So I'm actually going to do 2 posts on this. One will be this review and the other will be a look at the discussion questions in the back of the book... so this is just a general review and overview and then in a few days I'll have something too long that no one will read but I'm gonna have fun with. So yeah.
This is the first John Green book I read, and I just started Looking For Alaska and his characters are all really really amazing. They're kind of one-note but also multi dimensional in one. Margo in this is a very complicated person and she thinks she's just a "paper girl" looking for something more or something less maybe even. And they were really relatable because it was like you were getting to know them through reading these books.
And everything about it was all very high school. In reading this I felt like I had a lot of flashbacks to when I was in high school and my small adventures felt like big ones... and I really thought it worked well. His two best friends Radar and Ben were so funny and I was actually laughing out loud whenever they mentioned that Radar's parents held the Guiness World Record for Largest Collection of Black Santas. That is possibly the funniest thing I've ever read in any book. I'm always obsessed with the lives of these people outside of being a world record holder and what their house looks like and stuff like that... and this just made me giggle and it fed all of those obsessions. It was really really good. I just really liked them.
And even Lacey, who was one of Margo's friends that she was angry at in the beginning was really good and surprisingly I liked her. I saw why Margo was mad at her, and I understand her wanting revenge on Lacey... but I also thought she was a cool character and it was nice to see a girl concerned about her best friend.
I also really liked how the book transitions. I thought it went from a road-trip type of book with Margo and Q's adventure, and then it became a mystery book with everyone trying to find Margo, and that more or less led them back to being a road trip book with even more crazy adventures. And it was pretty well paced and there were times when I could put it down and then not pick it up again for a while longer, but it never got boring either. It was well paced and I thought that isn't an easy thing to do when the book shifts that often.
Ultimately... I kind of thought it was predictable... but it did end the way I wanted it to end and I liked that it did that. I know John Green is known for sad endings that will make you cry... and this wasn't really a sad ending. I didn't think so anyway, some might disagree but I really liked the way it ended.
And this is one of those books that I think you need to read before high school ends. Its still good for me, this is my first few months after college... but I would have liked to read this in High School and I wish it was out then cause I'm pretty sure this wasn't sadly. Lol. But yeah really good.
I'm really happy I got the John Green Boxed Set because I think he's such an interesting writer. I don't like the characters in Looking For Alaska quite as much as I like the characters in Paper Towns... but that being said, I'm about on page 20 and I've started liking the characters a lot better than I did at the very start. Thats kind of another good thing about John Green. You don't learn everything about the characters right away, you get to know them more in layers and I think thats really cool and its pretty interesting to me that he does that.
I definitely recommend this book. It isn't like its my favorite and I have an obsession with it or anything the way a lot of the John Green books seem to get... but reading it was really fun and I look forward to reading his other books too!
Byeeee!
-Shannon
This is the first John Green book I read, and I just started Looking For Alaska and his characters are all really really amazing. They're kind of one-note but also multi dimensional in one. Margo in this is a very complicated person and she thinks she's just a "paper girl" looking for something more or something less maybe even. And they were really relatable because it was like you were getting to know them through reading these books.
And everything about it was all very high school. In reading this I felt like I had a lot of flashbacks to when I was in high school and my small adventures felt like big ones... and I really thought it worked well. His two best friends Radar and Ben were so funny and I was actually laughing out loud whenever they mentioned that Radar's parents held the Guiness World Record for Largest Collection of Black Santas. That is possibly the funniest thing I've ever read in any book. I'm always obsessed with the lives of these people outside of being a world record holder and what their house looks like and stuff like that... and this just made me giggle and it fed all of those obsessions. It was really really good. I just really liked them.
And even Lacey, who was one of Margo's friends that she was angry at in the beginning was really good and surprisingly I liked her. I saw why Margo was mad at her, and I understand her wanting revenge on Lacey... but I also thought she was a cool character and it was nice to see a girl concerned about her best friend.
I also really liked how the book transitions. I thought it went from a road-trip type of book with Margo and Q's adventure, and then it became a mystery book with everyone trying to find Margo, and that more or less led them back to being a road trip book with even more crazy adventures. And it was pretty well paced and there were times when I could put it down and then not pick it up again for a while longer, but it never got boring either. It was well paced and I thought that isn't an easy thing to do when the book shifts that often.
Ultimately... I kind of thought it was predictable... but it did end the way I wanted it to end and I liked that it did that. I know John Green is known for sad endings that will make you cry... and this wasn't really a sad ending. I didn't think so anyway, some might disagree but I really liked the way it ended.
And this is one of those books that I think you need to read before high school ends. Its still good for me, this is my first few months after college... but I would have liked to read this in High School and I wish it was out then cause I'm pretty sure this wasn't sadly. Lol. But yeah really good.
I'm really happy I got the John Green Boxed Set because I think he's such an interesting writer. I don't like the characters in Looking For Alaska quite as much as I like the characters in Paper Towns... but that being said, I'm about on page 20 and I've started liking the characters a lot better than I did at the very start. Thats kind of another good thing about John Green. You don't learn everything about the characters right away, you get to know them more in layers and I think thats really cool and its pretty interesting to me that he does that.
I definitely recommend this book. It isn't like its my favorite and I have an obsession with it or anything the way a lot of the John Green books seem to get... but reading it was really fun and I look forward to reading his other books too!
Byeeee!
-Shannon
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