Why are we still reading (and agents still buying) dystopian and apocalyptic fiction like The Road by Taylor Antrim?
The Daily Beast has a few ideas on this.
"Got dystopian fatigue? Why is our can-do country, tied at inception to the pursuit of happiness, so reliably interested in visions of its own demise? A pair of endless wars, an economic crisis, a solid majority convinced the country is on the wrong track. And yet writers from Wells to Huxley to Orwell to McCarthy have taught us that anxiety about our future finds expression through good times and bad.
Pessimism probably has nothing to do with the genre's persistent appeal. The animating theme of most dystopia is SURVIVAL. Steven Amsterdam's haunting debut Things We Didn't See Coming is a case in point. These stories provide an unpleasant tomorrow, but the narrator is so endlessly adaptable, so human in his loneliness and desire for connection that we can't help but feel empathy.
Wow. I'll stick with Young Adult.
I agree, will stick with YA lit which is so much better than most adult literature.
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