Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Looking for Alaska

Author: John Green
Bugs: 2
Review by: wsh

Why does every novel about a teenager at a boarding school insist on being a poor imitation of The Catcher in the Rye? This one was awarded the Michael Printz Prize for young adult fiction, but I fail to see why. Ok, I'm an adult, but I really believe a teen reader would be able to sniff out the "surprise" of the plot long before the end of the book. Gratuitous sex, limitless drinking, unrequited crushes, angst and the usual rebellion against authority - this is a formulaic trashy sitcom script, not a novel. The author writes better titles than he does books: his second work is An Abundance of Katherines, but I may end our relationship at this one.

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