Tag: john green

Full House Reading Challenge – Turtles all the Way Down – John Green

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Genre: Bildungsroman, young adult

Narrative Style: First person, chronological

Rating: 4/5

Format: Kindle

Published: 2017

Synopsis: Aza is trying to be a normal teenager but often she is caught up in the spiral of her anxiety and as result spends a lot of her time stuck inside her own head. Things change dramatically for her when she hears that an old friend’s father has gone missing in the face of being arrested for fraud. Not only is there the memory of Davis Pickett but there is the possibility of a $100000 reward for encouragement. 

Reading challenges: Full House Reading Challenge – Genre – Coming of Age

This was very enjoyable, easy to read, compelling and I read it really quickly. I can see why Green’s books are so popular. As you can see I am heading for a couple of ‘howevers’. Well, here they are.

First of all, I always find that when you read Green’s fiction, you are always aware that you are reading fiction. Here is Aza, she is a ‘character’, here is Davis, he is also a ‘character’. Here is some faintly ridiculous ‘plot’ to throw them together. Let’s have lots of really deep conversations about the meaning of reality. There is so much meaning spilling about, it’s a wonder the characters don’t all drown.

Don’t get me wrong, I think Green captured Aza’s anxiety well but there is never any doubt that this is not a realistic story. There is an almost fairytale element although it seems to be Aza who is rescuing Davis from his fatherless, motherless castle. There are gifts of $100000 flying around as if that happens in real life. This becomes even more apparent towards the end when Aza miraculously and suddenly shakes off her terrible anxiety and seems a whole lot better for no apparent reason. That is the other ‘however’. The ending felt rushed. Suddenly they realise where Davis’s father is. Suddenly the story is over.

For all that, I still gave it four stars. It was interesting philosophically. The fight between Aza and her anxiety was well written and rang true. If I was a teenager, I would probably have loved this book. I’m sure that part of my irritation with it was just from age. it does make me wonder if I should give up reading books designed for teenagers. It was pleasing that it wasn’t a straightforward romance. Green must have felt the temptation to give Davis a happy ending but I’m glad that he didn’t.

Overall, then, a worthwhile read. It’s good to see a book about anxiety directed at teens and I’m sure many will recognise their own feelings in Aza’s. Just don’t expect this to be anything like real life.

Books Read in 2015 51. Looking for Alaska – John Green

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Genre: Young Adult, Bildungsroman

Narrative Style: First person

Rating: 4/5Unknown

Published: 2006

Rating: 4/5

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: Miles Halter thinks that going away to boarding school is going to be a great adventure but little prepares him for the way his life is going to change when he meets Chip Martin and Alaska Young. 

I had mixed feelings about reading another John Green. While I enjoyed the others that I read, I also found his style a little annoying as everything is overblown with significance. However, I enjoyed this more. Maybe it is because it was his first novel but it isn’t quite so over the top.

The characters were well drawn and I took to Miles straightaway with his obsession with last words and his longing for something more. I have to say that these kids are much more well read and intellectual than most of the teenagers that I come into contact with but that is not to say such kids don’t exist. Both Alaska and Chip were convincing as well, both representing different sorts of teenage angst.

The story counts down – some many days before – to an event and I have to admit, I did not see what this event would be. I assumed that this was the prank they were planning and not the terrible thing that actually happened. As a result, I was completely shocked and upset by it – almost as much as Miles himself.

Ultimately this is a book about grief and about learning to let go, lessons Miles in particular finds it hard to learn. it is about growing up and about not giving up. In the end, I felt hopeful for Miles and for his future.

Books Read in 2014 – 52. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

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200px-WillGraysonGenre: glbt, young adult, romance

Narrative Style: switches between two first person narratives, chronological

Rating: 4/5

Published: 2010

Format: Kindle

Synopsis: On the streets of Chicago, two teenagers called Will Grayson are having the worst night of their lives. Then they bump into each other and their lives change. 

This was, for the most part, a very pleasing read. The chapters alternate between Green’s Will Grayson and Levithan’s will. They are suitably different from each other and have different problems. I preferred Levithan’s will from the first as I felt I could relate to his depression. Green’s Will seemed more determined to make problems for himself and was less likeable. I liked the lack of capitalisation in Levithan’s chapters as it fitted well with that characters low self-esteem.

The story moved along quite quickly and the romances were well handled. Will Grayson’s confusion over whether he liked Jane or not was funny and apt whilst the romance between will and Tiny was touching and difficult. Between them they seemed to cover all the possible teenage romance problems without being too unsubtle.

In fact, I was close to giving this novel 5/5. There were a number of reasons why I didn’t. First of all, I felt Green’s characters were too large for the page and like in The Fault in our Stars, they were hard to get attached to because they seemed to represent so much. Tiny, in particular was annoyingly loud and painfully self-centred. He seemed to embody every gay stereotype. will was more convincing because he was just a teen who happened to be gay. I was actually pleased when the romance between will and Tiny did not work because I felt that will deserved better.

I’m not a fan of musicals. Although there was no singing, obviously being as how it is a book but even so there were songs. And while they were often witty, they were annoying. People bursting into song – hypothetical or otherwise – does not appeal to me.

Finally, the ending seemed to be quite sudden. Partly, this was due to reading on my kindle which claimed 91% because there was an interview with the two authors and an extract from The Fault in Our Stars but I could have read more. I thought that all the Will Graysons offering support to Tiny was a little sentimental although the two Wills were both in better places at the end so that was pleasing.

All in all, a witty and insightful look at teenage romance. The sort of book I wish I could have read when I was sixteen.

 

Books Read in 2014 – 21. The Fault in our Stars – John Green

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Genre: Young Adult, Illness. Romance

Narrative Style: First Person Narrative, Chronological Timeline The_Fault_in_Our_Stars

Rating: 4/5

Format: Paperback

Published: 2012

Synopsis: Hazel has cancer and even though she is taking a drug to shrink her tumours, her prognosis is still terminal. At a cancer support group, she meets Augustus, seemingly recovered from his cancer, and discovers what life is all about.  

This is an excellent book for debunking myths and showing exactly how difficult it is for teenagers with cancer. It is funny and lively as well as being devastatingly sad. From the moment that Hazel meets Augustus, there is a sense that this cannot end well. (Otherwise what sense in telling the story.) There was always a sense of grabbing happiness while you can and one of the lessons Hazel learns is that you cannot stop people from loving you just so they don’t get hurt and equally you cannot stop yourself from doing the same.

I was impressed with the gallows humour in this book and it always felt right and didn’t step over the mark at all. I was a little wary of reading it, thinking that it might be too upsetting but in fact I found I laughed more than anything. There was one point towards the end when it is obvious what is going to happen and I put the book down, thinking I might not pick it up again. But I did and it was painful but not impossible to read.

One of the reasons I didn’t find it more upsetting, I think, is that it never stopped feeling like a book. The characters were well written and the plot moved well and wasn’t cliched but I never really suspended my disbelief. In the book, Augustus is obsessed with the metaphoric resonance of everything he does and the story often seemed symbolic rather than real as if everything was imbued with too much meaning.

Still, undoubtedly an important book about the importance of living even when you are dying.