Growing Pains: Why Coming of Age Stories Are for Everyone
By Emilie-Noelle Provost | August 23, 2023 |
My second novel, which was released last March, is a coming-of-age story. The book’s protagonist is a sixteen-year-old boy. A few months before the publication date, I had a conversation with my publisher about whether the book should be marketed as a young adult novel or as adult literary fiction.
“It really could be either,” my publisher said. “I think there’s something in it for everyone.”
After weighing the pros and cons of each, we decided to go with adult literary fiction, partly because the novel contains mature content that some parents might find unsuitable for teenagers, and also because we felt that the book would have an opportunity to reach a wider audience as an adult novel.
I was happy with this decision until the book came out and one of its early readers, who also happened to be my father, sent me an email. “It’s a good book, but I don’t think it’s for the over-seventy crowd,” he wrote. “It’s hard to identify with a teenager at my age.” (For the record, he also gave the book a four on Goodreads 😐.)
I was considering asking my publisher if we could revise the book’s metadata when positive reviews started to come in, all of them from adult readers.
“I’m not a teenager,” one woman told me, “but I could really relate to the book’s main character. I’ve had some similar struggles in my life recently. I was rooting for him to succeed the whole time.”
By definition, coming-of-age stories portray a time in a character’s life when they’re undergoing a metamorphosis—in the process of becoming a better, more evolved version of themselves. For most of us, this development takes place when we’re in our late teens or early twenties. But life, especially over the past few years, doesn’t always stick to the rules. Big changes can take place in anyone’s life at any time whether we want them to or not.
If you asked someone to give you a list of their favorite books, it’s likely that at least one coming-of-age story would make the cut. Classic novels like A Catcher in the Rye, The Chocolate War, and The Outsiders occupy an eternal place in people’s hearts because we all know what it’s like when the phonies won’t get off our backs and the rich kids cheat to win.
One of my favorite novels is Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. Set in 1950s Minnesota, it’s the coming-of-age story of eleven-year-old Reuben Lands. The story is full of adventure, tragedy, poverty, hope, love, and miracles that feel true-to-life. I’ve read it a dozen times. Every time I read it, I’m reminded that it’s not just our circumstances that define our characters but the ways in which we choose to handle them. I’m also reminded that, if we’re open to it, it’s possible to grow and change as a person no matter our age.
Although it’s been widely read in high school English classes since it was published, Peace Like A River was intended for an adult audience.
Coming-of-age stories are universal. They occupy their own special niche in the world of storytelling. By showing us humanity at its very worst and at its finest, these stories bring to light the limitations and awesome potential that human beings possess. And because coming-of-age stories deal with themes like self-discovery, injustice, sexuality, class, and race they can also sometimes help us make sense of events that happened in our lives decades ago and the ways in which those things have become woven into our cores.
At their most basic level, coming-of-age stories are also just fun to read. They allow us to be present during some of the most intimate and meaningful moments of characters’ lives. And they make it possible for us to relive our own powerful “first time” experiences, often dealing with themes like love, loyalty, and friendship that anyone can relate to and understand.
Summer isn’t over yet. If you’re still looking for a few good books to read at the beach, consider picking up a copy of Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street or Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex (two of my other favorite coming-of-age novels). Or check out this list of newly released coming-of-age books on Goodreads.
What is your favorite coming-of-age novel and why?
Has reading a coming-of-age novel changed your life in some way? If so, how?
Emilie-Noelle Provost is a writer, editor, and author who lives in a northeastern Massachusetts mill town with her husband, daughter, and three crazy rescue cats. She is an avid hiker and a fan of European crime dramas.
Emilie-Noelle has worked as an editor for four magazine titles and has written and published hundreds of articles. She is the author of two novels. The Blue Bottle, a middle-grade adventure with sea monsters, was published by North Country Press in 2018. Her second novel, The River Is Everywhere, the coming-of-age story of a Franco-American teenager, was a finalist for a 2023 National Indie Excellence Award, a 2023 American Fiction Award, and a 2024 American Legacy Book Award. The novel was published in March 2023 by Vine Leaves Press.
She is currently working on a series of novels set in Île d’Orléans, a historic island in the Saint Lawrence River near Québec City.
[coffee]
I’m currently writing a coming-of-age novel, and appreciate your encouraging words. It’s nice to be reminded that they’re universal and will always appeal to readers.
Oh, grow up!
Don’t you hate that? Who wants to grow up? And yet we need to. Or do we? How many pop psychology books lament our lives of stress and loss of play? Childhood is seen as a golden time, a state of innocence for us to recapture, best of all on a yoga retreat in Costa Rica.
Why then do we so love stories about losing our innocence? Why isn’t it the reverse, the recapture of innocence? Becoming children again. I think it is because we are sad about what we lost. The grown up world is messy. “Nuanced.” We have to work and our hearts get broken. It hurts.
Coming of age fiction is partly a nostalgic yearning for childhood innocence, but also a lament of its loss. Kids gotta grow up and we feel bad about that. Sad for ourselves. For a brief few hundred pages, we’re young again. Then not.
Sweet and sad. Coming of age fiction is eternal, because it’s what we all go through. Not all story forms can say that. Wonderful post and great reading suggestions!
Thanks so much for your comment. You make a good point about recapturing innocence. I think a good story could be written on that theme if it were done the right way. My husband and I hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire almost every weekend. Among the many reasons we do it is because it makes us feel like kids again—out in the woods discovering new things, getting muddy, bruising our shins on rocks, catching glimpses of wild animals. I wouldn’t give it up for the world because, as you say, the grown-up world is messy and hiking gets us away from it, if only for a short while.
I agree that the “coming-of-age” concept can apply to experiences for almost any age. Passing from the teen years into relationship years, into career years, into midlife years, into retirement years, and then into Dad-joke years….these episodes expose all of us to new facets of life that can demand challenging new coming-out moments. The challenge for writers is to authentically identify and express these moments in ways that can provide engagement, insight and enlightenment for readers.
I’m a Boomer who hasn’t re-read The Catcher in the Rye in (hacking cough) years.
But it will always be sacred to me.
Some that immediately come to mind are Wm Kent Krueger’s Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land, Ivan Doig’s books told in the voice of a young boy, particularly The Bartender’s Tale, and Jamie Ford’s Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. All historical, but that’s a coincidence, and all beautifully portraying the young boy on the cusp of understanding the challenges in the world around him.
I thought Ordinary Grace was a strong work as well. So is Shuggie Bain, though it’s hard to find the happy moments. I wrote a coming-of-age novel years back based on a long, lunatic trip I took hitchhiking through Canada when I was 17. I think I survived, though not absolutely sure.
Thought-provoking post, Emilie-Noelle. Maybe we should less in terms of “coming-of-age” than of “coming-to-awareness,” which, as you say, can come at any time, any place.
This will tell you how old I am. My first “adult” coming-of-age story was “The Greengage Summer” by Rumer Godden, a great writer who is probably totally forgotten by now. One of the things I loved about this book was that the details didn’t seem entirely clear to me, and the setting and characters were different than anyone I knew, but emotionally it rang true. I read it a couple of times and got something more out of it each time. Now that I think about it, I want to find a copy and read it again! Another oddball (to me) but very compelling story (also by a British author and set in France) is “The Ballad and the Source” by Rosamond Lehmann. I’ve read it several times but not in years and years. It has one of the greatest manipulative (literary fiction) villains of all time!
Rumer Godden is one of my favorite authors. I loved The River. I watched the movie too–made by Jean Renoir. I think my all-time favorite might be A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. She writes so evocatively. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a close second.
I love coming-of-age stories, Emilie. I write them myself :) I think the reason they resonate so deeply is because growth of any kind is often painful. Discovering that our parents aren’t perfect. Or when a best friend betrays us. We have to put aside a lie we’ve believed. There is a falling off the scales when we recognize the truth and it hurts. And we’re always growing. Thank you for a lovely reflection on coming-of-age stories.
You are so right. Thanks so much for your comment!
I have a novel featuring a 12 year old boy. It’s historical (1962) and all of my beta readers love it. But my agent is … hey, it’s not an adult novel, it’s MG. And yet, in order to make it MG, I’d have to take out two murders (which are life changing for my character), and a fair bit of swearing from one character for whom it’s part of who he is. I’m grateful for this article and the examples cited, as I am fairly convinced it’s an adult novel. But with marketing these days and pigeon holing and metadata, I’m not sure how this novel will find a publisher who can be flexible regarding audience. Time may tell…
I know that’s how book marketing works these days but I think publishers are shooting themselves in the foot by putting stories into boxes that way. It’s extremely shortsighted and not very smart. I’m not a fan of an always/never mindset regardless of the subject matter. I mean, what if someone had made Charles Dickens dumb down Great Expectations just because the main character was a kid? I’ll be happy to give you the contact info for my publisher if you send me a message with your email address via my website: https://emilienoelleprovost.com/contact/.
Carson McCuller’s The Heart is a lonely hunter. There is Mick Kelly, of course, but all the characters come of age in their own ways. Don’t we continue to grow always, meeting new ‘ages’ many times? Thanks for a thought-provoking article.
Heritage House published my coming of age middle grade novel Lost on the Prairie in 2021 and a look at my events page on my website reveals that I have been asked to visit just as many adult book clubs and seniors’ groups as I have school classrooms. It was something I didn’t anticipate but love. I am my church librarian and a year ago added Jeff Zentner’s teen coming of age novel In the Wild Light to our shelves. The seniors in my congregation LOVE it and have asked me to order more of his books.
Peace Like a River is one of my favorite novels! So glad you mentioned it. Old as I am, I read lots of MG and YA novels, so while I appreciate the use of such labels when it comes to young readers, they don’t keep me from crossing the line.