Also, like the rest of the authors involved, Ng has likely had doors closed in her face because her work has been derided as “girly” (I’ve definitely heard some criticism of Everything I Never Told You from my male peers)-and like the others, she saw thousands of rejections for which the student likely served as a strawman for her frustrations (instead of seeing the student for what she is: a pretentious but ultimately harmless underemployed graduate of a third-tier university, maybe with an interest in social justice, who wants to read more rigorous texts). Dessen effed up big time, but I’ve met her a few times and can say that she is a charming and sweet woman in person I’m sure Ng felt like she was coming to the aid of a literary friend. She’s fairly new to the scene, not an old hat like the rest of them.
I don’t see the point in being disappointed in Ng.
