Something Tragic
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Something Tragic |
| Author(s): | heyjayyay |
| Date(s): | Published July 10, 2016 – March 14, 2017 |
| Length: | 99,776 words; 21 chapters (incomplete)[1] |
| Genre: | High School AU, femslash |
| Fandom: | The 100 |
| External Links: | |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Something Tragic by heyjayyay is a Clexa fanfiction that was originally hosted on Archive of Our Own. It is a coming of age High School AU; 21 chapters were published from July 10, 2016 to March 14, 2017.[1] The fic was not completed before it was deleted from AO3 so that it could be republished as an original Young Adult novel with the serial numbers filed off. In the commercial version, Clarke and Lexa's names were changed to Crisa Grayson and Addison Warren respectively.[2]
The original summary from AO3:[1]
A Clexa HSAU
When they met, it was not of their own accord. In fact, they probably never would have crossed paths if it wasn't for the project. They were juniors and Lexa was the quiet, new girl. Having to move in with her uncle, Gustus, after the fire was probably one of the most difficult things she had to ever endure. Tragic, really. Life always seemed to turn out that way for the brunette.
AKA: Clarke Griffin is easily the most interesting person Lexa Woods has ever met. Somehow, she's also the most tragic.
Featuring: Percussionist Band Geek Lexa and Popular Party Girl Clarke.
On March 18, 2017, prior to being deleted, the fic had 651 comments, 2512 kudos, 416 bookmarks, and 61,048 hits.[1]
Reactions and Reviews
Of the original fic:
Personal Note: I think this is my favorite fic that is still being written at the moment. I am an absolute sucker for slow burns, and this one is just absolutely perfect! Lexa is the only person that seems to know the real Clarke, and their friendship in this story is absolutely goals. Of course they catch feelings for each other, but here is yet another fic that has me yelling at my phone for these two to figure it out already. Another one of those fics that in my opinion should be much more known to the fandom, because it's just that good and cute.[3]
Of the published novel:
[4 stars]
"You are gold. You are resilient against any weathering. You withstand every storm. Metal is cold and hard, but gold? Gold is warm, glowing, and absolutely beautiful."
Crisa was carefree on the surface, full of pain on the inside. She was tragically beautiful. Crisa reminded me of Alaska from 'Looking For Alaska', pair that with the title of this book, I was really afraid for her life and my emotional health for the first half. Everyone in Crisa's life sucked. I just wanted to wrap her in a blanket and protect her. I know she made mistakes but in my eyes she has never done anything wrong in her life. Also she is one of the most romantic YA characters ever.
"I thought I needed to see the world with you, but I didn’t. I saw the world in you."
Addison and Crisa's story takes place over the course of five years. They were EVERYTHING. Cute and pure and deep, even a bit tragic and realistic as hell. Every time they had a 'moment' I was screaming at them to kiss but also not to so the slowburn will keep going. Their emotional connection was very intense contributed by similar loses, experiences and understanding of each other. The last few chapters were so painful. I was crying actual tears. Why do I keep getting invested in books so much. I was begging for them to end up together. This book took me on a roller coaster of emotions and left me completely drained. When I read 'I'll never stop loving green' and about her book my heart sang. While I completely understand it, I really wish it wasn't left open ended. The author's note at the end was beautiful.[4]
[5 stars]
It's funny how the author chose to describe one of the main characters as a beautiful disaster because that's how I would describe this book. A beautiful disaster, in the best possible way!
I loved reading along as Addie and Crisa grew closer and melted into a puddle of mush every time something cute happened which was often. The book has a lot of sweet and fluffy moments but make no mistake, you may need tissues to get through this. (Like I did.)
The part of the book that got me choked up was about dating someone who's in the closet. So many things that Addie experienced were things that I personally felt and went through as well. In fact the line: "But --- was too much of an actress, always staging her life. She kept performing and performing, desperate not to break character." is the perfect description for someone I was with.
I wish I had a way of shoving this book into the hands of every questioning girl out there. At the age of 16/17 your world can feel so small and it's so easy to forget that there are places and communities out there were you can be yourself, regardless of who you're attracted to.
There were one or two moments when I wished the mains would stop being so damn clueless about their mutual attraction and just admit it to each other already. Although who am I to talk I'm 33 and still clueless when it comes to love!
Minor issues in book include a few spelling and grammar issue including Crisa's surname being changed randomly to Griffin.
Definitely give this book a shot if you're a fan of super slow burn young adult novels. Overall rating is 4,5* TW: self harm.[5]
[4 stars]
This is one of the more realistic and rare YA books I've come across.
The story actually takes place over two years (and then some), where we meet Addison and Crisa at the beginning of their Junior year in high school and watch the story unfold as they fall for each other. It's the most popular girl and the wallflower nerdy girl falls in love with each other scenario and all of the pressures that entails.
I thought the author did a great job with Addison and Crisa's characters where they felt like real people rather than a caricature of what they represented.
The day to day interactions that build up to more was really well done and instalove is not present. Yeh was able to realistically convey the characters' maturity along with their inexperience in life and love.
The book captures the spirit of falling in love, of being so close intimately and physically without actually crossing the line to more, then doing more, high school B.S., being in the closet, being slow to accept oneself, final acceptance, and the fantasy of the relationship vs reality.
The tone of the book is a mixture of being both melancholy and sweet. The read definitely did not feel like an after-school special that I so often get when reading YA f/f books. And the book is not about coming out but about accepting oneself which I really appreciated.
I also enjoyed the style of the book, where a word is defined at the beginning of each chapter to give us an idea of what it involves. And, the ending has an enjoyable twist or two.
When it came to the relationship aspect, the book was very realistic to me. But, some outside story items were not: mainly that the road trip would/could ever be allowed and the lack of impact from the loss of parents. But, they acted as a vehicle of sorts and the main story was the relationship so it's really a minor gripe.
A lot of the book rang true for me and I'd imagine, as a teenager reading this, I would latch onto it like a life preserver. Overall, really well done. 4.3 stars[6]
[2 stars]
I have very conflicting feelings about this book.
I’ll start with what I did like about it. This book covers roughly 6 years. One year in somewhat detail, and five years in fast forward. I did really like this because it allows us to see more of the characters than we normally do in these types of books. It allows Addison and Crisa's relationship to progress in a very organic way rather than just throwing them together right off the bat. Honestly, that's really all I can think of that I liked about the book. There's a lot more that I disliked.
Addison's character was very two dimensional. Aside from her drumming and documentary watching, we don't know anything about her except her yearning for Crisa. Addison spend 99% of the book wanting Crisa. Which is all fine and good except it feels like that's all she did? I like a good yearning as much as anyone else, but this just never really pays off in a satisfying way.
It also felt really weird how not messed up from her parent's death Addison was? Her parents died in a house fire a few months before the book started. It felt more like years before the book started. Crisa had a more visceral reaction to her father’s death an entire decade ago than Addison did to her parent’s still new deaths. It just felt off.
My biggest pet peeve with this book is Crisa's almost pathological fear of coming out. Before I explain anymore, let me give you some background on me. I'm a lesbian who grew up in Mississippi. You know, that extremely homophobic state that no one ever thinks about unless they grew up there. I grew up in the very deep, very homophobic south. And I have NEVER seen any severe bullying in high school over sexuality. I would believe that my experience was a special one, except I’ve never actually heard of anyone having any of these gay YA book experiences. So why do so many coming out novels have to be so damn painful???
So Crisa, who grew up in a much more accepting area of the US, is so scared of being queer that she acts like a complete dick to Addison after they spend literally the last year basically dating without dating? IDK, I just don't buy it. Maybe I'm being insensitive, and if I am please tell me. I know some people have had bad high school experiences because of their sexuality, but it certainly is not the norm anymore and I just wish our books would reflect that. I’ve never had anything like this happen, and no one I know has either.
The ending was somewhat cute, but I'm not sure I want Addison and Crisa together in the end. It's left open to your own interpretation and I'm just gonna interpret that they stayed friends. My biggest takeaway from this novel is that we need more uplifting and happy queer novels for young adults.[7]
[4 stars]
I found this book on Scibd and thought it would be a nice quick read but what a rollercoaster ride I went on as I read over half of it in four hours in the morning, stealing quick minutes reading at work, and then that last half in a few hours at night. I laughed, I cried, a gushed about Addison and Crisa, and found myself in the cluelessness of Addison. In the beginning the dialogue felt a lot like it was written by someone who hadn’t been young in a long time but it definitely got better as the book went on and I almost forgot about it. I loved seeing the relationship between Addison and Crisa as well as the personal journeys they went through individually. It definitely exceeded my expectations and I'm sure will be one of my favorite books for a long time.[8]
Fanworks
- Moodboard by thehaughtcommander
References
- ^ a b c d Something Tragic on AO3 via the Wayback Machine. Captured March 18, 2017.
- ^ Something Tragic by Jessica Yeh on Desert Palm Press. Archived version.
- ^ Tumblr post by commander-leksa. Archived version.
- ^ Review by mishi on Goodreads. March 4, 2020. Archived version.
- ^ Review by Alexis on Goodreads. April 2, 2019. Archived version.
- ^ Review by lov2laf. March 5, 2018. Archived version.
- ^ Review by Sam on Goodreads. December 1, 2019. Archived version.
- ^ Review by Aspenlovess on Goodreads. January 12, 2019. Archived version.