Book Meme Day 03
Sep. 15th, 2010 01:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apple_pathwaysWhat happened to Day 02 you ask? Meh, it was lame.
Day 02 - A book or series you wish more people were reading and talking about
Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months:
This book really runs on the strength of its characters. They are FANTASTIC. Each and every one of them is fleshed-out and complex and someone you're just dying to know. Their motivations and thought processes are eminently relatable, especially for any former smart kids who ever dreamed they were better than their more socially successful peers. You can't help but picture yourself as part of the group, wishing yourself into their lives, living and dying with their successes and their failures.
The plot is, more or less, just a series of situations that allow the characters to defy the establishment and engage in smart, witty banter with each other. (Because you've already fallen in love with this ragtag band of misfits, who can complain?) There's drug use, and teen sex, and a whole lot of smoking and swearing, but it all just serves as a backdrop for a great, heaping dose of philosophizing and teen angst.
The driving plot of the first part of the book is the so-called "prank war" between our heroes and the more "popular" kids in the school. There are several reasons why this story arc falls flat: for one, the "popular" kids don't seem to have that much privelege over the "unpopular" kids. Sure, they're rich and attractive, but they're also boring, two-dimensional, and not all that antagonistic. Aside from the opening prank wherein they duct tape the new kid and throw him in the lake (something they later apologize for), they just don't really seem all that mean. It's hard to root for their demise without a good reason to dislike them. Our protagonists are smarter, more interesting, and having much more fun, so why should they care about "getting back" at the popular kids?
(The final prank is great, though, and the night the kids spend together in pulling it off is heart-warming as well as heart-breaking. As I said, I really did love each of the characters, and I could read endless accounts of sleepovers and smoking sessions where they banter back and forth and share their inner thoughts.)
The last part of the book occurs after the sudden death of the title character, a girl named Alaska. The protagonist is in love with her, and completely devastated by her sudden, inexplicable death in a tragic car accident. Was it an accident, or did she kill herself?
This is what he's determined to find out, and the the remainder of the book is devoted to his quest for the truth, as well as the re-building of the group after the loss of Alaska.
It's hard to believe for even a moment that we'll ever find out what happened to her. Alaska is the sort of character who's born to die: a star that shines brighter and burns hotter than those around her. How could she last? Because the reader accepts her death as inevitable, it's hard to conjure up the restlessness and disillusion her demise is supposed to invoke. Without those emotions, the rest of the novel just doesn't ring true. We don't need to know what happened, because her death just makes sense.
Anyway, it's late and I'm tired, so in conclusion: it's a beautiful and compelling novel full of brilliant characters you'll wish you could meet and befriend. However, it would be nice to give them something to do.
Day 03 - The best book you've read in the last 12 months:
 |
It's really hard to remember what I've read in the past year. I read a lot of books, and 12 months is kind of a long time. The last novel I read that I really enjoyed was Looking for Alaska by John Green. (He of Nerdfighters fame.) However, while I enjoyed this book tremendously, I really don't think it deserves all the hype that surrounds it. Hear me out, nerds! |
This book really runs on the strength of its characters. They are FANTASTIC. Each and every one of them is fleshed-out and complex and someone you're just dying to know. Their motivations and thought processes are eminently relatable, especially for any former smart kids who ever dreamed they were better than their more socially successful peers. You can't help but picture yourself as part of the group, wishing yourself into their lives, living and dying with their successes and their failures.
The plot is, more or less, just a series of situations that allow the characters to defy the establishment and engage in smart, witty banter with each other. (Because you've already fallen in love with this ragtag band of misfits, who can complain?) There's drug use, and teen sex, and a whole lot of smoking and swearing, but it all just serves as a backdrop for a great, heaping dose of philosophizing and teen angst.
The driving plot of the first part of the book is the so-called "prank war" between our heroes and the more "popular" kids in the school. There are several reasons why this story arc falls flat: for one, the "popular" kids don't seem to have that much privelege over the "unpopular" kids. Sure, they're rich and attractive, but they're also boring, two-dimensional, and not all that antagonistic. Aside from the opening prank wherein they duct tape the new kid and throw him in the lake (something they later apologize for), they just don't really seem all that mean. It's hard to root for their demise without a good reason to dislike them. Our protagonists are smarter, more interesting, and having much more fun, so why should they care about "getting back" at the popular kids?
(The final prank is great, though, and the night the kids spend together in pulling it off is heart-warming as well as heart-breaking. As I said, I really did love each of the characters, and I could read endless accounts of sleepovers and smoking sessions where they banter back and forth and share their inner thoughts.)
The last part of the book occurs after the sudden death of the title character, a girl named Alaska. The protagonist is in love with her, and completely devastated by her sudden, inexplicable death in a tragic car accident. Was it an accident, or did she kill herself?
This is what he's determined to find out, and the the remainder of the book is devoted to his quest for the truth, as well as the re-building of the group after the loss of Alaska.
It's hard to believe for even a moment that we'll ever find out what happened to her. Alaska is the sort of character who's born to die: a star that shines brighter and burns hotter than those around her. How could she last? Because the reader accepts her death as inevitable, it's hard to conjure up the restlessness and disillusion her demise is supposed to invoke. Without those emotions, the rest of the novel just doesn't ring true. We don't need to know what happened, because her death just makes sense.
Anyway, it's late and I'm tired, so in conclusion: it's a beautiful and compelling novel full of brilliant characters you'll wish you could meet and befriend. However, it would be nice to give them something to do.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-15 04:33 pm (UTC)I've always been a Katherines girl, myself. It's so *elegant* in comparison.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-15 05:03 pm (UTC)I haven't read An Abundance of Katherine's, but I think I'm going to put it on my "to read" list. (Which is HUGE right now. Why must all my library requests come in AT ONCE?!) I did enjoy Green's writing, and I think Katherine's absence of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope will make it a much more enjoyable read.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-15 05:05 pm (UTC)on the weekday warrior front, I kinda agree with you that there really was no reason to hate them, but the reason I understand the hate is because the colonel hated them on principle, which, unfortunately, I do to a lot of people. so I get what that's like and as such don't have much of a problem with it.
sorry for the tl;dr lol. LFA is my favourite book of his :p I probably have more points but my iPod is dying. have a good day! :D
no subject
Date: 2010-09-16 01:19 am (UTC)I would have been much happier if the second part emphasized more the friendship between the survivors, and how they had to rebuild their lives and re-form their connections to each other. We get that, but it's not the main focus.
I was so tired last night when I typed this entry, I didn't get all my thoughts out! My first point was that the Weekday Warriors weren't quite evil enough to root against, but my main point was that the whole "prank war" was a bluntly wielded plot device the author trotted out whenever he needed to move the story along.
At the beginning, they tape up Pudge and throw him in the lake. The Colonel is all: They have to pay! We have to get them back! So in outrage of their horrible actions, the gang promptly...forgets all about it and does nothing for months.
The prank is mentioned every now and again to remind us that it hasn't been forgotten, but it's only brought out when the author needs something to happen and to provide a loose structure for the first half of the book.
Really, the first half of the book is just there to give us time to fall in love with Alaska so we can miss her when she's gone. In that way, the author was quite successful! Like I said, I loved the book and the characters. The plot structure just left a lot to be desired.