This 100 book project has made me a John Green fan, so I expect drama, pain, wisdom and redemption in book #59: Paper Towns.
The book starts with a bang and keeps the reader rolling for several chapters after that.
Much like in John Green's must-read book Looking for Alaska, the narrator of this story is a reserved, shy male who becomes fascinated with a daring free spirited ultimately self-destructive girl.
This worked well in Looking for Alaska but I chafed against it in this book, wondering if there is a pattern to Green's stories. I call Zoe over (she's read all these book, remember?) and tell her I'm starting to think this author doesn't like women, or thinks all "interesting" women tear people's lives apart or actually force people to tear their own lives apart.
Zoe nods.
She has other things to do than engage in literary criticism with me, so she asks, "is that all, Mom?"
And I say no. I have a question. I want to know if this book gets better.
Keep reading, she tells me and I tell her that's not a good answer but I keep reading.
I want to cry, I want to feel the powerful emotions I'd been brought to in Green's other books, and I am genuinely unhappy that he did not use his powers to take me on a gut-wrenchingly beautiful sad story.
Then I get over that.
I really apologize to the author for comparing this book to any of his other book's because this book is just so smart.
Enjoy it for being a well graphed journey about clues, about history, about Florida and cartography. It belongs in the same bookshelf as The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Thumbs up to Paper Towns, a non-tearjerker by a great author.
The book starts with a bang and keeps the reader rolling for several chapters after that.
Much like in John Green's must-read book Looking for Alaska, the narrator of this story is a reserved, shy male who becomes fascinated with a daring free spirited ultimately self-destructive girl.
This worked well in Looking for Alaska but I chafed against it in this book, wondering if there is a pattern to Green's stories. I call Zoe over (she's read all these book, remember?) and tell her I'm starting to think this author doesn't like women, or thinks all "interesting" women tear people's lives apart or actually force people to tear their own lives apart.
Zoe nods.
She has other things to do than engage in literary criticism with me, so she asks, "is that all, Mom?"
And I say no. I have a question. I want to know if this book gets better.
Keep reading, she tells me and I tell her that's not a good answer but I keep reading.
I want to cry, I want to feel the powerful emotions I'd been brought to in Green's other books, and I am genuinely unhappy that he did not use his powers to take me on a gut-wrenchingly beautiful sad story.
Then I get over that.
I really apologize to the author for comparing this book to any of his other book's because this book is just so smart.
Enjoy it for being a well graphed journey about clues, about history, about Florida and cartography. It belongs in the same bookshelf as The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
Thumbs up to Paper Towns, a non-tearjerker by a great author.
