Will Grayson, Will Grayson (2010) is John Green's second co-authored work, and by far the worst of his that I have read.
There are two teens named Will Grayson in Chicago. The first (whose chapters are written by Green) is attractive, positive, and smart and has two sidekicks: Tiny, a big, openly gay guy, and Jane, a possibly gay girl. The second Will (written by David Levithan) is depressed, sensitive, and also gay but has barely any friends. The two Wills eventually meet, their lives become intertwined and they become friends.
The idea of two teens with the same name meeting each other is certainly original. However, some of the plot details were not. Take WG#1's only friends, Tiny and Jane, who make him unpopular by association. Wow! This sounds exactly like the situation of Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) from Tina Fey's Mean Girls. In my past readings of John Green, his story details seemed much more authentic.
Besides the familiar plot, there are many other issues with the novel. To start, there is way too much detail -- weird, irrelevant anecdotes and symbolic life lessons from both authors did nothing for me or the plot. Speaking of the plot, there was so little of it that, by the end of this weak co-production, there were no distinct changes in either of the Wills. In any case, both of them were so dull that I didn't care. The worst was yet to come, though. Even though this is a novel, most of the details were realistic enough, except for the forced ending. I won't spoil it for you, but it certainly felt out of sync with the rest of the novel because it was so ridiculous.
I've read both good and bad from John Green, but this was by far his worst. I give this book one star out of five. Needless to say, it is going to be a while before I pick up another John Green to read.
This is John Green's (The Fault In Our Stars) first novel. It won the Michael L. Printz Award and there are plans to adapt it into a film.
It is difficult to summarize this book's plot mainly because mid-book, there is an event that changes the course of the novel. I'll just fill you in on the first half.
Floridian Miles Halter is looking for a fresh start to his junior year in high school and opts for his Dad's old boarding school in Alabama. There he makes new friends including the mysterious Alaska. She sucks Miles into her complicated life while making him fall in love with her. That is really as far as I can go in summarizing the novel without giving away the plot.
I read this book three years ago and decided to reread it after the recent explosion of popularity of The Fault In Our Stars. I didn't really appreciate the beauty of Looking For Alaska the first time around. This book has so much depth, richness, and sadness. In addition, its message is so relatable to the teen experience; teens are often lost in their own mazes of life from which it can seem like there is no way out.
Green's writing is neither beautiful nor imaginative, but it is raw and still entertaining. That is what gives the book its distinct edge.
Looking For Alaska can be read on multiple levels. You are required to interpret the ending for yourself and the author does not give much closure. If there were no additional thinking required, this book would be a meaningless tale about teenagers. I rate this book five out of five stars because it is a labyrinth (read the book, you'll get the diction) in and of itself.
