Book choice for 14 year old boys - lesbian novel

[NC29]

I need some distance and other ppls thoughts.
In an all boys school the 14 year olds in english lit will be reading a novel about the hardship of being a lesbian girl in a catholic household.
Why?
I don't object to the topic, or the book (haven't read it yet, just arrived today - hope it's good)
My issue is I don't understand the choice. It feels forced* and there is so much literature that I would consider foundational that they haven't read yet that this is out of place. Maybe in a year or 2 it'll be more understandable to them, but now?
I am happy for them to read all kinds of stuff, but I think you need context and some life knowledge/experience for certain stuff.

*it seems that there is a culture emerging where kids have to be tolerant towards one or other specific trait, not the person. I don't agree with this approach. They should be taught that one trait doesn't matter by itself. A person is not black OR gay OR nice OR nasty. We are all a mixture of many things. Putting colour or sexuality at the forefront without the understanding of why it matters and why it is good that nowadays it's not a stigma (or why it should not have ever been and should not be now) is more logical to me.

I want my kid to be tolerant, kind (and a lot of other things :)) and behave normally with others because he sees the other person as a whole - not their color or their sex preference. And I want him to be in a world where he can say he doesn't like xyz and it won't come down to "oh, you don't like him because he is gay". Tolerance works both ways. **
And let's be fair: how is it any of my (or anyone's) business who another person chooses as a partner?

And this is coming form a person who just gave him Murakami to read. (and he likes it.) So no issues with actually him reading any book. (ok, maybe I would not be too happy if he was reading Dosztojevszkij or the memoirs of a serial killer....).
Not for a second do I think it is going to hurt him, but i think it'll fly past their heads and it would be more value a bit later.

**I honestly get the fierce need of oppressed minorities wanting more respect or just to be left alone to be who they want to be. I also see there is a shift to be too pc. There must be a middle ground where these things can be treated factual and without connotations. (ok, naivety off)

so question is, what do you think the motivation behind this selection could be? And what would your thoughts be on this being the mandatory English lit book of the term?

As others have confirmed it's an excellent book. Pre-dates all the lgbtqaaiabcdefg alphabet soup nonsense. I wouldn't be concerned about anyone aged 14 reading it.

It's a brilliant book by a well-regarded British novelist, and now considered a modern classic. So seems a more than reasonable choice for an Eng. Lit. reading list. And your point about the subject matter seems an odd one to raise OP, I had to read Of Mice and Men at school, if I summarised that as about two American men, then presumably I shouldn't have read it as I'm neither. Similarly Lord of the Flies when not a public-school boy.

But the point of literature is to broaden horizons, look at different styles of writing, forms of experience and so on...What you're proposing sounds dangerously close to censorship.

Agree that your post doesn’t really make much sense as well.
Why decide it isn’t worth studying without actually looking it up and getting some background info? Also assuming that just because the book centres a lesbian it’s obviously not been chosen because it holds any merit but has been ‘forced’ upon the class. And 14-year-olds not having enough life knowledge or experience to explore themes such as colour or sexuality seems odd to suggest, many are living those realities.

It’s a fantastic book. I’d be delighted if my 14 year old was reading it, Dostoyevsky too. And yes mother is not catholic she’s a Pentecostal lunatic.

What’s the problem with reading about a gay teenager?

Is it, as Mrs Winterson said “the trouble with books is that you don’t know what’s in the until it’s too late.”

Honestly if you are as educated and broad minded as you are trying to come across I am surprised you haven't heard of it! Great book.

If she was as educated and broad minded as she’s trying to claim she is she wouldn’t have a problem with her son reading it on principle.

Thanks OP for reminding me about it though, may dig it out for a reread, it's very entertaining, and yes agree with a pp, Winterson's autobiography also brilliant.

To describe it as a ‘lesbian novel’ is odd. It’s not a novel about lesbianism. It’s about growing up in a northern town with an insane mother surrounded by fundamentalist Christians. Main character happens to be gay but that’s not really the core of the book.

Have they read To Kill a Mockingbird yet?

By a woman.
About a girl.
About violence against women and people of color.

Seems very relevant, and a fantastic movie for afterwards...My sophomores (15) loved it!!

"Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit" is an ideal choice for that age, whether boys or girls.
All my DCs studied it at that age in English Lit (in the US).

It's a coming of age story, not a story about being a lesbian. It deals with family conflict, communication difficulties, issues when a parent is very wrapped up in herself, preoccupied, judgemental, issues of indoctrination, lack of listening, lack of humanity, lack of connection in families, and isolation within wider society. What's not to love?

It is a really interesting novel for kids age 14 because regardless of whether they are lesbians they can all identify with themes here. The writing itself is very accessible so even kids in a mixed ability class can come to grips with the material, and discussions can be very productive if a teacher has been able to establish a foundation of safety and mutual trust within the group.

The book is absolutely not about 'a specific trait'. Read it for yourself - you won't regret it.
(YY to Pentecostal lunatic mother, not Catholic.)

Save your ire until your DS is forced to read Jane Austen with the attendant risk of being put off reading for life.

Ok I’m going to help you work out which bit bothers you. Imagine these books:

A. A Novel about a teenage boy in a Christian household coming to terms with being gay. Do you feel better about this?

B. A novel about a teenage girl in a Christian household coming to terms with her first crush on a boy. How do you feel about this?

C. A Novel about a teenage lesbian growing up in a Muslim household. How do you feel about that?

Which is your favourite/least favourite of those options should help you pinpoint what your real problem with this choice of reading matter is.

Books exist partly to help us understand the lives of other humans, the ones we live amongst. None of your sons classmates will ever be a teenage lesbian. Just like we read Julius Caesar without being Roman emperors. That’s part of the point because you learn by reading don’t you.

Gosh OP. You’ve been schooled. It’s one of the major works of English Literature and wholly appropriate.

This reminds me about the parents group coffee morning I went to where mothers were complaining that our boys had been given a poem about necrophilia to read. It was only Robert Browning’s most famous poem....

I don't see a problem with it at all. I am also pretty sure at least one of the students will be able to relate. It is important for the marginalized to have their voices heard. Literature is a great way to do that.

lol. OP, you are hilarious. For all the reasons above.

But I just have to ask...

Do you think that boys should never read books that depict women as fully formed characters?? I mean, I enjoyed a good Murakami novel every now and then as much as any dreamy teenager... But Murakami is infamous for his unrealistic representations of women! It's almost like you want to teach him that books depicting the experiences of anyone other than straight white men are not 'foundational'....

Two things:

1 - what is "foundational" literature?

2 - I don't think you'd have posted this if you'd actually read the book.

Read the book OP, it'll do you good.

I do love Mumsnet. It only took three posts for someone to know exactly what the book was despite the misdescription. Gotta love the expert community.

'Oranges' is excellent literature for any age, it is extremely entertaining on many levels, lesbianism is only part of it.

I'm seventy and read 'The Well of Loneliness' when I was fourteen. I recommend that for knowledge from a completely different era.

I'd also love to know why a book with a lesbian protagonist isn't OK and neither is Dostoevsky for some reason but I assume a play about 13 year olds getting married and killing themselves hundreds of years ago is.

Oranges is a great book and I'm not Pentecostal or lesbian. As the author said, "I've never understood why straight fiction is supposed to be for everyone, but anything with a gay character or that includes gay experience is only for queers.".

What's wrong with Dostoyevsky?

It’s brilliant, full of ideas and deadpan humour, written in a very accessible way. I honestly don’t see why you’d have a problem with it unless you practise the kind of Christianity it describes.

I went to an all girls school and we had to read Lord of the Flies. What possible motivation OP could there be for making a group of girls read about all those boys?

It’s very reductive to describe Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit as a ‘lesbian novel’. It is a powerful modern classic, a coming of age story, a story about the way the Bible has shaped and guided human stories for centuries and the ways in which people find themselves in relation and in opposition to that. It’s as much a book about storytelling as it is about lesbianism. It was one of the texts I studied in the first year of my undergraduate English literature degree.

It is also an important insight into the history of how homosexuality has been treated in the U.K. - the novel was published in 1985, not long after the government had legislated to ban the discussion of anything promoting homosexuality in schools. A school is the perfect place to discuss how and why so much has changed in the last 35 years, and what still needs to be done.

(Incidentally, the protagonist’s family aren’t Catholic, they are Pentecostal.

If you’re worried that there’s something ‘too pc’ about expecting 14 year olds to acknowledge the existence of lesbianism, you’re being a bit daft. Plenty of children know they are themselves gay at 14, and even if they aren’t it is certainly not too young to read literature with a gay protagonist. There’s nothing like exposure to a wide range of experiences to achieve your desired aim of having him judge people as individuals, and not on the basis of whatever category they fall into.

It’s not just about her being gay. She is a whole person, being gay is one of many things about her. It’s also brilliant.

Honestly, what you wrote comes across as bigoted. I genuinely don’t know why you’d object to a 24 year old reading a book about a gay young woman.

*14 year old

That’s a standard set text - I studied it at school at the same age. And what’s the problem with Dostoyevsky?