How Well Do You Know John Green Books
Information technology's been nearly ten years since The Error In Our Stars was released. The novel was undoubtedly John Green's most commercially successful novel, it became a blockbuster movie and had everyone sharing quotes well-nigh "forever within the numbered days" on Tumblr. But on reflection this book and John Green'southward other teen novels simply weren't that good.
Look I'm happy to admit it, as a young teenager who wasn't exactly cool in school, the John Green books were my life. The spoke to the shy, weird and bookish teenagers, which I definitely was. And like many teenagers on the internet I would share quotes, depict infinity symbols on my arm in biro and was generally in dearest with Augustus Waters.
For teenagers in a romance starved generation, we had some truly epic books to dive into to feed our idealistic teen phase. The Hunger Games and the Twilight Saga were elite merely considering of the fantasy element some people wouldn't admit to openly enjoying them. But the John Green books were cooler. They were about smoking, drinking and dating. They featured the teenagers y'all wanted to be and also recognised yourself in them for their relatable faults.
However looking back on these books now they were substantially well edited Tumblr fanfiction. And there'south nothing wrong with fanfiction. Just there is something wrong with praising John Greenish for becoming creating something xiii yr former girls are doing in their bedrooms for free.
Every book revolves around a white slightly uncool guy and his two best friends and the unattainable daughter he'due south put on a pedestal only to notice out she's not as perfect as he originally thought. His most famous novels romanticised a lot of night and serious subjects, were the epitome of the manic pixie girl trope and generally fairly cringe.
I looked back at his five novels from our teenage years to reminisce and see just how atrocious they really were:
Looking For Alaska
Where practise I even brainstorm with all the problems of Looking For Alaska? The whole novel feels like it'due south been plucked straight from 2011 Tumblr.
In the novel Miles goes to a new boarding school. The start half of the novel focuses on his adventures with his 3 mates, including the girl of his dreams – Alaska. The second one-half of the story kinda has a detective feel with Miles and his friends trying to find out what happened to Alaska on the dark she died.
The glaringly obvious trouble with this volume is the manic pixie dream girl trope that is heavily practical to Alaska. She's mysterious, attractive, intelligent, and always slightly out of accomplish. Alaska could exist summed up with the phrase "she's non like other girls", she's gorgeous but plays video games with the guys and isn't interested in typically girly things. Information technology'due south a boring old trope and she is basically a character who exists for Miles' own character evolution rather than being an private in her own right.
And and so there's the romanticisation of her death which is ofttimes thought to be suicide. Information technology turns into a mystery for Miles to solve, continuing the theme of Alaska as an enigma even after her decease.
This novel was also the start of John Dark-green's obsession with giving his male person characters weird interests as "personality traits". For example Miles has an obsession with famous people'south last words as a substitute for a personality.
It'southward a whole novel fuelled by the brooding "deep thoughts" of a straight white male and I don't empathise why we liked it so much.
An Abundance of Katherines
Yet another novel most a depressed straight white male. The master plot point of the book is that the main grapheme Colin hasn't had his "eureka" moment to make him a genius all the same and he needs to solve this. Cry me a river.
It's literally every nerdy maths male child's wet dream. He'south dated 19 girls all called Katherine and tries to brand a theorem nigh relationship based on these girls. Yet again women are idealised but don't get their own voice.
Similarly to Looking For Alaska, John Green has tried to make it diverse by placing an Asian graphic symbol in the all-time friend office but non in the bodily primary grapheme spot.
Newspaper Towns
The whole point of Paper Towns was to dismantle and inspect John Green'south own myth of the unattainable woman, and still he just did the whole matter again. He didn't destroy the stereotype he just added to it.
The entire concept is almost a guy who literally drives cross land, misses his loftier school graduation, just to "rescue" a girl. I'm all for a simp, but there's levels you lot know, and this was bordering on stalking.
The whole "having to save her" concept was supposed to challenge the manic pixie dream girl trope past having Margo plow around and say she didn't desire him to find her. I get what betoken he was trying to brand hither, but information technology just roughshod flat as Margo still doesn't accept a vox throughout nigh of the novel, she's the object of Q's affection and is then a disappointment when she doesn't live up to his expectations.
Paper Towns also features John Greenish's consistent writing habit of giving his characters "interesting" nicknames. Nosotros've all had nicknames at school, some of them shortened versions of our bodily names and some of them pretty mean. However John Dark-green takes them to another level. For example Marcus has the nickname of Radar. What kind of name is that? Possibly it'southward an American affair, just c'mon guys arctic out with the blench nicknames.
As well can nosotros discuss how awful Cara Delevingne'due south acting was in the movie accommodation? That American accent. Yikes.
Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Ok so I haven't actually read this 1 however later a quick Google I can just tell information technology's a no get. It'southward literally almost two boys with the aforementioned proper noun who met one day and their lives modify forever. Snore.
The Fault In Our Stars
You know I saved the worst for concluding. The essential premise of this book that every teenage daughter read is this – girl has cancer, daughter meets male child, they autumn in love, boy dies from cancer. It was the plot twist nosotros all should have seen coming and nevertheless there nosotros all were balling our eyes out at Gus dying.
There are many issues with this novel, the starting time being it'southward basically a romanticisation of cancer. I know John Green tries to minimise it by putting in more explicit details well-nigh cancer treatment but it'southward still nigh ii ill teenagers who love each other and therefore can't be together long term considering 1 of them will soon die. This isn't some Romeo and Juliet shit, it'southward 2 kids dying from a horrible disease.
Another large part of the whole plot was Gus and Hazel's obsession with the fabricated up book "An Imperial Affliction". Await I honey books more than anyone, only seriously travelling to Amsterdam just to meet the grumpy author? It'southward a waste matter of time and energy. I think another reason why I cringe so much at those moments is the reminder of how as teenagers we get so obsessed with something that nosotros'd travel across the Atlantic merely to go some answers.
I remember a big reason why this book is so abrasive was everyone else'south hype around it. It was almost as intense as the Twilight fandom and for what? A beautiful romance story about two ill teenagers. People would go tattoos of quotes, say "okay?" to each other 24/7 and information technology was just mostly abrasive.
And so of course there is ane of the worst scenes in literature possibly ever, when they osculation in Anne Frank's firm. Seriously. Why?
It's not but a demonstration of peak annoying American tourists, but as well but plain disrespectful so when everyone clapped around them. Nah I can't. John Green what were you lot thinking?
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•I reread the GCSE poems we studied and honestly wtf did they brand us learn?
Source: https://thetab.com/uk/2021/04/26/i-looked-back-at-the-john-green-books-and-wow-ive-never-cringed-so-much-203063
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