Tag Archives: John Green

ya-novels

YA readers: Have no shame, hold books high

When it came to writing this week’s column, I realized I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to write about. Summer TV is ending, fall TV is still three weeks away. I’m sure I could write an entire column on my complaints about Doctor Who* or True Blood**, but I’ve talked about the Doctor the last two weeks and Sookie Stackhouse is best soon forgotten. I just didn’t know what would be topical to write about this week.

Then I updated my Goodreads account and realized I’ve read 11 books in the past month — five of those just within the past week. Four were young adult novels (even if only three were classified as such — more on that later). This started me thinking about the debate over adults reading YA novels. I know there are a lot of people who judge adults for reading books ostensibly targeted at teens. And I admit, when I was working as a bookseller, I developed the bad habit of judging everyone for what they were reading — particularly anyone who read James Patterson or nearly anything found in the romance section.

Which will probably make me sound like a hypocrite when I say that I don’t think it’s fair to judge adults who read YA fiction. There is nothing wrong with reading YA fiction. I certainly wouldn’t be caught dead reading a Clique novel or any similar series, but there are a lot of YA novels that I do enjoy, and people have a lot of different reasons for reading YA literature.

Some people choose to read YA novels because they’re just good. Naturally, I’m not talking Twilight here. I recently read Paper Towns by John Green and was really impressed by how well it’s written and how the story could ring true with readers from just about any walk of life. The only other novel I’ve read by Green has been the much more hyped The Fault in Our Stars, but while that too was well written, I think Paper Towns was a much more interesting novel. It has more to do with finding yourself and discovering who you are, which, granted, seems to be a teenage concern on its surface, but everyone can feel a little lost at any point in their lives.

There are many other authors out there aside from Green who publish thoughtful, well-written novels for teens. When I was a teenager, the only novels I remember reading that were targeted for my age range were The Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Janie?, both by Caroline B. Cooney. Many of the other novels offered at the time were trivial and seemed like a waste of time. (I do admit to being a big Sweet Valley fan: Twins, High, University — I read everything I could about the Wakefield twins, though I grew out of them earlier than most.) By the time I was 13, I was already reading more John Grisham, Michael Crichton, or Tom Clancy novels than YA fiction. Now, however, there seems to be a lot more variety for teens, and not everything being offered is trivial nonsense.

Some people choose to read YA fiction as a form of research: either they want to write novels themselves or they are either parents or teachers who want to familiarize themselves with what is popular among the age group they interact with. I think this is a very logical reason for reading YA novels. If you interact with teenagers on a regular basis, knowing what they’re reading can give you a look at what kinds of things they are interested in or what motivates them.

Then there’s the fact that, sometimes, you just need a break from reading adult fiction and want the light, trivial nature of YA fiction. I read a wide variety of books, but every once in a while, I want something that doesn’t take much time or effort to read. I love Anna Karenina, but getting through that entire novel was work. Sometimes it’s nice to read a novel that you can finish in less than a day. Even if it’s not the next great American novel, it may still be an enjoyable read.

Besides, adult fiction isn’t always any deeper or more literary than YA fiction. Give me the Twilight books over a novel with Nicole Richie or Snookie‘s name on the cover any day.

I picked up a copy of The Witches of East End last week out of curiosity, since I’ve been watching the television version, and I was surprised by the simplicity of the novel and the lack of plot. This is supposed to be an adult novel. I found it in the teen section, but the jacket proclaims it is Melissa de la Cruz‘s first adult novel. Aside from a few more explicit scenes, there is nothing that sets it apart from any other supernatural romance novel on the YA shelves. (If anyone was at all curious like me, just skip it and pick up Deborah Harkness‘ All Souls trilogy instead; that is a much better series of adult novels concerning witchcraft.)

So I don’t think there is a problem at all with adults reading YA novels. Some stories are timeless and can impact you no matter what your age, and others are just fun reads for when you have a few hours to kill and don’t want anything too dark or deep. I would, however, recommend balancing your YA reading with some adult novels. Variety is good, and it probably isn’t wise for an adult mind to constantly be reading stories from the viewpoint of lovesick/moody 17-year-olds.

However, there is so much literature available these days, in so many various forms, that you should never allow anyone to tell you what you can and cannot read. Reading should be enjoyable no matter what book you choose.

* — What’s up with the Doctor suddenly deviating from his “Nobody dies” mantra by sacrificing one to save the rest in last week’s episode? Seriously, I love Peter Capaldi, but I really am a little concerned about what’s going on there, and why he’s suddenly so much colder than previous Doctors.

** — How bad was that True Blood series finale?? I know it aired a couple weeks ago, but I’m still not over it; it made the controversial finale of How I Met Your Mother look like fan fiction.

alaska

Looking for Alaska, finding ourselves

I like to think I’m pretty cool. I like to think that, despite the Green Power Ranger keychain on my belt loop and the Pokémon poster on my apartment wall. However, there was a substantial portion of my life when I bore no such delusions. Reading John Green’s novels reminds me of a time when looking in the mirror only brought disgust and anger.

Between about third and eighth grades, I would constantly end up on the wrong side of jokes and putdowns. Unfortunately for my middle-school self, I was already a high school junior when Green’s Looking for Alaska was released. The novel tells a story both familiar and unique, reminding me of that time when I felt alone and of the journey that drove me to accept myself.

Looking for Alaska, Green’s first published novel, follows Miles Halter, a young man with quantifiable proof that he has no friends, as he enrolls at a boarding school to begin a new life. Halter, quickly dubbed “Pudge” by his roommate, tries to make new friends in a new school and searches for what he calls a “Great Perhaps.” Pudge’s friends are primarily his belligerent roommate, who is nicknamed “the Colonel,” and a seemingly free-spirited girl, who is actually named Alaska. Alaska, of course, quickly becomes the center of attention for Pudge as he tries to figure out this cute, mysterious girl.

Many readers will, like me, relate to Pudge. During those difficult tween years, jocks would call me chunky and laugh as I was one of the last to finish any run in phys ed. When my test would come back with an “A” marked on it, someone would inevitably call me a loser for having half a working brain in my head.

The people I considered my friends weren’t much better. Before the end of every school day, one of my best friends would steal books from my locker and toss them down three flights of stairs. Even my teachers were pretty disparaging. If I made a mistake, they would never give me the benefit of the doubt because they “expected better from me.” Perhaps something can be said for lower expectations.

Unfortunately, too many coming-of-age stories only offer struggling young readers unrealistic optimism. We expect Pudge will fall in love with the quirky Alaska. Of course she’s going to like him, too, despite that never being the way it happens in reality. Surprise, surprise. However, Green is not so predictable.

True to life, the story takes a series of wild turns, leading the reader to believe that a happy ending is on its way, only to stop us cold. Pudge and his friends have to face love, anger, and death, learn the difficulty of real relationships, and deal with the consequences of their decisions. It is a novel that reminds us that we don’t all face a single moment of clarity so much as several harsh moments that make us stronger.

Green’s novels are devoid of the melodrama so common at Degrassi High or on Dawson’s Creek (for you older folks). Instead, when a character trips into one of the genre’s inevitable pitfalls, someone always puts a firm stop to it. Oftentimes, these discussions about what is worth our tears and what is not are the best parts of the book, as we remember how we dealt with the difficult times we’ve faced in our own lives.

While it is certainly not an all around sad story, Looking for Alaska does make us consider a lot of things about what makes life as a teenager so difficult. All of the teen angst television shows and hopeless romance movies have stripped away any sense of reality when discussing teenage life. Green looks to portray those problems in a real and sympathetic way.

There is a certain tragedy and nihilism to a lot of Green’s work, and Looking for Alaska fits the category. Green does not move mountains to give a story a happy ending, nor does he take the independent cinema route of moving mountains to avoid a happy ending. Instead, Green lets his characters simply continue on with their lives, having been changed by the experience in a consequential way.

As Looking for Alaska draws to a close, the profound sense of sorrow in Pudge’s soul comes through the pages, but the reader will also feel that Pudge has become better for the journey. Pudge starts the book off looking to start anew in search of a “Great Perhaps.” Whether or not Pudge has truly found it, Miles Halter has undoubtedly learned that life is for living and enjoying, but that he also should be proud of who he is. Perhaps that is the most difficult thing for any of us to learn.

Looking for Alaska is the first of Green’s four solo novels. Before getting a copy of Alaska, I had read Green’s Paper Towns, which won the 2009 Edgar Award for best Young Adult novel, and The Fault in Our Stars. Both books were tremendous reads and hooked me on Green’s writing.

Sometimes it is easy to forget the difficult times I have had to struggle through and show no sympathy to those who are suffering through their own journeys. “Who cares if no one likes you? You just have to like yourself,” I’ll argue. Green’s novels are an antidote to that cynicism and exemplify the value of Young Adult fiction even to those outside their target demographic.

I hated going to school every single day until ninth grade. When I began high school, my life was changed considerably. New friends found me and old friends became tremendous people. I realized I didn’t need to be who the school bullies wanted me to be. I didn’t need to be who even my friends wanted me to be.

We all need to be ourselves and know that there are people out there who will like each of us for our quirks, whether they be that we like to speak in riddles or memorize the last words of historical figures. Looking for Alaska reminds us that we all need to love ourselves and let everyone important to us know we love them too.