Paper Towns

Green, John. 2008. Paper Towns. October release.

Prologue opening paragraph: The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle. Like, I will probably never be struck by lightning, or win a Nobel Prize, or become the dictator of a small nation in the Pacific Islands, or contract terminal ear cancer, or spontaneously combust. But if you consider all the unlikely things together, at least one of them will probably happen to each of us. I could have seen it rain frogs. I could have stepped foot on Mars. I could have been eaten by a whale. I could have married the queen of England or survived months at sea. But my miracle was different. My miracle was this: out of all the houses in all the subdivisions in all of Florida, I ended up living next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman.

First sentence: The longest day of my life began tardily.

My favorite quote: I spent the next three hours in classrooms, trying not to look at the clocks above various blackboards, and then looking at the clocks, and then being amazed that only a few minutes had passed since I last looked at the clock. I'd had nearly four years of experience looking at these clocks, but their sluggishness never ceased to surprise. If I am ever told that I have one day to live, I will head straight for the hallowed halls of Winter Park High School, where a day has been known to last a thousand years. (18)

Quentin Jacobsen, our narrator, has been trying to puzzle out the mystery that is Margo for years now. And as their senior year comes to a close, the mystery is only deepening as far as he's concerned. It all starts with a late night visit. Margo appears at his bedroom window asking Quentin to join her in some mischievous revenge--she needs his car, or rather she needs his mom's car. And Quentin, or Q as she calls him, would do anything and everything for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend some quality time with the girl of his dreams.

What happens that night and in the following weeks will shape Quentin in ways he never would--never could have--expected.

John Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, won the Printz award in 2006. Green's second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, earned a Printz honor. And, of course, along the way he's picked up an enormous number of fans both through his books and his vlogging with the Brotherhood 2.0. (And though that's over and done with, more videos and blogging can be seen on the Nerdfighters Ning site.

Note: I'm reviewing an ARC, so keep that in mind when I'm pulling a few quotes out. They may or may not be the same as what makes it into the finished book that will be released in October.

Now for some Weekly Geeks Q&A fun:

Bart's Bookshelf asks, "I've not read any John Green, so have you a favourite quote/line from Paper Towns that best sums up the relationship of the main protagonists?"

I've already quoted a bit of this one. But here are two more that will give you a feel for the book:

"Margo always loved mysteries. And in everything that came afterward, I could never stop thinking that maybe she loved mysteries so much that she became one." (8)

"I smiled. She smiled. I believed the smile. We walked to the stairs and then ran down them. At the bottom of each flight, I jumped off the bottom step and clicked my heels to make her laugh, and she laughed. I thought I was cheering her up. I thought she was cheerable. I thought maybe if I could be confident, something might happen between us. I was wrong." (58)

Jennie asks, "Is Paper Towns everything that we've now come to expect from John Green? Because I'm DYING to read this one!!! Will I just be disappointed, so is my internal hype well-deserved?"

Yes. If you've followed his vlogging and come to love his personality just as much as his fiction, then you won't be disappointed. Green's personality shines through on this one. I haven't read An Abundance of Katherines yet, but this one is just as good as Looking for Alaska.

M. Molly says, "John Green said that Paper Towns was written as a response to Looking for Alaska. Do you see signs of this in PT? Also, does PT break out of JG's "Nerdy boy meets awesome girl who changes his life" equation (not that I mind it...)?"

Yes and no. In some ways the two books are similar. Two guys on the fringe of 'the-in-crowd' find a few wacky friends, two unforgettable girls to dream about and idolize, and thus "come of age". Both have humor and sarcasm in just the right amount. Both have their serious and meaningful layers. Where they differ, in my opinion, is in the mixing. Looking for Alaska is very bittersweet, very contemplative. And Paper Towns has this too. But it's not as bittersweet. It's a bit wackier than Looking for Alaska. Miles and Quentin are not mirror images or anything. Quentin has enough of a personality--as does his friends and dream-girl--to make this one unique. It is not Looking for Alaska part two. But if you boiled it down to the basics, it would have many of the same ingredients, just in different amounts.

Suey says, "I 2nd everything everyone's said about Paper Towns. Dying to know if it's like his others. Better maybe even?"

It's good. It's very good. I won't say I think it's the best, best, best book ever written. But it's definitely one of the better books I've read of YA published in 2008. It would make my top ten list--so far at least--for YA novels published this year. I can't say it's better necessarily. But I can say it met my expectations. I expected really good work, and it delivered. I was surprised by Looking for Alaska. I read it before it was published. It was his first book. I didn't know quite what to expect. And it just blew me away, I thought it was one of the BEST books of the year. So it's hard to match my enthusiasm and passion since with this one I went into with different expectations.

Melissa asks, "Trying to say something different about Paper Towns: how does it compare to his other two? Better? Worse? Different? Do you think that his style works well for the story? (I don't even know the story!)"

I think Green is great at coming-of-age stories about awkward guys who come into their own and get comfortable with who they are and what they want. And he's great at depicting the highs and lows of teen life. The best and worst and most embarrassing. He definitely is a great storyteller.

I haven't read An Abundance of Katherines, but I thought this one was just as good as his first one, Looking for Alaska.

Joy Renee asks, "I'm interested in the technique and art of storytelling itself so anything along that line would interest me. My questions are for any or all of the fiction titles in your list:

How was Point-of-View handled? Was there a single POV character or did it alternate among two or more. Was it always clear whose eyes and mind were filtering?

It was written in first person. And I think this was an effective way to tell a very personal story.

How does the title relate to the story? Was it fitting?" It was very fitting. I can't really go into it all here because it would contain spoilers. I think if you *know* ahead of time what the title is all about, then you might approach the book differently. It's best just to go with it and learn as the character grows.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

BTT: You Had Me At Hello

Suggested by: Nithin

Here’s another idea about memorable first lines from books.

What are your favorite first sentences from books? Is there a book that you liked specially because of its first sentence? Or a book, perhaps that you didn’t like but still remember simply because of the first line?

When I'm reviewing a book, I like to jot down the first sentence or first paragraph (if it's short and relevant) if I remember. This isn't always the case. Sometimes they seem a bit too unremarkable to take notice of. Not that that indicates it's a bad book. It doesn't. Incredible first sentences sometimes means a magical experience is on the way. But not all the time. And I would say more often than not some of my favorite books--books that I loved, loved, loved--didn't have *outstandingly wonderful amazing* first lines to hook me.

That being said, Their Eyes Were Watching God has one of the *best, best, best* first lines of all time:

Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.

Now women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly. (1)

Gone With The Wind is another one that stands out for me.

Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were. (5)

I like that one because it shows how from the very beginning the book is way way different than the movie. (The book is better.) I could let that "was not beautiful" resonate with me for a long long time!!!



© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Travel the World: England: Narnia: Last Battle

Lewis, C.S. 1956. The Last Battle.

In the last days of Narnia, far up to the west beyond Lantern Waste and close beside the great waterfall, there lived an Ape. He was so old that no one could remember when he had first come to live in those parts, and he was the cleverest, ugliest, most wrinkled Ape you can imagine. He had a little house, built of wood and thatched with leaves, up in the fork of a great tree, and his name was Shift. There were very few Talking Beasts or Men or Dwarfs, or people of any sort, in that part of the wood, but Shift had one friend and neighbour who was a donkey called Puzzle. At least they both said they were friends, but from the way things went on you might have thought Puzzle was more like Shift's servant than his friend.

The beginning of the end starts with one donkey, one ape, and one lion skin that floats downstream. From that skin an evil plot is born, and from that plot much blood is shed and much harm is done for every living thing (man, animal, tree, etc.) in Narnia. Shift's plot? To have Puzzle wear the lion skin and "be" Aslan for curious persons to gaze upon from a distance. Shift's real plot? To use the name of Aslan to get exactly what he wants.

It has been many generations since King Rilian ruled. Now his descendant, a king named Tirian, reigns. Though his luck seems to change overnight. One day a king, the next a prisoner. And all because "Aslan" has arrived back in Narnia.

Using the famed line "He's not a tame lion" people reason away all the signs that this is NOT Aslan. He commands the destruction of trees with spirits? Not a tame lion. He demands talking beasts to become his slaves? Not a tame lion. Demands servitude and exile from dwarfs? Not a tame lion. It's easy to say from our perspective that these animals, these individuals are a bit too gullible. But when you stop and think about it, the reader knows more, has experienced more. There haven't been any Aslan spottings in hundreds perhaps a thousand years. What the average Narnian knows is just stories passed down generation by generation by generation. Is it really so hard to see that perhaps their faith has more doubt than certainty? The truth is the average Narnian has not had any "use" for Aslan and his stories in their practical lives. So their faith isn't as "active" as it could be, should be perhaps.

King Tirian won't be fooled for long. He starts off highly suspicious and remains so for the most part. Once he's been captured, imprisoned, Tirian starts to think, to really think about Narnia, about Narnian history, about what he knows to be true, to be right. He realizes that humans from another world have always always been a part of the action. That the arrival of humans almost always accompanies these Aslan sightings. There is always a link. So he delivers a heartfelt prayer that these human saviors will come once again and fight for Narnia, to fight for freedom, to fight for right.

His prayer is answered in a way, but not in the way he hoped. I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler for readers. But it is called The Last Battle for a reason. Narnia is coming to an end. The world, the country, is dying. Tirian and the humans who arrive--Jill, Eustace, Lucy, Edmund, Peter, Digory, and Polly--are there to witness the end of Narnia and the beginning of their after lives.

As a child, I enjoyed this one. I would have put it above many of the other books in the series--including Horse and His Boy and Silver Chair--but as an adult I have a new perspective altogether. While some of the aspects of this one work for me, there were quite a few significant problems.

I'm not sure if other readers will share my quibbles or not. They may have different issues than I do. Among one of the reasons why people may find the last one disappointing is that...

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

all the humans die. Jill. Eustace. Peter. Edmund. Lucy. Digory. Polly. Most of them (I think most of them) die as a result of a train accident. (The Pevensie parents die as well but we still don't see them in the book.) I'm not sure if killing off all your characters will leave readers satisfied. Yes, the characters themselves are happy. But the deaths of so many seem tragic to me. Not that death itself is tragic. (Death can be a good thing. It can be a blessing.)

Second. Susan is missing. She's no longer a "friend" of Narnia. This is 'tragic' for several reasons. One is that technically speaking she will have lost her mother, father, two brothers, and a sister. She'll be all alone in the world. Two is the not-so-subtle theme that you can lose your salvation. If being a friend of Narnia translates directly into being a Christian, then Lewis' message seems to be that Susan represents Christians that have fallen from grace and lost their salvation, lost their way. Of course there are some believers who do in fact believe that this is the case. That Christians can un-Christian themselves, un-save themselves, re-damn themselves. I for one am not one of them. Of course, there is the potential that this fictional Susan could regain her friend status later on in life. That she could have another opportunity to believe. But Susan as allegory just doesn't work for me.

The other problems I had with this book were all theological. And they were pretty significant. But this blog isn't the proper place to really get into theological debates.

For those readers who are not approaching these seven novels as a Christian believer, for those that are reading them because they are fantasy--pure and simple and fun fantasy--then The Last Battle is a fitting conclusion.© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

2 Christian Books Q&A for Weekly Geeks

The Light of the World by Katherine Paterson

My review of this one won't be posted on one of my personal blogs for a bit because I've set it to appear on YA Books Central. You can read it there.

Janice of Passionate Pages, asks:

Katherine Paterson the same one who wrote Bridge to Terebithia a long time ago? Usually her books are pretty significant in terms of theme or message for the reader - is The Light of the World one of those serious kinds of books? What's it about?

Yes, it's the same Katherine Paterson. It is a picture book of the life of Jesus. So I'd say it was somewhat serious. It's not taken lightly. But it isn't a dark book at all. The Jesus presented is very gentle, very wise, very non-threatening. He's more of a teacher, a guide than a Savior in this book. I'll leave it up to individual readers to determine if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Melissa of Book Nut, asks:

I saw The Light of the World over at Brooklyn Arden (I guess Cheryl's the one responsible for it) and it looked good. As a Christian, do you feel it reflects the life of Jesus well? I'd also like to know a bit about the drawings....

Yes and no. There is nothing inaccurate about what is presented. But it's not a complete presentation. As I said earlier, this is a very non-confrontational Jesus. There isn't a gospel message in this one. I suppose one could say that it doesn't have a gospel slant. I could see some happy about this. It's a few facts without any spin on Jesus being the son of God, the Savior, etc. But I can see some folks being disappointed that there wasn't some sort of gospel presented. A presentation of the life of Jesus where it doesn't go into why he died is a bit odd in my opinion. But it's earned three starred reviews in various review journals.

I would say that some Christians would probably be more pleased than others. I've read a few Amazon reviews that noted that Catholics would likely be displeased with it since Paterson took liberties with the Last Supper. Jesus says that the bread is LIKE his body and the wine is LIKE his blood. So it earned a few one and two star reviews.

I didn't have a problem with that so much as that it didn't go into the fact into why Jesus came and why Jesus died.

But to end on a positive note, the illustrations are beautiful. They're very well done.

Safe in the Arms of God by John MacArthur

Book Zombie asks,

My question is about "Safe in the Arms of God"

Do you believe that this book would provide comfort to a parent who has lost a child? Yes. I hope it would. I haven't talked to anyone who has lost a child AND read the book so I can't say for sure. But the message is *meant* to assure parents (and friends and family etc) that their child is in heaven, happy and in peace.

Would this book be just as helpful to a non-religious person?

I'm going to be honest here. Yes and no. MacArthur's teaching--and he does present Biblical reasoning for why he believes this way--is that ALL babies, all children instantly go to heaven when they die. It doesn't matter if they die in or out of the womb. He believes that all babies/young children are welcomed by God into heaven. That's the good news. And that's the news that could potentially comfort everyone.

However, this is where the bad news comes in. While their lost loved ones--their child--might be "safe in the arms of God", to have that happy reunion in heaven with their lost one...they'd need to be a believer. So in that regard, while it assures parents that their child is safe and happy and at peace...it doesn't promise that they will be reunited with that child in heaven. That reunion is dependent on whether the parent(s) are believers. If they're Christians, then they have every assurance. They will spend eternity in heaven praising God alongside their child. However, nonbelievers don't have that assurance. MacArthur even points out that individuals need to be believers--repent, believe, follow--in order to have assurance, that happy reunion day in the future. He even talks about how a loss could motivate folks to get right with God. I don't know that he'd go so far as to say that that was the purpose of the loss, but more that he could take that bad situation and turn into something good in the long run.

Judge for yourself how friendly or not-so-friendly that message is.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Google Group, Reading With Becky

Everyone is invited to join my new google group, READING WITH BECKY. Please leave your email address in the comments of this post (for example, blaney1129 AT gmail DOT com). Or if you’d prefer, email me and I’ll send you an invite. I’m hoping that by taking this extra step–instead of making the group “public”–that I’ll be able to avoid some spam. (I have had spammers sign up to Mr. Linkys before which was just very very weird!) But all book lovers are welcome.

As we transition over from a Wordpress blog to a google group, I would like to place the emphasis on the group. This isn’t “my” group. This is “our” group. You are an important part of the group. Your opinions are valuable; your participation is central. Without your continued time and energy, this would just be me posting about me. And that just isn’t much fun!!!

One of the main reasons I’m happy to make the switch is that I want group members to have the freedom to post as much and as often as they’d like. A chance to lead the discussions. A chance to have a more hands-on experience. Members will have the ability to start new discussions, reply to any discussions, create new pages, and upload files to the group.

I’d also welcome the opportunity if others want to take a turn selecting a book and leading that month’s conversations. I’d still join in most likely (if my library has a copy) but I wouldn’t be *responsible* for the discussion so much.

You do NOT have to participate in every group read to join the group. You can join the group knowing that you’ll be participating in *some* months but not in others. I don’t require a commitment up front on how many you’ll be participating in!

I’m really looking for something casual, not complicated, but fun and inviting. I don’t want this to be “work” to anyone. I want this to be casual chitchat among friends. Conversational rather than formal.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Also, I'm trying to decide, and this will be put up to a vote by the way...SHOULD AUGUST'S DISCUSSION OF THE ACCIDENTAL TIME MACHINE BY JOE HALDEMAN be done on the wordpress blog OR done via the new google group?

Any thoughts on how to transition gracefully over without causing confusion????

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Living Dead Girl

Scott, Elizabeth. 2008. Living Dead Girl.

Just when you thought Elizabeth Scott was getting to be predictable...along comes LIVING DEAD GIRL. To clarify, I love, love, love Elizabeth Scott. I have happily read and gushed about her first three books: Bloom, Perfect You, and Stealing Heaven.

If I had just a handful of words to describe Living Dead Girl, they'd be: powerful, haunting, and unputdownable.

It is the story of a girl caught in a nightmare. "Alice." A girl who at the age of ten was reborn.

Get up.
Those were the first words I ever heard.
Open my eyes, see a girl, black and blue all over, dried blood along her thighs. Red brown stains smeared across the hairless juncture between.
"Get up and take a bath, Alice," the man in the blue shirt said, and Alice did.
I did.
That's how I was born. Naked, hairless, covered in blood like all babies.
Named, bathed, and then taken out into the world. (20)

Kidnapped by a pedophile during a class field trip, Alice has endured the unthinkable for five years. Now she's fifteen, five foot seven, and a hundred pounds. Her time is running out, she knows this, she wasn't the first Alice. But it is in how she lives--her world, her thoughts, her decisions--that will haunt you most of all. Suspenseful, dark, and very chilling. Definitely not for everyone. But if you can go to the dark side, if you can walk in her shoes for a bit, it is really something.

Scott's writing is incredible. If I were in charge of handing out awards, one would be heading her way. Her book is amazingly haunting. It just resonates with feeling, emotion. The mood might be dark. The ending bittersweet, but oh-what-a-book.

In previous posts, I've compared Elizabeth Scott to Sarah Dessen. She may not realize it, but that is high praise, very high praise coming from me. Some people may think that Stephenie Meyer is the "perfect" writer. But for me, Sarah Dessen, has always provided the most satisfying of reads. But with her fourth novel, Living Dead Girl, new comparisons must be made. Alice Sebold. Nancy Werlin. Gail Giles. Laura Wiess.

I read an ARC of this. It isn't due to be published until September, I believe. As I'm quoting from this ARC, be aware that there could be changes between this and the final published version.

http://www.elizabethwrites.com/
Another review: Reader Rabbit,

If you've read this one, please let me know and I'll add your link to the list.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Bookworms Carnival

The July carnival is up now! Bookworms Carnival--July, theme relationships.

The August 2008 Bookworms Carnival will be hosted by Florinda at The 3 R’s: Reading, ‘Riting, and Randomness. The theme is “You’re Never Too Old - Children’s and Young-Adult Literature.” The guidelines are posted here.

Blogged with the Flock Browser