I know that I’m venturing into John Green's body of work a little late. I’ve only read Then Fault in our
Stars a few months ago, and Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns just two
weeks ago. I haven’t read An Abundance of Katherines, but it’s on my reading list- a reading list that I’ve somehow been disregarding because the internet
can’t stop luring me. Sigh.
In all of the three times that I started
a John Green novel, I greeted each with an “i-want-to-know-what-the-fuss-is-all-about”
mentality. I have that thought at the back of my mind while reading, so it was
like I was on the lookout for something and was very eager to give a judgment. And
so, I have these things to say:
- Whenever I read a John Green novel, at first, I find myself rolling my eyes at the angst-filled teenage voice of the novels and at all the cheesiness of the manic pixie dream boy/girl stuff that’s going on with them.
- John Green’s novels have a way of making you feel like they hold the answers to life’s biggest questions.
I admit, although I claim to be a booklover, I don’t usually have a lot of things to say about the books
that I read after I put them down. (I’m clearly trying to change this, as shown
by the fact that I’m attempting to write this review. Haha) The problem is
that I just don't know what kind of criteria to use in making my judgment of
what makes a book “good”. I’ve realized recently, though, that a lot of what
makes a book “good” in one’s opinion has to do with whether the reader is reading
it at the right time for him or her.
With Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, I feel like I have read them at exactly the right time for me.
When I say that the novels have a way of making you feel like they hold the
biggest answers in life, what I mean is that they are full of the kind of profound
yet somehow cheesy quotes that Tumblr users abuse. They’re cheesy, but they help
you keep on hoping. When I read the books, I was in a
place in my life where I was in need of a little extra push. I was in a place
where I needed to know that “the only way to out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive”.
It was a time when I needed to be reminded that “everything, except the last
thing, is survivable,” and that we are not "irreparably broken."
I’m aware that I’m not the only
one who is in need of those insights. Everyone’s trying to find a way to
survive the labyrinth amidst the realities of death and loneliness, the loss of
ideals and innocence, and of the craziness and darkness of angst-filled teenage thoughts
that are too hard to escape.
The insights of the teenage
psyche- the self-centeredness, the angst, egoism, etc. - make me cringe. (I’m
not sure yet why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that I’m
self-centered, angst-filled, and egoistic in reality, but I’m hoping that I’m
not. In short, I’m self-loathing. :p) But even though certain elements of the novels are personally annoying to me, at least they do not fill me in with romanticized, false, and misogynistic ideas about love unlike most young adults novels do these days.
So, are John Green’s novels and I,
in terms of a reader and book relationship, a good match? I may deny this when
I’m feeling extra pretentious, but, IN SOME WAYS, we are. The books are a good match with
anyone who’s trying to survive. And most people are.
