I was recently turned on to John Green through a series of encounters with his name and face. I heard a raving recommendation of his acclaimed novel "Looking For Alaska". I then heard another raving recommendation, as well as nearly-equal raves about his other works, "Paper Towns" among them. But for some reason, I still didn't react to the news about the witty and emotionally blatant author. Enter John and Hank Green's video log series "Brotherhood 2.0", a year long effort (which has now continued into a series 4 years running) to make awesome videos and correspond with each other several times a week.
I came across a link on facebook to something about 'Nerdfighters' and was, needless to say, curious. Many a video, many a laugh, and many a relation later, I thought it was about time I get one of John Green's books. And I highly recommend checking their webseries out, as it is awesome. And for those of you who have just finished alphabetizing your book and CD collection, or maybe who have just finished taking inventory of your household's collection of plastic Walmart bags, or anyone who needs something new to take up great amounts of time....there are nearly 900 videos, most of them 3 minutes in length. I wish I could consult Brotherhood 2.0's resident mathematician and State Representative Daniel Biss (just watch the show, you'll get it), but if my feeble calculations are correct, that is 2,700 minutes, or 45 hours, or 2.875 days of hilarious, witty, thought-provocative video. So you should check them out. Start at the beginning too, January of 2007!
Anyhow, the book and subject in question: Paper Towns. After a quick trip to the library in which I discovered "Looking For Alaska" was missing, though on record as being "available", I went home with my first John Green book, "Paper Towns". Also, while I was there, I had to sign a paper because I was now an adult, and hadn't used my library card in like 6 or 7 years. I got home from becoming an adult in the library's eyes, and set out reading the book.
Fast forward about 9 hours, and after many an interruption and short break, I had finished the 305 page book. I do believe that is the fastest I have ever read a book in my life, trumping the six-day completion of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which I would say counts for something.
The book was really just a solid work of literature all around: opaque where it needed to be, like some static characters, setting and environment realism, etc., and spongy where it needed to be: development of the main character, moments of harrowing truth and inspiring thoughts, and an open-book look into the main characters' emotions and feelings for the girl who makes the novel possible, Margo.
The book offered a not-too-polished look at what high school may be like. Swearing is present, and some characters have a certain affinity for the sailors' tongue, while others do not, which is a grand way of painting the vocabulary that takes place inside secondary schools. I've read other teen books where the author paints every character as a pottymouthed pimply barely-post-pubescent, and others where the teenagers behave as angels. John Green writes from the perspective of the teens, rather than the norm: the author's perspective of teens.
Here is a brief synopsis of the story, abridged from the inside jacket: "Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life... - summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows. After their all-nighter ends...Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues - and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew."
I have a pet peeve with book and movie reviews, and that is the fact that they seem to think a review should be 9 parts description and 1 part reflection. I disagree. I'll tell you next to nothing about the storyline, besides what is said above. And here is why: Many people are so used to only choosing to absorb literature that is somehow trailblazing or vanguard in it's subject matter, and only then when it has received extensive attention from the reading world. It's not that super original storylines or popular series are bad, but if you only want to read stories about a boy who goes a magic school, or a girl who falls in love with a vampire, or what have you, you will miss books like this. This book is set in the suburbs. It has to do with a boy liking a girl who is spunky, confident, and hard to understand. A mystery presents itself, and the story is off to the races. Nothing about this book's conception shouts "I"VE NEVER BEEN CONCEIVED!"
But that is why this book succeeds. You've seen these characters and places and storylines because you have lived it. At one point or another, you knew the annoying best friend who is still your best friend despite all of their shortcomings. You've met the girl or boy who you are infatuated with but understand very little about. You've tasted the drama of a school rife with drama and intrigue. You've felt the need to drop what everyone else is telling you to do, because you have to do something for yourself - and if you haven't, you've experienced the thrill of imagining it.
And amid all of the very real highschool moments, John Green introduces things many of us may not have experienced in our teenage years, but wish we had. There are some rather profound truths stated in this story, about the way of life we live, and the paths we all shuffle along with the music we all shuffle to. The reason this book is different than other teenage fiction books is because it doesn't settle to be a book about love and mystery, and call it quits knowing it can sell copies. It aims higher, to have you leave its pages with more than a story of high-school drama and heartbreak.
John Green stands unique in a genre of books that aims solely to superficially pique the interest of teenage girls, and hold them captive for the 10 dollars it costs so that may be set down and on their way. Much like lunchroom bullies, many other teen fiction books come up out of nowhere every so often, can not be avoided, and shrink back after receving their small fee, attacking again once enough time has passed...this way, the attacks are infrequent enough that the reader doesnt change their route through the lunchroom. John Green is like the secretly nice guy in the group of bullies, who grabs you, asks politely for a few bucks so that the others won't think anything weird is going on, and will then give you a great story that contains deep philosophy and entertaining events, expertly blended and in perfect doses.
You know, that kind of bully? Maybe you never met that type of bully. I didn't either, but it was nice to imagine him for the sake of analogically depicting John Green.
John Green doesn't get an 'A' for effort, like so many other authors who try to write in the view of characters ten years their minor, or more. He gets an 'A' for execution. It is all very real, and all very close to the heart. Aside from that, the fact that my dwindling book-attention span was snapped into shape is a testament itself to the book's quality. I plan wholeheartedly on reading his other works, and strongly encourage you to investigate John Green more for yourself. Whether it is through his books or his videos on youtube's 'vlogbrothers' hit series - as both are portals into his persona and thoughts on life, and I think investigating one will just lead you to the other one anyhow - I believe you will not be disappointed.
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