their beliefs is completely reasonable, and yet no libertarian seems to actually follow them lol.
9:57 people really think that bees are the only pollinators even though spiders, wasps, hornets, bats, birds, butterflies, and moths still exist. Yeah if bees died out we would have a crisis on our hands but the niche would sort itself out.
Plus a lot of our main crops are or can be easily pollinated by humans. We used to drag a big line across our fields to knock the tassels of the plants over the next row. Really helps to ensure full pollination of the corn. Bees and other insects going extinct would largely effect wild plants, not most of our main food crops.
I'm early in the video yet, but it seems like one of its biggest problems so far is that its two main themes are completely at odds with each other. On the one hand, its saying "We need to look to a greener future where mega-corporations don't control every aspect of our lives," and on the other, "We need to return to an idyllic past." It's like it WANTS to come off as progressive but the narration is so steeped in its own nostalgia that it just comes off as empty complaining
Oh my GOD, I tried to read this book years ago! I had to put it down because I was just so *done* with the main character's "everyone's a mindless sheep but me teehee" bs.
Half of the fun of dystopias for me is our protagonist becoming Disillusioned or Growing more rebellious over the course of the book. She's so rebellious and so well off.
Since you’re a YA booktuber now I recommend The Knife of Never Letting Go, it’s dystopian and the protagonist is neither smart nor special. Also has an awful movie adaptation that came out over a decade later. Content.
Currently 58 minutes through this video and I'm realizing I have no idea why this story is even really happening. What is the character's point in doing the things she's doing? What's the end goal? Just to meet up with other 'hungry' people? Why exactly? None of what she's put herself and others through seems very justified. Lol have I missed something?
Oh I don't think they were as bad as all that, I liked that the MC began accepting the status quo but had to think her own way out of it, plus the jargon was much more readable. The books are pretty tropey though, so I can see how that could be grating
At least those books came out a solid three years before the Hunger Games came along and made the entire YA market nothing but dystopia. It was original at the time, or at least it was the only book like it I remember reading at the time when I got it, and I read just about every library book I could get my hands on.
I occasionally like dream sequences in books. Usually only if they serve more of a purpose than just symbolism such as abilities like foresight or mind walking or some other quality. Especially if the person becomes aware they have such talents and starts refining them as the plot moves forward. I also like them if they highlight something else, like PTSD. They can be used as a thermostat to show how well the character is doing at any given time.
I’m not even five minutes in and already I’m thinking most people in this society must have the MOST jacked up dental issues. If the only form of nutrition they consume is liquid, how on earth do the children develop their jaw muscles? Edit: Oh my god this is……..so much
ok but.... synthamil... or however it's spelled unironically sounds like a good thing on its' own. "Oh., you don't know what hunger is, you don't know what food is!" Not knowing how bad hunger is is a privilege, and when even the poor have the ability to avoid hunger we have done something right. Given that this stuff doesn't seem to harm you in any way short of denying the creation of ghrelin, which is the hormone that makes you feel hungry, I don't... see a downside? We will now ALWAYS be at the mercy of corporate BS when it comes to food. How is "Everyone is fed and no one has to poop anymore, which likely all but killed off various cancers for various reasons" a bad thing? They could likely flavor synthamil so it's not like your sense of taste is forever useless until its' bred out via evolution. Also no. You shouldn't cannibalize. Because human meat is actually incredibly dangerous for humans to eat. It causes all kinds of disorders and illnesses. Holy crap this guy did NO research.
yeah, genuinely the only bad part is that this corporation now monopolizes the only food source and seemingly everything else, shame they didn't really do much with that
@@nerdywolverine8640 Which... I guess is believable from the "it's for kids" angle. I guess kids don't really want to talk about the real fears of not being worthy of not starving, which, in a scarce world, is a very real possibility and a very painful and slow death that can take weeks. Or worse, surviving and being stuck with the damage it's caused.
44:0053:40 FYI, like honeysuckle, kudzu is an invasive species in parts of the US. While honeysuckle is appreciated for it’s smell, kudzu foods are fairly popular as a way to make the most of killing the plants. They make a great jam.
I was interested in the premise as you described it until she didn't go to her parents or, you know, A DOCTOR, because her stomach was doing something nobody else's did. Oh and she's a disillusioned leet hacker. It would have been far more interesting if she was a completely normal tech-obsessed non-socially conscious teen and only her leptin/ghrelin levels being unresponsive to the Corporation's whatever, made her any different. Imagine if that was what set you off on becoming a completely anti-tech person set on bringing the system down.
When you introduced the book’s concept I thought it was another Soylent Green ripoff but when you said, “but her stomach growls” like I legit…I went into shock for a moment that that is an actual plot 😂
kudzu is a plant that was used in traditional chinese medicine, but can allegedly still used today to aid addictions (mainly alcohol) it is claimed that it essentially heightens the effects of alcohol so people will consume less to feel the same high, however, there's both studies confirming this and denying it (comes off as a placebo to me), it's also not smoked but the roots are crushed and put in capsules.
Thank you, this was really interesting! Even if it's a placebo, as long as it works... I like to think that placebo and nocebo effects are akin to "magic", the psychological effects make them reality even if on a physiological level nothing happens.
@@palapeura375 Placebo effect to me is... 50/50, depends on rarity. I'll forever yell at poachers and idiots destroying ecosystems for their fake medicine that only works because you believe it will... But invasive, abundant stuff like kudzu? Yeah ok go wild, your placebo is benefiting native species so go for it.
Only fifteen minutes in and I’m reeling. I had MAJOR whiplash at “Grandma Grace” being the “bad” grandma. I had my own Grandma Grace (EXACT thing I called her too) and she was ALSO a bad person. I’m crying why did the author steal my childhood trauma 😭😂
ok but if anyone wants an actually GOOD dystopian story involving food shortages you should check out the game booth: a dystopian adventure. it's an absolute banger
This reads like an self insert fanfic about anorexia-as-society written by an (american) liberal with an eating disorder. Anyone else? Edit: as someone who had anorexia for like 10 years i mean lol, not just judging anyone or anything. Figured that should be noted. Like for example the being hungry when everyone else isn't as a major plot point and the eating pieces of paper and the incoherent brain foggy writing etc? Anyway im super seeing it
Using anorexia or eating disorders in some way (written respectfully of course) as a plot point in a YA novel or as part of a dystopian society sounds like it could be pretty cool, in theory. Not like this though. In my opinion, the way society treats weight and food and the existence of eating disorders as a result of it is pretty dystopian on the face of it. Not all eating disorders are about weight and body image however.
@Ava Fox agreed on life being p dystopian with the way western world treats women's weight (cis and trans, also dudes too) in general, also agreed protags w not super weight focused EDs, like orthorexia, could be interesting. And now to insert the obligatory; have you read "the uglies" series? It sounds right up your alley in terms of a ya dystopia where a society is structured around appearance to the extreme, it also a good take on capitalism and learning to love yourself. I haven't read it in yeeeeeears, but from what I remember I think you'd dig it
If you want an actual interesting book that deals with corporations running the country and everybody else kind of being shafted and impoverished, Margaret Atwood's maddadam series (starts with oryx and crake) is GREAT. And it gets wild
If you want an insane story read this mortal coil. It starts off with an exploding cannibal virus and the main character has a human meat fridge but by the end you’ve forgotten all about that because it gets even more insane with every plot point until that sounds like a solid premise. I’m talking mc adopts an ai 5 year old in her head who is a young version of her sister/headmates adopted brother and exboyfriend who she is currently dating weird
If we're saying goodbye to drama, can I personally request another reading food reviews video. I've gone back to that vid like 3 times, it honestly never fails to make me laugh.
I remember reading this as a youngling bc my friend said it was an amazing book. And i hated it, dragged myself through it. But that cult plot had a lot of potential. I feel if basil betrayed her and there were a sequel it wouldve been so much better
As she started her frustrated monologue of not wanting them to go back to the grandfather (~51:18 on) a fire engine approached the intersection near where I live and then passed, sirens blaring, during almost the entire rant. It really added to the ambiance.
This reminds me of a chapter of drivel I wrote when I was a teenager, where the diets of people were being extremely controlled and those from the less privileged country looked down upon those from wealthy countries as they didn't know how to struggle, an intensely shortsighted view on the world. I keep such tragic passages as a warning of what happens when one succumbs to the Dunning-Kruger effect. Also, I had learned a lot of cool new names so I wanted to take them out for a spin- and would have offended a significant portion of the world.
The vines are invasive and will choke out every other plant in the area. If left unchecked it will also climb and cover anything and everything in its path. It grows so quickly that if you look at it on Tues as 10am then look again Wed at 10am, you can actually see the growth
an ad break came on suddenly and so, i assumed it was the video abruptly ending - confusion, mild despair, sad, woeful vibes were felt - and then the video comes back on and i realize it's an hour and a half long and was like 'ah, yes, alizee's god-tier ranking continues, and carries me through my overnight shift at work... *sips tea* all is right in the world" xD
I'm considering taking the sobriety plunge. I have no pressing issues with my alc use, but I am worried about how it might affect my health down the line. So hearing about other people's successes always helps and cheers me up! Take care :3
I was just on the goodreads page, it's weird. All the reviews are like "wtf is this". One of the reviews had basically my pov for reviews - the person finished reading it and it wasn't TERRIBLE so they gave it a 3.
i and i'm sure any other person with a career in STEM here can attest that half the " scientific" dribble in this book sounds like the author's half-assed google searches. not saying that authors have to always fully understand all the ins and outs of what they're writing about but when it's this big of a plot point it's just atrocious
i was so sure that when dr demeter was like "If There Was Food... Would You Eat It?? (sus tone)" that he was running an organ harvesting scheme for eating human meat...
Every time you read a passage, then suggested a fix that would make a more compelling read. All I could think was *I don't think a compelling read is what this author was aiming for.* I mean if the author was aiming for a completely uncompelling, unwanted and borderline unreadable book and characters. Genius, Job Well Done, I Fully Applaud Excellent Work. If they were aiming for a readable book with good continuity and likeable protagonists …… then sweetie we need to talk because she missed by a loooong way. xAndyx
A long video with Alizee ranting about something? I have truly been blessed this day, I'll be listening to this while doing homework. Also love the Mary Sue character, the more we learn about her, the more I feel like I’m checking off from a "I'm not like other girls" bingo card
I'm going to need a YA novel where, when the main character acts that awful to her friends all the time, the friends just stop hanging out with her. Much more satisfying to read.
I wish I could remember the name but I remember reading one in middle school where the main girl gets left and told off by her best friend for being controlling and always putting her down! Books like those are so necessary
So that's what happend to my friends
@@HadesMosley oh wait was it one where she was like a friendship matchmaker and could see colours sort of?
There's a reverse version of this that's actually a fairly common thing in YA lit, where the main character's best friend(s) are pushy assholes who bully and manipulate them into doing things they don't want to do- oh, but it's okay! The main character is too *shy,* too *quiet,* not *outgoing* enough, so they *needed* a friend to totally ignore their feelings and opinions and push them into doing things they've explicitly said they don't want to do. You know, because it's for their own good.
It's almost always portrayed as perfectly okay, not at all dysfunctional or disrespectful, and I *hate* it.
@@RHBR01 oh gosh that's even _worse_ 🤦🏻♀️
As a high school English teacher (and novelist, though nothing major yet!), I have to say that a lot of YA authors really underestimate how intelligent and insightful teenagers are. Literature doesn't need to be dumbed down for them. They don't need stupid plot lines or pedantic language. They need plot lines that feel real and relevant to their lives in some way and language that sounds like the author actually respects them as people with functioning brains.
ALSO the fact that readers are supposed to dislike all of the adult women but the adult men seem to be pretty cool REEKS of internalized misogyny on the author's part...
For reeeeaaaaalllll like... We dont need to stop the plot to talk about "weed is bad" because the author decided to use it as a short hand to make the character look like a deliquent. Weve been to health class.
Also weed bad but a teacher trying to sleep with the underage op is ok? What?
Exactly! I've learned so much in my teens by reading great books. Looking up words I didn't know was a bonus challenge. Just because you are reading a YA book doesn't mean you shouldn't have to use your brain. They are more capable than we make them to be.
I read Dune as a 17 year old… it’s the favorite book that I’ve ever read to this day at almost 22 years old. It made a HUGE impact on my life! I completely agree that teenagers are a lot more intelligent than media gives them credit for.
And this is why I feel like v for vendetta should be taught in schools
I miss Ebony Raven Darkness Dementia Way…
*Enoby
*Dark'ness
@@theunbearablejuan stop flammin’, prepz!!!
FANGZ for reminding me of her
I wish i was jared, nineteen.
The best protagonist
"Thalia my little kilobyte"
That phrase punched in the face and instantly vaporised me. I am but a mere spirit.
Lol same... the prose is... painful at best lol...
I honestly don't mind this kind of cute technical names too much because I had an ex who was a programmer calling me stuff like "my variable, because you are whatever I need". I would still take "my kilobyte" as an insult though if there is no explanation for it, you can barely fit anything in a kilobyte so I'd wonder if they are calling me dumb or forgetful - so it does fit for the main character.
@@vuivraalbastra okay fair :P
It does make the jargon of Tekwar seem brilliant by comparison, doesn't it
For some reason, I’m trying to picture what such a metaphorical impact would sound like
“Kah-fwam!”
??
To be fair, the gifted kid who everyone praises as being a genius being absolutely incompetent in every other way is probably the most accurate depiction
absolute mood, speaking as someone who is out of school (due to illness) and literally incapable of studying (mostly not due to illness) but was in a gifted program for two years
My issue is that everyone thinks I'm gifted and I'm actually just stupid, confused, and probably autistic.
@@Schnort Nah. You’re not stupid. People call you gifted because you DO have strengths in areas that other people don’t. You may be “gifted.” You just don’t know how to use these strengths to your advantage yet. Thinking you’re stupid is the reason why you don’t. Don’t let your self-doubt undercut what you can actually accomplish.
Can confirm; I am one
Absolutely true , also that’s the same vibe I get from Harry whenever I read Harry Potter.
not to hype the hunger games books cause I haven’t opened them in 10 years but all the ya dystopia it inspired are failing so hard because the protagonist is always a ~special~ middle-upper class girl choosing to fight is faceless concept that doesn’t even affect her enough to have noticed it was Bad before the begining of the story. Katniss was already disillusioned when she was forced to become a hero, she didn’t cope well at all with the horrors cause she actually had feelings like a normal person, and she was fighting an actual institution that had real impact on her life. like the whole point is that she wasn’t special, she didn’t chose to do this, and she wouldn’t have made it far without her friends and mentors.
hell, even the end of the rebellion that leaves so many people disappointed (understandably) couldn't make it clear enough just how unspecial katniss was. whole ass war waged and resolved whilst she was unconscious. and if that wasn't enough, time and time again during her time in D13 it was constantly drilled into the narrative that katniss everdeen was nothing more than a prop. she wasn't even "katniss everdeen", she was "the girl on fire".
The Hunger Games got way too much backlash because of how many people tried (and failed) to copy it. I think it was actually really good for the points you mentioned! She wasn’t special, she had to pretend to be to survive.
Yeah, and there are some stories where the main character knows about The Bad Dystopian Thing that is happening to unfortunate people (but not them), but the storyline often tries to explain away that “oh if I say or do something I’ll get in trouble so I’ll just keep my head down” which is a privilege in of itself, the ability to *not* be a target. It’s one thing if it’s a dystopia where absolutely no one knows “what’s on the other side of the wall/the doors/underground” except the government until someone manages to escape. That’s at least an “oh shit, the government has been doing this and been feeding us lies that it was something else the entire time?” moment, but I’m absolutely done with the tone deaf, tired af “oh I didn’t know this thing was happening because I didn’t bother to give a shit about anyone but me and my life”, as if the self-centeredness in of itself is somehow a reasonable excuse, as if it’s ok to not have empathy for people who are different from you. It isn’t. Yeah, it’s a tactic that governments employ in order to make it easier to exploit marginalized groups without others kicking up a fuss, but still.
@@talynhastime9343 YA protagonists from hunger games clones wouldn't be in Katniss' shoes. They'd be from a career district or even the Capitol
The Hunger Games have always been super interesting to me in that while I was never personally a huge fan of them, I loved the way they were written. The only thing "special" about Katniss is that she's got some sweet archery skills because she was able to successfully sneak out of the district to hunt for food, and in the kind of society that was created by the books that's less "special" and more "mildly uncommon," because everyone that can get away with it (not many, but enough) know better than to say anything about it. The special thing about her sets her apart in a realistic way that isn't overpowered or even actually all theat special. In addition, as the series progresses you begin to see what a toll the things she's had to do and the situations she's been in has had on her, which was really cool to see. People are't fine after traumatic experiences, and if you keep pushing them, eventually they break - which you can see in Katniss. I even think the side-plot romance was handled pretty well, even though that's honestly the main reson I wasn't a fan of the books. I liked the first one, and then I liked the second one less and the third one even less, as the romance became a more significant part of the series. I cannot emphasise enough that it was well-written and well-done, I just didn't like it. To be fair, though, I tend to be pretty picky about any romance I read, and tons of well-written romances don't make the cut, simply because I'm usually not a huge fan.
Alizee: 'how can someone have graceful arms?'
Ballerinas: 😡
I'm only 16 minutes in but this book has big "I read 1984 but didn't understand it" energy
And also "I tried reading 'Brave New World', but could just understand it ... before it was taken away from me, because it had 'too much sex, and drug taking' in it ..." kind of energy, as well ...
I too have read "Black Mirror" by George Orwell
At least that means they read it? Most people just pretend they know what it's about
@@cyrus2395 Did you also read 1984 and didn't understand it?
@Fen Vulpeus yeah the concept is fine but not worth a whole book.
Can we just get like- ONE young adult novel where the love interest is just a guy who likes the main character and treats her nicely? Do they ALL have to be tortured souls/angry boys? Or is the, "I CAN CHANGE HIM!" mentality just too powerful of a trope?
peeta from the hunger games has always been my favorite
No.
I wish we could, but apparently setting a bad example for young teen girls and boys is the standard. Honestly when I was writing one (it was cancelled) the male love interest was a genuinely kind guy who worked hard to protect others while still being gentle with others who needed it. He was really sweet to a lot of people, but he didn’t let people just walk all over him or his friends. I just wanted a kindhearted love interest to juxtapose the somewhat abrasive but still caring lead character.
honestly I’d be thrilled if we simply bypassed that issue all together and removed love interests. found family is where it’s at-
Can't we have a gentle giant who loves flowers and puppies? Or that one kid who is just a genuinely good friend, maybe a little clumsy, that isn't a supermodel and doesn't just want to get in her pants? There are so many ways you could present a good role model for both boys and girls where neither one is just depressed and cynical; who present nothing but a toxic relationship that I would be horrified to see in real life. This is one of the main reasons why I hated romance as a kid. Nevermind the lack of anything gay that destroys my bi heart on a multitude of levels.
The Hunger Games: What if America was run by insane people who forced literal children and teens to fight to the death for their entertainment?
Divergent: What if the world became a society where you could only be one personality trait?
Hungry: What if food didn’t exist... *AND YOUR STOMACH GROWLED?*
New YA Dystopia: What if … now, stay with me here …. What if, the floor … was made out of FLOOR?
@@goodnight-moon564 SNORT!! Made me literally LOL at work!
"I have no mouth and I must scream" but stupid.
How did you make the Hunger Games sound good
Honestly tho if this was written well it would be a great concept. Way freakier to me than other dystopian themes like mentioned above… bc food is something that plays such a huge role in our health, our social connection, different cultures, it brings joy, it nourishes us, it’s something we take for granted but imagine for real if suddenly you weren’t allowed to eat and there was no real food. Fuck that. And then to be raised never knowing what real food was and hunger being a foreign concept and then feeling hunger for the first time? Around people who don’t? Like that would be scary, and you’d realise one of the things that MAKES us human had been suppressed and stolen from everyone. It needs to be written better lol I’m sure it’s not a new concept but idk. It freaks me out more lol.
The vegetable names are fucking killing me lmao. Suddenly, the story I’ve been working on doesn’t seem that bad 😭
That's the benefit of reading bad books! Besides being an example of what you find suspension-of-disbelief destroying, I actually find them inspiring! Suddenly my writing doesn't seem so awkward. Never stop editing though I suppose. 😅
It's books like this that keep me writing tbh. I was never more productive than after Ready Player One came out and I realized that a) Cline is a mediocre hack, and b) getting your book recognized is pure luck. Just write, it'll suck but I've been told that this is what editors are for. For real though, the only person who can say your story is worth telling is you, but an editor is what helps you make it worth reading by others.
It’s ridiculous! Also how do these people have alcohol without any type of grain-like plant?
@@KristenReviews tbf you can make alcohol out of almost anything with sugar, natural yeast, and time. Real life examples include potato vodka, cynar (fermented vegatables and herbs), fruit wines or honey wine (aka mead) :D
@@amblyommaamericanum6590 Oh, I never knew that. Neat, thanks for telling me! I’ve heard of mead but never thought that it was made from honey. :)
The "futuristic" names for the new technology in this book sound like what a senile boomer would use when triggered at their gen-z grandchild to get off tiktok.
Dangflabbin’ Gizmos and HooverCams
Why do people feel the need to divide themselves into generations so much? It IS true that as time goes, people are getting more and more attached to superfical social media usage. If you don't see that, that's blind
I mean is Tik-tok not a weird ass name for something to watch five second videos of people on?
People throw shade at weird lingo from books predicting the future but the mutants from dark knight returns saying things like “he don’t shiv, he slice and dice” is probably on the level of hearing somebody say “that’s cap on god on god
Speaking as a huge Hunger Games fan, I can assure you Peeta and Katniss did NOT argue constantly: they had occasional spats but their relationship was actually pretty healthy given the genre and extreme circumstances they're placed in.
Also they had spats bc they were in a life or death situation and Peeta was on the verge of giving up + she didn't understand his concept of professing love to get ppl to root for them so she was angry. its more complex than just arguing
Yeah the movies were so different.
@@bariatric-parasite not only that, but shes like 15-16, like a feken child. like, imagine how goddamn stressful *all* of that is for an adult, shes not even that yet
I would not necessarily call their relationship healthy, because from Katniss' perspective it began with distrust, then she was lying to him, basically exploiting his feelings towards her in order to survive and when he finds out, the distrust shifts to his side. They then start to develop a friendship, which was actually nice and healthy, but right after Katniss began to develop deeper feelings, he got brainwashed and from then on out they try to kill each other or themselves some few times.
But even with all that considered the net sum of their relationship still comes out on top of the garbage of this book 😂
From what I know of Hunger Games....didn't they actually know each other prior to getting into a relationship?
"Would you eat lab-grown human meat?"
Yes, but I'd need to decide if I want it to be grown from *my* DNA, the DNA of a historical figure I admire, or the DNA of someone living I hate.
(Let's be real: there would be a whole cottage industry of influencers and celebrities selling their own meat, and it would get a *lot* weirder and worse than that.)
I saw about about this once. Antiviral
can’t wait for the phrase “gamer girl meat” to become a real thing
@@thatoneguy9582 that's part of a plot point in Warren Ellis's masterpiece Transmetropolitan a cyberpunk transhumanist comic book where there is a chain restaurant that just serves cloned human meat
I really love that you've thought about this so much.
@@shadoeboi212 Oh, I'd managed to wipe that plot point from my mind, thank you!! :D
(Transmetropopolitan is a great read, full of thought-provoking and/or chilling moments, but as someone with a phobia of cannibalism, this somehow was an especial Bad Time)
"It's illegal to think about food!"
characters named Apple and Basil exist
????
I mean it sounds like the author had a 70 year old name all the technology and has a 12 year old name the characters.
this book appears to be set in the same world as The Lorax.
I love your profile pic... 😍 reminds me of my MC of my novel series :3c
@@BrownCoatCaptn minecraft.
One world is going to patent air calling it
I’d believe it
"The thing that makes her so special is that.. she feels her stomach growl." 😂
For some reason I never thought that Alizee had a bookcase. I just assumed that she read books... somehow.... maybe just absorbed the knowledge whenever she just walked past a library.
The bookcase is newly built lol, I just had books piled up in various corners before
Why is this comment so funny 😭
Vegan alien powers
@@AlizeeYeezy I too have my books piled in corners. Congrats on getting a book shelf, you're truly moving up in the world
@Imma you’re 100% correct the bookcase is a ruse, don’t believe the lies
Wait, if they get all of their nutritional needs from a drink, that can be considered a food since it does have calories including carbs. It’s food in liquid form but still. These people are technically eating.
yeah the way it was described it seems like just a drink that your body can perfectly digest
I once knew a girl with an eating disorder who said she hadn't eaten in 2 years and I freaked out like wth how that's not possible?? But what she really meant was she hadn't consumed solid food in 2 years. She made all her food into liquid smoothies. She was still eating. That's what this reminds me of lmao. Everyone's still eating they're just eating in liquid form. It's still food (food that makes you not feel hunger apparently which sounds bad for a multitude of reasons but I assume most people still remind themselves to drink their nutrijuice despite having no desire to).
M8=m
I remember hearing that William the Conqueror died in an accident caused by his weight and got that fat in the first place because he tried to work on the logic of "drinks aren't food" and tried to lose weight by consuming only alcohol.
@@chelonianmobile I mean you can literally die from drinking too much water so that was doomed to fail lmao. But the guy's got spirit I guess? Uh, pun not intended, in either the ghostly way or the beverage way.
As someone best friends with a prodigy ballet dancer, YES someone can have graceful arms. I cannot express to you enough how important arms are in making ballet and jazz look good/slick/graceful. So they DRILL THAT TRAINING INTO YOU right away as a kid which results in, like her excellent posture, graceful arms.
I can't believe I completely forgot ballet exists lmao
I think the reason it sounds weird is that it's hard to imagine someone with graceful arms only, you'd probably have to have an overall graceful body to notice the arms
This book sounds like a self insert fanfiction that the writer thought would be cool 😭
Thought
a fanfiction of what
@@helixxia9320 1984
do you know what fanfiction is
It sounds more like a dream the author had. Would certainly explain the ridiculous pacing...
I personally enjoy writing stories based on my dreams, so this definitely feels very familiar, but usually there's quite a lot of work I have to put in to make it well-paced and fix some logical handwaves of my subconsciousness, plus remove anything that was obviously inspired by something I read or saw lately.
This feels like the author fell asleep after reading Brave New World or something of that sort and then just wrote down her dream word by word and published it like that with no revisions whatsoever.
Alizee uploaded a video!
**does a unique and goofy dance in the middle of the confines of my home**
Cowabunga freakazoids!
LOL get out
Literally right after the food porn bit when you said you would get arrested I got a real intense ad for a big mac. Even the corporations are taking the piss out of this book.
The phrase “a real intense ad for a big mac” LMAO I’m scared
It sounds like it would have been more compelling if she was like everyone else and liked technology then slowly changed her mind as she discovered more.
That makes so much more sense!!
Yeah. And it makes zero sense that she even has this much disdain for technology considering she was completely born into it. People who have these opinions about tech have them for the pure fact that they once enjoyed life without it. They know what it was like without it. This even further makes her not only an unlikable character, but an one unbelievable.
but that would be like...a character arc 0.0
@@kats.5958 She's basically a future hipster.
Yeah, kinda like This Perfect Day where the main character is a good boi in a futuristic society and then slowly discovers things and is no longer a good boi
Considering that kids are taught Shakespeare at 12-13 YA underestimates the intelligence of it’s audience way too much.
would it kill authors to write actual good YA novels for teens? damn.
I want a book about a super special group of aspiring YA authors who have to fight each other Hunger Games style to earn the privilege of getting their book published and having to deal with the consequences if everyone decides it's bad. They'd get put on trial for murder and must defend their work or they'll be put to death.
It would kill them, and then they would be eaten
The answer is yes. Little known fact about YA author publishing contracts: if they write a good book, their souls will be collected immediately. Joke’s on the reaper, though. There isn’t any danger of that happening in the first place.
I kinda don't understand the young adult genre even as a concept. Can't 13 year olds just read books? They know about sex and drugs and all that stuff anyway. And then, I don't know, maybe just have a conversation about the book and listen to their thoughts and opinions?
Why even write books for ya, just write. And ya will read whatever they'll find, it's not like teenagers are dumb and need special books for them da fuck
The thing that mostly annoys me most about the premise is that the author seems to be ignorant of the fact that bowel movements are not solely comprised of food waste; feces contain cellular and bacterial debris as well. How are these people removing spent red blood cells from their bodies if they are not pooping?
Thalia: *doesn't know what food is*
Papa Pete: *talks to her stomach, listing off a bunch of foods she wouldn't even understand, and therefore would not make her hungry*
Unless, of course, they're allowed to *talk* about food, while *thinking* about food is illegal?
K. Sure. Makes sense.
Maybe she's been secretly reading the forbidden tomes of ancient Fourchanian fornography? What started as a simple 'food porn' meme, where part of the joke was its absurdity; somewhere along the line it was accidentally censored under some zero tolerance anti-porn legislation. Rather than admit their law needed rewriting, they funneled the National Budget into creating the food alternative found in this book.
How do you talk about something without thinking of it?
He simply broke the law & got away with it cuz he’s supposed to be a badass I guess?
@@TuesdaysArt be a normie.
23:52 "and the doctor thinks some cbt should cure the issue" HELP I FORGOT COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPHY IS ALSO ABBREVIATED LIKE THAT
Oh. Right. That makes more sense.
I WAS LOOKING FOR THIS COMMENT LMAOOOOOOO
„I’ve been chased! I’ve been shot at! I’ve stolen a car! Everyone knows I’m HectorProtector!“ has to be one of the most hilarious lines in the book. That name is just so ridiculous.
I actually reread the hunger games recently and I can say with full confidence, as someone who's read their fair share of ya dystopia novels, that it's lightyears ahead of all the ya dystopias it inspired
Yeah. I'm not sure if that's sad or what. Some of the ya dystopias it inspired were downright nonsensical. Like Divergent. I'll never understand how /that/ worked at all
It's because the premise for Hunger Games clearly came straight from Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. If you've ever read it or seen the movie, it's pretty obvious! So it doesn't follow any typical YA Dystopia formula at all. Both are good though. I wouldn't let my kids watch or read BR, so Hunger Games is a great alternative.
@@loud6037 You know that makes me think how after so many people tried to replicate the success of The Hunger Games, the real successor in terms of fame and relevance and actual biting social commentary is... Squid Game.
@@PermianExtinction That’s the kind of comment that deserves a video essay. I’d love to see someone follow the media thread from the widespread success of Hunger Games to how Squid Game became one of the most beloved shows during the panini
@@sillylilly1645 that's would be such a good video essay if done well, it could show the development of the dystopian genre into the mainstream, and how different things inspire eachother, and how so many things have tried to copy both squid game and hunger games while missing the entire point of both of them. And compare how they are actually very similar concepts, essentially both a battle royal system to put your life on the line for the reward of survival, and why that works as an anticapitalist novel/show
OK so I have a nitpicky thing to add about this book re: the 15 year old pregnant girl having her second pregnancy. SO as it turns out the onset of menses is determined in large part by nutritional availability -- that's why the age has been coming down since the industrial revolution. While it's pretty common now for girls as young as 11 or 12 to have menses started, under what is basically tribal living conditions I find that EXTREMELY unlikely that she had her period start at the same time as the average modern Londoner with unlimited and varied food options? And managed to get pregnant twice in the 3 years since then? And also not DIED during labor from being so young? yeah yeah ok book sure.... I guess it doesn't have to make sense.
yeah but hormone injections and magical treatments?
And why haven't all their teeth fallen out?
@@kiwi_crush I totally typed this out before it got to the part with hormone injections. 😂
@@EE.333 I do that too :)
@@kiwi_crush “all your nutritional needs” presumably includes vitamins so they wouldn’t get scurvy if that’s what you mean
@@voidify3 not what I mean. Obviously their nutritional needs would be met by the magic potion they chug every day. I was referring to their teeth and gum health being affected by never chewing anything. In real life if people are on liquid diets for whatever reason, they use chewing gum to help with that.
I know nothing about hunger suppressants so I'm willing to believe there are people it wouldn't affect. But I imagine there'd be a few of them and at least some of them would whine about it constantly. There's someone out there who blames everything bad she's ever done on the fact that she gets hungry. You cannot convince me that this girl thinks she's the only person this ever happens to unless RUclips no longer exists in the future.
It's called plot armor, sweaty.
Look it up 🤣🤣🤣
fr i want to see amberlynn reid in this universe
@@riley-scarlett3265 oh lordt 😂
@@riley-scarlett3265 idk what Reid did, but I can tell ya'll have One(1) Joke and you pass it around like a really nasty blunt.
@@stardoogalaxie9314 there are literal rape allegations against her and proof of her abusing her pets so don't feel too bad
For a book about hunger I was expecting alot more actual cannibalism. The whole stem cell thing is stupid because you would only need to do it once as then you can just use the meat. And agriculture is not natural how is that the way humans are suppose to live. Boomers the book.
I would 100% eat lab grown human meat especially of it was myself.
You'd end up being really full of yourself
@@llewelynshingler2173 👈👈😎
@@llewelynshingler2173 🥁
You are what you eat!
@@deadgame2098 😭💀
I would absolutely eat lab-grown meat, human or otherwise. A sustainable source of food that could end hunger? Sign me up! Can't be any worse than whatever hot dogs are made of.
Right? Why is anyone against lab grow food
@X Dr I honestly don't mind it being human, it's just flesh in the end. What's that disease call? I want to look it up
@@kazmine6831 I’m assuming they’re referring to prion diseases, which are very dangerous, but iirc you are only at risk of those if you eat the human BRAIN specifically. Everything else is fine - at least if my memory serves, I’d still go look it up to learn more.
@X Dr If I'm being horribly incorrect at any point of this, someone please correct me.
The disease is called kuru, and it's caused by prions - the same group of pathogens that cause mad cow disease, for example. They're misfolded proteins that can cause other proteins to misfold, those wrong shapes clump together and gradually wreck the brain. Here's the kicker: people can develop prion diseases on their own, BUT they can also catch them through contact with infected tissue. This includes eating it. The tribe in which kuru occured had a tradition of eating bodies of the deceased, including the brain. Someone randomly developed a prion disease and died, people ate their brain and shit got progressively worse from there. So, yeah, I think that lab-grown human meat would be pretty safe to eat.
yeah, if health concerns like parasites etc were taken care of what would the problem be lol (heck i think most of the built-in disgust most people have towards cannibalism evolved due to the risk of transmitted disease, especially from corpses, as well as social bonds and emotional attachment to the deceased, which wouldn't be the case for lab grown meat.)
I'm not saying this book is outright fascist or the author is, but it's giving me big "Reject modernity embrace tradition." Vibes.
Not anarcho-primatism, but adjacent?
That phrase isn’t fascist.
Maybe not necessarily but fascists sure love using it to justify they’re awful views
@@alice-ci2go Maybe you're just confused about what a fascist is.
@@loud6037 well in your perveiw what is a fascist and how does this not entail fascism?
"Why do a lot of YA authors not think it's possible to have a relationship without ending in an argument and stomping off every conversation?"
The knowledge I've gained from watching "old American ads" and "boomers on social media" reaction/commentary vids on youtube has taught me that the reason is because many of those YA authors are either boomers or grew up following their boomer parents, and back then the point of marriage was to marry the person you despise the most in the whole world.
In America I live in North Georgia and Kudzu plants are a invasive vine that is all around horrible. Kills natural plants and is super bad for the environment. 😂 Why the writer picked that plant is beyond me.
Maybe they think it's a metaphor or something idk
lmao I live in South Carolina and there's literally some kudzu growing like half a mile down the road from me near an elementary school. I'm totally giggling imagining someone trying to roll it up and smoke it - like ??? you don't do that ???
I live in the southern states and occasionally we’ll go for a car ride somewhere and see that blasted ivy EVERYWHERE, suffocating trees, covering god knows what else. That plant is the demon spawn of hell, Satan brought it specifically to jump start our apocalypse and I am more than a little terrified of it.
@@shy2infinity 💀 😂
Grew up on Gainesville, Ga.
Good ole kudzo. 👋
This is even more ridiculous when you consider that belly growls don't have anything to do with hunger or an empty stomach.
I feel like this is something you research before writing a book focused on it
Then what is it caused by then?!
@@Barakon movement of the muscles in the stomach walls
@@Barakon Basically your stomach (and intestines) are in perpetual motion, always flexing around to mush up stuff (think of your inner stomach muscles like hands constantly kneading a bag). (Also the movement is made more pronounced when your stomach is gearing up to eat and not when you start eating, which is really cool, it's basically going "THROW IT AT ME BOSS I'LL MASH IT UP".)
That happens to be why it's mostly okay to not chew your food perfectly, the enzymes and constant kneading help to turn it into paste.
@@neoqwerty but chewing still helps obviously, just do so for long enough to begin the process of digestion.
“Basil runs away, which is twice now, so that makes him a coward” alizee never fails to make me laugh😂
The second you said “libertarianism” every bizarre writing decision started to make sense, honestly
I honestly don't know how to pronounce that either '-'
It feels like something my libertarian ex would write 💀 starting to think they’re all the same person
@@heterophobia.mp4
modern american libertarianism has roots in an actual cult. look into the weird history of objectivism. it's creepy as hell
@@Liliputian07 libertarianism is so weird to me because the ideal of their beliefs is completely reasonable, and yet no libertarian seems to actually follow them lol.
@@thedestroyasystem So, they're the crazy Christian mothers of politics?
9:57 people really think that bees are the only pollinators even though spiders, wasps, hornets, bats, birds, butterflies, and moths still exist. Yeah if bees died out we would have a crisis on our hands but the niche would sort itself out.
Most of the crisis would come from the domino effect of everything that eats bees also dying out en masse.
Oh damn, i actually didn't know that.
wasps and hornets can go lol
Plus a lot of our main crops are or can be easily pollinated by humans. We used to drag a big line across our fields to knock the tassels of the plants over the next row. Really helps to ensure full pollination of the corn. Bees and other insects going extinct would largely effect wild plants, not most of our main food crops.
I believe male mosquitoes are also pollinators
''here,son, have some lentils for dinner''-strange aeons
I'm early in the video yet, but it seems like one of its biggest problems so far is that its two main themes are completely at odds with each other. On the one hand, its saying "We need to look to a greener future where mega-corporations don't control every aspect of our lives," and on the other, "We need to return to an idyllic past." It's like it WANTS to come off as progressive but the narration is so steeped in its own nostalgia that it just comes off as empty complaining
Those aren’t mutually exclusive, so I’m not sure what you’re saying here
“My little kilobyte” can’t stop laughing
Oh my GOD, I tried to read this book years ago! I had to put it down because I was just so *done* with the main character's "everyone's a mindless sheep but me teehee" bs.
"Hajime mashite...this" might be the funniest sentence I've read all week holy shit
hajimemashite is one word tho...?
はじめまして。
If it helps I'm pretty sure the future pronounces it Liberternarianism so
People who pronounce it liberternarianism are freakazoids
This sounds like a published Wattpad fanfic, the way time moves and events within happen so rapidly and without reason 😭😭
I admire that Alizee turns her suffering into content for us
I only just started this vid but PLEASE give us a book shelf tour thing I'm always so curious when I see bookshelves in the background of anything
Same!!!
Yess please. I know there’s some you tubers that still don’t show the books they read. I find that fascinating 🤨
Me. Too. Especially this supreme weirdo’s books, I need to know.
👆
Yesss that would be fabulous 😜🤘🤗
THIS BOOK NEVER ENDS 😩😭 I’ve expected it to be the ending at least three times already and I’m only halfway through
Why are you reading it them?
Half of the fun of dystopias for me is our protagonist becoming Disillusioned or Growing more rebellious over the course of the book. She's so rebellious and so well off.
Starting a count for how many times "because we're in the future" is going to come up
rolling a joint and taking a hit everytime "cuz future" thanks for this idea
Since you’re a YA booktuber now I recommend The Knife of Never Letting Go, it’s dystopian and the protagonist is neither smart nor special. Also has an awful movie adaptation that came out over a decade later. Content.
oh my goodness the adaptation was HORRIBLE jfc it literally negated any need for the main driving mechanic for any plot..,.....,,so underwhelming
one of my favorite future fiction books and i’ve never heard anyone talk about it! isn’t it the first of a trilogy?
Oh gosh, I hated that book so much, I barely made it through the first 3-4 chapters!
Oh my cow is that Chaos Walking?
I actually loved this series
"Finally, someone sounds like a relatable person!" "That's not true." - Author conversing directly with Alizee
as someone who is smart but also has ADD, "gifted dipshit" resonates with me
I've been called "the smartest idiot Ive ever met" lol so I felt it too
Honestly Alizee becoming a booktuber would be great, I'm in 100%
Currently 58 minutes through this video and I'm realizing I have no idea why this story is even really happening. What is the character's point in doing the things she's doing? What's the end goal? Just to meet up with other 'hungry' people? Why exactly? None of what she's put herself and others through seems very justified.
Lol have I missed something?
I'm in your exact shoes right now almost down to the time lol. I keep picturing The Host after she got to the secret base but yeah *then what??*
I don’t get why they didn’t have Thalia’s end goal be eating. If that was what the author intended, they failed hard at conveying it
This book is literally "Uglies" and "Pretties" wrapped in a different wrapper
Stop that’s what I immediately thought of
Don’t forget specials bc the MC is ~special~
NO WAY were they really that bad??? i don't even remember lmfao.
Oh I don't think they were as bad as all that, I liked that the MC began accepting the status quo but had to think her own way out of it, plus the jargon was much more readable. The books are pretty tropey though, so I can see how that could be grating
At least those books came out a solid three years before the Hunger Games came along and made the entire YA market nothing but dystopia. It was original at the time, or at least it was the only book like it I remember reading at the time when I got it, and I read just about every library book I could get my hands on.
This book is the author's attempt at showing young adults how cool and great being a ocnservative boomer is.
It's a god damn psyop, it has to be.
From what I could tell looking her up online that's not far off. She's over 50 and into conservative Libertarianism type stuff.
I occasionally like dream sequences in books. Usually only if they serve more of a purpose than just symbolism such as abilities like foresight or mind walking or some other quality. Especially if the person becomes aware they have such talents and starts refining them as the plot moves forward.
I also like them if they highlight something else, like PTSD. They can be used as a thermostat to show how well the character is doing at any given time.
"would u eat lab grown human meat?"
This is not the promised neverland I'd rather not 💀
I mean, it depends what else is in the fridge...
I mean they didn’t make lab grown human meat, they just raised kids 😅😅
@@thecolorjune I think the manga would refute that statement 😭😭😭
@@shanicek5188 Oh haha I guess I haven’t finished yet then oops
@@thecolorjune hahhah no that's totally fine
I’m not even five minutes in and already I’m thinking most people in this society must have the MOST jacked up dental issues. If the only form of nutrition they consume is liquid, how on earth do the children develop their jaw muscles?
Edit: Oh my god this is……..so much
The set up sounds like it was written by a ProAna discord mod
or onion again
I cleaned my entire kitchen from top to bottom while listening to this. Thank you for making a boring chore more interesting 🙏
ok but.... synthamil... or however it's spelled unironically sounds like a good thing on its' own. "Oh., you don't know what hunger is, you don't know what food is!" Not knowing how bad hunger is is a privilege, and when even the poor have the ability to avoid hunger we have done something right. Given that this stuff doesn't seem to harm you in any way short of denying the creation of ghrelin, which is the hormone that makes you feel hungry, I don't... see a downside? We will now ALWAYS be at the mercy of corporate BS when it comes to food. How is "Everyone is fed and no one has to poop anymore, which likely all but killed off various cancers for various reasons" a bad thing? They could likely flavor synthamil so it's not like your sense of taste is forever useless until its' bred out via evolution.
Also no. You shouldn't cannibalize. Because human meat is actually incredibly dangerous for humans to eat. It causes all kinds of disorders and illnesses. Holy crap this guy did NO research.
There's nothing quite like getting a side of prion disease with your steak. >.
yeah, genuinely the only bad part is that this corporation now monopolizes the only food source and seemingly everything else, shame they didn't really do much with that
@@nerdywolverine8640 Which... I guess is believable from the "it's for kids" angle. I guess kids don't really want to talk about the real fears of not being worthy of not starving, which, in a scarce world, is a very real possibility and a very painful and slow death that can take weeks. Or worse, surviving and being stuck with the damage it's caused.
44:00 53:40 FYI, like honeysuckle, kudzu is an invasive species in parts of the US. While honeysuckle is appreciated for it’s smell, kudzu foods are fairly popular as a way to make the most of killing the plants. They make a great jam.
I was interested in the premise as you described it until she didn't go to her parents or, you know, A DOCTOR, because her stomach was doing something nobody else's did. Oh and she's a disillusioned leet hacker. It would have been far more interesting if she was a completely normal tech-obsessed non-socially conscious teen and only her leptin/ghrelin levels being unresponsive to the Corporation's whatever, made her any different. Imagine if that was what set you off on becoming a completely anti-tech person set on bringing the system down.
The Big Alizee Yeezy has returned to us 💜💜💜 Praise Be!
Thank Keanu, a new video
@@Jeff-ok6dr Yeeees! Oh praise be to Keanu Reeves! 💜
When you introduced the book’s concept I thought it was another Soylent Green ripoff but when you said, “but her stomach growls” like I legit…I went into shock for a moment that that is an actual plot 😂
kudzu is a plant that was used in traditional chinese medicine, but can allegedly still used today to aid addictions (mainly alcohol) it is claimed that it essentially heightens the effects of alcohol so people will consume less to feel the same high, however, there's both studies confirming this and denying it (comes off as a placebo to me), it's also not smoked but the roots are crushed and put in capsules.
Thank you, this was really interesting! Even if it's a placebo, as long as it works... I like to think that placebo and nocebo effects are akin to "magic", the psychological effects make them reality even if on a physiological level nothing happens.
@@palapeura375 Placebo effect to me is... 50/50, depends on rarity. I'll forever yell at poachers and idiots destroying ecosystems for their fake medicine that only works because you believe it will...
But invasive, abundant stuff like kudzu? Yeah ok go wild, your placebo is benefiting native species so go for it.
@@neoqwerty yeah I agree with you about the environmental impact 💐
Only fifteen minutes in and I’m reeling. I had MAJOR whiplash at “Grandma Grace” being the “bad” grandma. I had my own Grandma Grace (EXACT thing I called her too) and she was ALSO a bad person. I’m crying why did the author steal my childhood trauma 😭😂
ok but if anyone wants an actually GOOD dystopian story involving food shortages you should check out the game booth: a dystopian adventure. it's an absolute banger
This reads like an self insert fanfic about anorexia-as-society written by an (american) liberal with an eating disorder. Anyone else?
Edit: as someone who had anorexia for like 10 years i mean lol, not just judging anyone or anything. Figured that should be noted. Like for example the being hungry when everyone else isn't as a major plot point and the eating pieces of paper and the incoherent brain foggy writing etc? Anyway im super seeing it
When I read this comment I forgot I wasnt in the ED subreddit for a second. I also thought this.
This is so specific but I feel this
yeah, feeling this too.
Using anorexia or eating disorders in some way (written respectfully of course) as a plot point in a YA novel or as part of a dystopian society sounds like it could be pretty cool, in theory. Not like this though.
In my opinion, the way society treats weight and food and the existence of eating disorders as a result of it is pretty dystopian on the face of it. Not all eating disorders are about weight and body image however.
@Ava Fox agreed on life being p dystopian with the way western world treats women's weight (cis and trans, also dudes too) in general, also agreed protags w not super weight focused EDs, like orthorexia, could be interesting.
And now to insert the obligatory; have you read "the uglies" series? It sounds right up your alley in terms of a ya dystopia where a society is structured around appearance to the extreme, it also a good take on capitalism and learning to love yourself. I haven't read it in yeeeeeears, but from what I remember I think you'd dig it
So glad you're reading this! I found this in the library and couldn't believe this thing got published
If you want an actual interesting book that deals with corporations running the country and everybody else kind of being shafted and impoverished, Margaret Atwood's maddadam series (starts with oryx and crake) is GREAT. And it gets wild
Agree! Year of the flood was immense!
If you want an insane story read this mortal coil. It starts off with an exploding cannibal virus and the main character has a human meat fridge but by the end you’ve forgotten all about that because it gets even more insane with every plot point until that sounds like a solid premise. I’m talking mc adopts an ai 5 year old in her head who is a young version of her sister/headmates adopted brother and exboyfriend who she is currently dating weird
If we're saying goodbye to drama, can I personally request another reading food reviews video. I've gone back to that vid like 3 times, it honestly never fails to make me laugh.
yes
@@AlizeeYeezy Called it
I remember reading this as a youngling bc my friend said it was an amazing book. And i hated it, dragged myself through it. But that cult plot had a lot of potential. I feel if basil betrayed her and there were a sequel it wouldve been so much better
the funniest thing to me is that apparently kudzu, an extremely difficult to control invasive species, is unheard of by the majority of the population
As she started her frustrated monologue of not wanting them to go back to the grandfather (~51:18 on) a fire engine approached the intersection near where I live and then passed, sirens blaring, during almost the entire rant. It really added to the ambiance.
The Outer Worlds is super fun and has amazing writing. Yeah a lot of the villains are silly, but it fits. So glad that you like it and pokemon 😂
This reminds me of a chapter of drivel I wrote when I was a teenager, where the diets of people were being extremely controlled and those from the less privileged country looked down upon those from wealthy countries as they didn't know how to struggle, an intensely shortsighted view on the world. I keep such tragic passages as a warning of what happens when one succumbs to the Dunning-Kruger effect. Also, I had learned a lot of cool new names so I wanted to take them out for a spin- and would have offended a significant portion of the world.
The vines are invasive and will choke out every other plant in the area. If left unchecked it will also climb and cover anything and everything in its path. It grows so quickly that if you look at it on Tues as 10am then look again Wed at 10am, you can actually see the growth
The online friend actually being the dad reminds me of a French-Canadian YA book I read in the late 90s. That was the main "punch" of the book.
an ad break came on suddenly and so, i assumed it was the video abruptly ending - confusion, mild despair, sad, woeful vibes were felt - and then the video comes back on and i realize it's an hour and a half long and was like 'ah, yes, alizee's god-tier ranking continues, and carries me through my overnight shift at work... *sips tea* all is right in the world" xD
If kudzu still exists it’s definitely an international concern
A bookshelf tour would be AMAZING. Or a favorite books type of video. Any and all book videos would be welcome.
The brother dying because someone threw some boxes out of a window 😂😂😂
My queen you got me thru tough times in early sobriety I heart u
I'm considering taking the sobriety plunge. I have no pressing issues with my alc use, but I am worried about how it might affect my health down the line. So hearing about other people's successes always helps and cheers me up! Take care :3
Alizee coming back with an hour long video on my birthday is honestly the best gift I could have asked for
Happy belated birthday!
The fact this book has like a 3.4 rating on Goodreads is mind boggling, I read it a few months ago and thought it was 0/5 stars. It’s idiotic really.
I was just on the goodreads page, it's weird. All the reviews are like "wtf is this". One of the reviews had basically my pov for reviews - the person finished reading it and it wasn't TERRIBLE so they gave it a 3.
When I read the book as a teen I would have given it at least a 4/5 but now just thinking about it idk if I would be able to get through it fully.
i and i'm sure any other person with a career in STEM here can attest that half the " scientific" dribble in this book sounds like the author's half-assed google searches. not saying that authors have to always fully understand all the ins and outs of what they're writing about but when it's this big of a plot point it's just atrocious
I always like hearing about books like this because it makes me feel better about my own writing. Excited for new videos!
i was so sure that when dr demeter was like "If There Was Food... Would You Eat It?? (sus tone)" that he was running an organ harvesting scheme for eating human meat...
I feel like someone wanted a hit YA book, so they googled popular ones and didn't do much more research than the title of Hunger Games
Every time you read a passage, then suggested a fix that would make a more compelling read.
All I could think was *I don't think a compelling read is what this author was aiming for.*
I mean if the author was aiming for a completely uncompelling, unwanted and borderline unreadable book and characters.
Genius, Job Well Done, I Fully Applaud Excellent Work.
If they were aiming for a readable book with good continuity and likeable protagonists …… then sweetie we need to talk because she missed by a loooong way.
xAndyx
A long video with Alizee ranting about something? I have truly been blessed this day, I'll be listening to this while doing homework. Also love the Mary Sue character, the more we learn about her, the more I feel like I’m checking off from a "I'm not like other girls" bingo card
I also enjoy listening to the podcasts whilst I’m sitting in traffic going to and from work everyday 10/10 ✨