{"id":4480,"date":"2018-03-08T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T13:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=4480"},"modified":"2018-03-04T10:59:41","modified_gmt":"2018-03-04T18:59:41","slug":"mark-reads-games-wizards-play-chapter-13-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2018\/03\/mark-reads-games-wizards-play-chapter-13-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Games Wizards Play’: Chapter 13, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trigger Warning: For talk of abuse, homophobia, and sex.<\/b><\/p>\n

Sabotage<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, Merhnaz. If Dairine\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s theory is correct\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand it seems pretty believable to me\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthen Mehrnaz has some serious shit to work out with her family before she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be able to truly succeed. It almost doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t matter how talented she is; her greatest roadblock is due to whatever is actually happening between her and her loved ones. I can relate, though it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in an entirely different context. I understand self-sabotage out of fear, especially since I reacted in similar ways to the abuse I experienced as a teenager. But I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t become cognizant of how I was sabotaging myself until my mid 20s, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when I realized the hard way that I was unconsciously destroying any possible relationship with a guy I liked. Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, this was truly some \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not you, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s me!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d bullshit, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s almost comical how obvious it seems in hindsight. If someone got close to me and I started having genuine feelings, I would come up with bizarre and nonsensical reasons to push them away. EVERY. TIME.<\/p>\n

And so, reading through the opening of chapter thirteen, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I was able to pick up on the possibility that Mehrnaz was deliberately making this process more difficult, all so that she wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to face the ramifications of making it through the semis. But recognizing this isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough to change it for Dairine, and I agree with how Duane wrote this. Mehrnaz is simply not<\/i> going to react well to a direct confrontation. However, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how<\/i> Dairine can get Mehrnaz confront what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happening to her! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a delicate situation, first of all, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s made even worse because they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re all under a time crunch. How do you resolve a lifetime of possible abuse (or, at the very least, an uncomfortable and painful dynamic in this family) in just a few days?<\/p>\n

I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HAVE THE ANSWER, FYI.<\/p>\n

The Birds and the Bees<\/b><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m always fascinated by the stories I hear of how people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parents gave them This Talk. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be real honest with y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all: I did not have one. Any mention of sex was never in the context of being sat down and having a conversation about sex. It was all pronouncements and judgements. We weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t supposed to have sex at all<\/i>, and if we did before marriage, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d go to hell. On top of that, my mother was a big fan of talking about how gross and sinful gay<\/i> sex was, so THAT CERTAINLY DIDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T HELP ME AT ALL. She even tried to get us out of having sex education in elementary school and junior high, though she eventually relented after learning that the curriculum was abstinence-only.<\/p>\n

I learned about sex\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand I used \u00e2\u20ac\u0153learned\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a very loose sense\u00e2\u20ac\u201dfrom regulated health classes that were awkward and unhelpful, and the rest I learned from my peers. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m sure it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not at all surprising that the bulk of information that I got wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t true, meaningful, or applicable to a queer, brown teenager who was in the closet. I know I spoke of this before, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certain that a great deal of the poor decisions I made after coming out and pursuing sex were because I had no fucking idea what I was doing<\/i>. I followed urges because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, what else were you supposed to do? How was I to know what gay\/queer sex looked like? Felt like?<\/p>\n

Look, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very close to the end of the Young Wizards<\/i> series, and I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine that this is going to change, but: the relationship between Nita and Dairine and their parents is one of the most spectacular things in this series. And I say that as someone who views all of this through the lens of a fantasy. I did not have parents like this; I did not have this experience. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an idealized version of something I could<\/i> have had. (Or, really, wanted<\/i> to have.) But I admire it for another reason. It gives teens a roadmap for how to talk to their parents. In the end, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what is most important to me. As kidlit authors, our responsibilities should most firmly lay in telling the truth. In showing the youth what the world is like, even if we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re writing within fantastical universe. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that every book should have some super serious message! This scene in particular works because it feels so ordinary. It feels real<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Uncertainty<\/b><\/p>\n

Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, how the hell<\/i> are either of these mentees going to make it through semis??? Mehrnaz is struggling with a complicated (and largely unspoken) family dynamic, and Penn has ramped up being THE ACTUAL WORST. My god, is this truly his superpower? WHAT IS HE DOING??? The judges are going to devour<\/i> him if he treats him as he plans to. THIS CAN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T END WELL.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/youtu.be\/YN1q2v1MKk8<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT<\/a>, is now available for pre-order!\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"