Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
Read for: This review
I loved this book! I have to admit, I wasn’t sure I wanted to read it. For some reason I seem to have some kind of mind block about books that are written by more than one person. I don’t know why. Probably because a really long time ago I read a collaborative book and it sucked and somehow I just attributed the suckiness to the fact that two people worked on the book, when in reality it was probably something else entirely!
Anyway, this one was about two teenage boys named Will Grayson who both live in the Chicago area but have never met. One night, through a set of funny and sad circumstances, they come into each other’s lives. Even though they don’t really become friends, they each eventually gain something from each other.
The characters in the book were so real and likable. Especially Tiny Cooper, the first Will Grayson’s best friend. I think he was my favourite character. As I read the book, the way I felt about each character changed. Sometimes I liked them and other times I was annoyed by them. I think this is why they felt so real to me, because this is how we feel about the real people in our life. Sometimes they are awesome and other times we get ticked at them.
I also love John Green’s writing. I’ve never read anything by David Levithan before but I think the two writing styles worked well together. (They wrote alternating chapters for each of the Wills.) They styles were different enough that each character had his own voice but similar enough that book book flowed well. And I loved the ending. I had no idea where the story was taking me, but I really liked where it ended up.
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
Colin, newly graduated from high school, has just been dumped for the 19th time by a Katherine. He’s never dated a girl that wasn’t named Katherine, not Kathy, not Catherine, just Katherine. After the 19th dumping, he’s a little depressed so his best friend, Hassan, takes him on a road trip. Somewhere in Tennessee, they are lured off the road by a sign promising a view of Archduke Ferdinand’s final resting place. Once there, they are offered jobs and decide to stay for a while. Colin, a child prodigy, spends his time working on a mathematical formula that will describe his relationships with the Katherines.
When I reviewed Looking for Alaska, I complained that the characters were too similar to the ones in Green’s other book, Paper Towns. Well, I didn’t have that problem here. This book was my favourite of the three. The characters were more real and more likable. Colin was endearingly neurotic and Hassan was funny and cute. And of course the girl, Lindsey, wasn’t actually anything special – which I liked. She was just a normal girl. I think that’s why I didn’t like the female characters from Green’s other two books, they were just too out-there.
The thing I love about John Green’s novels is the wit he brings to the story. If you were to tell the same story without it, it would still be an interesting story, but it just wouldn’t be as fun to read. I also like the way he tells a story – his writing style. He doesn’t have any fluff in there. It’s just a nice simple, flowing style. I can’t wait to read Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
Also, I just love the cover.
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Miles is off to boarding school in search of his “Great Perhaps.” Once there he meets Alaska Young – beautiful, smart, fun-loving and moody – and of course falls for her. Then something really bad happens and Miles must find a way to deal with it.
The book is divided into Before and After so you kind of know right from the beginning that something bad is going to happen. I think I’ll start with what I didn’t like about this book so I can finish off on a positive note. I have just recently read Paper Towns by the same author and while I did like Looking for Alaska better, I felt like the characters, especially the female leads, were very similar – too similar. I also have another of Green’s books sitting in my tbr pile and it makes me wonder if the characters in it will also be the same. I loved the characters in Paper Towns but finding them so similar in this book worries me that Green can only write one type of character. (We’ll see how the third book works out.)
Okay, now for the good. John Green can really write. I love the flow in his stories. I love the way he develops his characters and I love the wit he includes in his books. I found myself laughing out loud at the thoughts and words of his characters. I also loved the characters. I found Alaska to be a bit annoying sometimes but she was real. The story was also real. That’s why I liked this one better than Paper Towns. It was much more realistic. (I, myself, have never gone to boarding school so maybe it actually isn’t all that realistic, but it felt honest to me.)
All in all, it was a good book, definitely worthwhile reading. (As if you need me to tell you that, see that gold sticker on the cover? It won the Printz award.)
Paper Towns by John Green
John Green is another one of those authors that I would totally be missing out on if it weren’t for book blogs. (And I would be missing out on Brotherhood 2.0, which I discovered by reading the inside back cover of the book and since then I’ve been watching all the Brotherhood 2.0 videos.)
Anyway, I’d seen this book floating around the bloggy world so when I spotted it at the library I just decided to pick it up and I’m glad I did! I can’t wait to read some more John Green. Looking for Alaska is waiting for me at the library, but I have a few other books lined up first.
Anyway, Q and Margo live next door to each other and were friends when they were younger but haven’t spoken in a few years when one night, she appears at his window and takes him on a crazy night of revenge against a cheating boyfriend and back stabbing friends. The next morning she is gone and Q in convinced that he can find following a set of clues she left behind. I can’t say more than that without giving away too much (and I fear I have already!)
This was a fun book to read and I definitely enjoyed it. For some reason I’m having a hard time writing about this book though. I’m not sure why. I liked it and I will for sure be reading more John Green. I think I may have waited too long to write this review though. I think this review is getting kind of lame though so I’ll think I’ll just leave it there.
The one thing I didn’t like about the book? The cover. I think it’s supposed to be Margo but that’s not what she looked like in my mind so there was always kind of a disconnect when I picked up the book.
I’ve seen this cover around the internet also and I think it works so much better. I don’t know anything about this other cover though…is it from another country or is it the paperback cover or what? Can anyone help me out?
