I needed this book. I needed it in a 'light some candles and relax in
a hot bath' kind of way. As I write this review, I will try my
hardest not to shower you with my overwhelming love for John Green. I
will try not to explain to you guys in several different ways how he
is a fantastic young adult author and that I love him for not having
rippling biceps anywhere in his books. I will try to contain
myself over the fact that he writes teens, especially teen nerds, in
such a way that makes you swoon. Let's face it though. I probably
just lied to you.
Let It Snow
is a series of three short stories, all taking place over Christmas.
It originally appealed to me because John Green writes one of these
said stories. Also, I have a soft spot for Christmas. There is
something about the mass amounts of twinkle lights, the idea and in
my case, hope for snow, and the smell of a ginormous tree that takes
up your entire dining room in your tiny one bedroom apartment, that
just makes the holiday magical. No? No one else has trees like that?
Let
it be known that I have a certain prejudiced against young adult
novels. I think a majority of them shouldn't have been published and
when I walk into the young adult section at Barnes and
Noble, the one I used to spend
hours in as a child, I am overwhelmed with pictures of shirtless,
hairless, man-boys and girls with doe eyes and glossy lips. Soft.
Core. Porn. This is not to say that I think we should shy away from
sexuality in teen novels nor do I think it is something we should be
making taboo. But, when I see almost every book jacket gooped up
with these images, all I can think is that Fabio and Edward Cullen
have done the impossible and have somehow made a baby. This said
vampire sexed up child is now gracing the covers of poorly written
novels. Or at least what I assume to be poorly written novels. I
might never know either because I don't tend to crack open those
books which is probably a flaw on my part since they could be hiding
a literary gem. I highly doubt it but I'm trying to give the benefit
of the doubt here.
But seriously. What is that?
My
point is, I don't like young adult novels. The teens in them annoy
the shit out of me and most of the main characters are whining
females concerned only with vapid tendencies that are important to
them and only them. I know. I know. There really are people like
that in the world and we tend to notice it the most in teenage girls.
This isn't exactly an inaccurate portrayal. But, are teen girls this
way because we are shaping them to be these self centered, dramatic,
'I can't believe she is wearing the same dress as me' type of person?
Or are they this way because its what they truly want to be? Better
people and much smarter people can probably answer that question. I
simply can't believe that a majority of teens are that shallow and
one dimensional as a human being. More on that later.
Now
I won't go over plot details with you so as not to spoil the stories
but I have to say that two out of three of these stories made me feel
like I was sixteen again and falling head over heals for the boy in
first period. I was smitten while reading these and that has been
one of the things that I think sets John Green (and I'm going to
include Maureen Johnson in here too) aside from other authors. Both
Green and Johnson created characters and a corresponding romance that
was genuine, unique, funny, and filled with all the first time cringe
worthy moments that make us feel alive.
Maureen
Johnson is not an author I have read before but I will be seeking out
her other work soon. She had the first story in the Christmas
trilogy and had me hooked with her writing style from the first page.
The fact that most of the story centers around a Christmas house
collection called Flobie Village and the insanity of people who are
collecting them, endeared me to her in ways that I don't think is
healthy. I will admit I was looking for something wrong with her
section of the story, my teen novel prejudice coming out to play.
But, the moment that I thought I had found it in her portrayal of
cheerleaders, another character came along and called the main
character out on this generalization. Not that the generalization
didn't have some truth, but the author did acknowledge that this is
not the case all the time.
The
love story of this tale was by far my favorite and by the end, I was
cheering on the nerd boy, wanting him to win over the nerd girl. I
want to see future stories of these two characters and see what their
nerd babies turn out to be. I want a conclusion to the Flobie
Village catastrophe!
Next
was John Green. I love John Green. A lot.
Again,
the romance and the characterization in this story were believable in
the awkward 'hey we're real people' way. What I liked best about
this switch of authors and characters was that while it still
mentioned the characters introduced to us in the fist story, a whole
new set was given to us, each with their own distinguished
personality. Green captures different voices in a way that I am
continuously envious of. Furthermore, the way he writes females
makes me so happy. And that's kind of where my love for the first
two stories comes down to. I feel like Johnson and Green give voice
to a female character that I embodied growing up, and didn't feel was
represented in media.
In
an epic battle to get to a Waffle House, in the middle of a
snowstorm, Green tells another love story and the quest for hash
browns. It is perfect in every way and during those brief moments
when the characters stop acting as old friends and have to navigate
the new waters of a potential relationship, I was hiding under the
covers, my heart beating fast, agonizing over whether they would be
together or not in the end.
These
first two stories made me nostalgic for high school again. They made
me want to be that
awkward teen that didn't know what the hell she was doing or where
she was going or if she was smart/pretty/funny/etc. Both Green and
Johnson portray the jumbled mess that is the teenage years in a
stomach twisting, butterflies swarming and heart skipping kind of
way. I love them and want to wax poetics about them forever.
Then
we got to the third story. Now, off the bat, I was against Lauren
Myracle's section of the story. Her main character was the
embodiment of what I hated about young adult novels. The girl was
shallow and spent the first five chapters dramatically relaying to
her friends in that attention fishing way (Go look on Facebook.
You'll find an example of this kind of person, I'm sure) about how
her and her boyfriend were no more and it was all her fault and she
was so sad and the world was ending and bla bla bla. I hate
characters like that. We see them frequently and I often feel like
adults view all teens as this mass of superficial, dramatic, things.
They don't tend to realize the complexities of the person before
them or how the cheerleader might go home at night and be the oldest
of several siblings that she is trying to help take care of. They
see the artificial part and that's about it. That's what this
characterization felt like. Again, I know there are girls like that
in the world. I know there are guys in the world that are exactly
like the character of Charlie in this book and think they are Gods
gift. I'm not saying that this is inaccurate. I just hate that voice
to a dramatic extent because there is so much more of a story to
tell. I want to know what's behind those personalities. I don’t
care about the shade of nail polish they are wearing.
Now,
I'm going to be a bit spoilery so if you don't want to have slight
plot points given away, scroll down until I yell at you in
unnecessary caps lock and bold type face.
I
soothed my soul by saying that Myracle was simply giving voice to
another aspect of teen life. No, it's not an aspect I like, but it is
an aspect I have to accept. Then, a nice thing happened. The author
acknowledged the self absorption of the character. Seeing that was
like someone turning a sweet smile at me. I was very pleased.
While
Lauren Myracle's was my least favorite of the three stories, I was
happy to see the turn around that happened there. I still didn't
like the character in her story much, but that is a matter of
personal preference. The best part of the third and final story in
this novel, however, is the fact that at the end, every character
you've met along the way, merges together in the middle of a
Starbucks coffee shop while oohing and awing over a baby pig. It
brought the story full circle and allowed us to see interactions
between characters that we wouldn't have otherwise gotten to see. It
was the kind of music swelling ending that you want to see at the end
of a feel good movie where you may have binged on ice cream.
OKAY
YOU CAN READ AGAIN!
The baby pigs made you read that paragraph. Admit it.
Let It Snow is sigh worthy. Is it for everyone? No. Absolutely not. I know a lot of my feminist friends that would turn their nose up at this story with a kind of disdain because it is a teen love story and 'how could that possibly be interesting compared to stories written by Joyce or insert other classic author here'? I know others that are going to go 'that sounds too sickeningly sweet for my taste'. I know I thought that before
If
you have no problems with swooning like a Disney Princess, though?
Get this book. Do it. Also, go buy everything by John Green because
he is the voice of nerd teens everywhere and is giving representation
to a previously hidden away group of individuals who are exceedingly
interesting.
And now I leave you with Sharpie Face. Bestselling authors need to be more like him.
To see what else I'm reading this month click here: http://papertales4u.blogspot.com/2013/07/july-book-reads.html
Also, like me on the Facebooks and Twitters and all those soul sucking sites.
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