This book didn't make me cry, but it came pretty close.
It's been awhile since I picked up a YA novel that truly made me think, made me tear up, made me clench my fists and bite my lips and flip through the pages with a ferocity that only increased as the book went on. It's been awhile since a YA novel moved me the way this book did, made me truly feel for the characters and break my heart the way this story did. It's been awhile since I liked a YA book so much. I haven't been posting a Literature Analysis or reading so much YA fiction lately, because in the haze of paranormal romances and dystopian romances and contemporary romances that have been crowding the Dymocks shelves, young adult sometimes seems like a genre that cares less about the stories and more about the commercial value. Up until I picked up Saving June, I'd been hitting somewhat of a YA dead end. Good girl meets dangerous boy. Dangerous boy declares love for girl. Repeat my previous two sentences a few thousand times and you have a standard paranormal romance. It's so, so easy for authors to fall into this trap. Hannah Harrington didn't. It's not to say that Saving June is perfect, or an easy read for someone who's lost a loved one to suicide. Oh, it might be totally untruthful and melodramatic. But for me, the emotions were captured perfectly. The road trip was written perfectly. Lacey was written perfectly. I loved almost all of it. The only exception was Jake's character, why Harper let him go on the road trip, and the romance. I didn't like that, because I felt it was an unnecessary addition to what would've been a near-one hundred percent contemporary. But I feel that I can let that element, that one element of the story, go. Because I loved the rest of it so much. Because I fell in love with almost all of the characters. Because it was what rekindled my interest in YA and reminded me of why I love this genre so much. I think it's a full five stars.
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Oh, this book. It has to be the funniest book I have ever, ever read.
While I have to admit that Paper Towns, unlike The Fault in our Stars, had many, many faults, it was witty, hilarious, and...awesome. There's no other word to describe it. Like Looking for Alaska, Paper Towns is so much more of a coming-of-age novel than The Fault in our Stars. It's about people who are young and in love and have the freedom to pursue their dreams. It's about how young and wild and free teenagers will one day step across and become Adults with Responsibilities without actually consciously realising it. Paper Towns made me realise this, that we make journeys towards becoming Adults, and that this journey is defined by tiny moments that we may not even notice. The big problem I had with Paper Towns was that, unlike in The Fault in our Stars where there were parts of the text I marked in my brain as John Green Philosophical Ramblings, this book was chock full-of them, rubbing against each other. And it exhausted me to read, because (sorry, nerdfighters, but I must be honest here) it seemed like John Green forgot about the true meaning of the metaphors after a while and just started rambling for the sake of sounding philosophical. It just began blurring into long paragraph after paragraph of nonsensical metaphor. He overdid it this time. Part 1 and 3 of the book were the best. While Part 2 felt like a tryhard author was writing it, John Green is a truly hilarious person, and what better way to represent being young and free than to have your characters [spoiler, highlight to read]go on an impromptu road trip?[end spoiler] I have to say that this book was the funniest story ever, and Margo, Q, Radar, Lacey, and Ben's adventures were terribly young and wild teenager but so fun to read about. I liked Margo's journey, but I felt like the book built up to an awfully limp climax. And while I was kind of glad for the ending, all the same, it didn't feel right or true to this story. I'm not going to say any more as I think it will give the whole thing away, but yeah. You know, I would recommend this book to anyone. To teenagers unsure of their identity, to adults wanting to experience youth again, and to anyone who wants to read a great story written by a great author. Paper Towns was so worth my time and I will continue to read and re-read it again and again. Four and a half stars for a book that was awesome and so full of heart. I recently read a few self-published books and they were mostly poorly-written, poorly-formatted, and just generally unappealing. And I don't want to sound prejudiced or anything, but some of them really have issues (mainly formatting and simple spelling/grammar mistakes) that need to be fixed.
Here was not one of those books. It was really great, a wonderful read, and I'm so glad I picked it up. Everything was really professionally done, so I could fully enjoy the plot and story as I would normally do. The story opens with the main character completely broken and shattered. Her family is wary of her and keeps their distance, and she knows that everything will never be the same again. I was incredibly sympathetic of Julia throughout the story, and as she began to heal, I did get quite angry at her family, especially her dad, for giving up on her. I thought she was a well-developed character with faults, sure, but she was quite relatable (I did think about how I would've reacted if one of my friends died, and her behaviour would've been very understandable). I did think that the adults should've reacted more appropriately, been more kind, and given her more time. There was a love triangle in this book which I was rather wary of, and still am. I think it was a little unnecessary and the author could've elaborated on more things such as the 'other side' (I will not post spoilers, my friends!), but then again, I am a little biased against love triangles and I'm sure that other people will enjoy it. The 'other side' in the book was also extremely interesting, and while I was absolutely fascinated. I'm not sure I could follow along fully since I did get rather confused at times, possibly due to the info-dumping and I think it's very important that authors of paranormal and dystopian stories ensure that the readers can follow along, even if it means having to spend more time on the world building and explanations. I really enjoyed the author's writing style. It was simple but elegant and really sucked me into the story. And even though I did read different parts of this book separately which made the whole thing a little disjointed in my mind, the story is still fresh in my mind over a month later. |
AuthorRobert Robinson is a tutor, writer, author of Book Reviews at ThePaperGuide and literature explorer. Robert was born in Austria. He moved to New York 10 years ago. Robert likes to travel, spend time with family and friends. Archives
December 2018
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