From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…

The plot is fairly simple, and not nearly as serious as that of Alaska or The Fault in Our Stars. Colin Singleton believes that the world can be broken into two distinct groups of people: Dumpers and Dumpees. Colin himself falls [almost] exclusively into the latter camp, having been dumped by 19 Katherines to date. The most recent, Katherine XIX, was also the mo

The plot is fairly simple, and not nearly as serious as that of Alaska or The Fault in Our Stars. Colin Singleton believes that the world can be broken into two distinct groups of people: Dumpers and Dumpees. Colin himself falls [almost] exclusively into the latter camp, having been dumped by 19 Katherines to date. The most recent, Katherine XIX, was also the most serious, and has left him the most heartbroken. So, with his friend Hassan in tow, Colin sets off on a road trip to clear his head and attempt to work out a theorem that can successfully predict the future of any romantic relationship (to safeguard against future heartbreak, of course!). The duo make it as far as Gutshot, Tennessee, where they meet Lindsey Lee Wells, a local whose mother owns the one and only factory and source of revenue in Gutshot... a plant that manufactures tampon strings. Hijinks, as expected, ensue almost immediately.

Like all of Green's books, this one is written in a very particular style. It's hard to describe precisely what sets Green's books apart from others that try to ape his style. There's just an effortless quality to his writing, particularly the dialogue. I think I mentioned in my review of Alaska that I thought there were times when the dialogue was a little *too* clever (for your average teenager), but it's so witty and great that I almost don't care. It feels like the way teenagers actually speak (or wish they could speak, perhaps), and although the characters are always kind of "quirky" (I'm starting to despise that word!), it doesn't feel forced. Compare that to So Shelly, which I read earlier this summer. It's basically Looking for Alaska on a boat, with all of the characters trying WAY too hard to be unique and interesting. I felt the same way about The Year of the Gadfly. Both of those books just needed to calm the hell down. Green has a style that's certainly enviable, but also incredibly hard to emulate.

I found myself really enjoying the use of footnotes here as well. Sometimes they can feel self-indulgent, because it read like Green was speaking to us instead of Colin, and that can take you out of the story. However, since they were used fairly sparingly, I enjoyed them, and they didn't pull the focus off of the story. I do wish the novel had been written in first person, however. There was a distance between the reader and the character here that I haven't felt with Green's other books. It was like we were kind of inside Colin's head, but not totally. And though I enjoyed the footnotes, they did kind of contribute to that distance.

Overall, a great read. Not my favorite John Green book thus far, but probably the best YA I've read all summer. I filed it under "classroom shelf," but since I have 7th graders in the fall, I'll probably wait until next year to sneak this onto my shelf. Thanks to the liberal use of "fug," the language isn't too offensive, and aside from Hassan's frequent mentions of "The Thunderstick," there's really nothing too inappropriate. Plus it was an Abraham Lincoln HS Book Award winner a few years ago. Just a tad too mature for your average 7th grader.