The Book in the Mailbox

You might not know this, but I (along with many others) am a John Green fan. Knowing how much The Plot Sisters like books and writing, that statement might not be surprising. But it might shock you to know just how many times I've read and reread his books. (Actually, I'm not sure of the numbers, which means you'll just have to trust me on this topic.)

What is it about his books? Maybe it's the quirky characters or the witty dialogue, the Midwest setting or his themes. His books have so much to like—SO MUCH—that I've been waiting in a state of heightened anticipation for the release of his newest book, Turtles All the Way Down. I even pre-ordered a signed copy, which arrived in my mailbox today.

I skipped, literally, from the mailbox to my car, grabbed my belongings, and ran inside to open the package. Kiss the book, I did not. However, I will admit to inhaling a very large portion of the air that surrounded my newest acquisition. And then, despite the fact that I had a laundry list of items to take care of, I began reading.

I'll have to hold off on any judgment about the book until I've finished it, but I can say this: I've never read a John Green book as a writer, only as a reader. This time, I can't not read it as a writer, and I'm finding that like with many well-known, best-selling writers, Green gets away with things that I cannot.

For example:

1. Overuse of the word was/were: "Across the table from me, Mychal Turner was scribbling in a yellow-paper notebook. Our lunch table was like a long-running play on Broadway: The cast changed over the years, but the roles never did. Mychal was The Artsy One. He was talking with Daisy Ramirez . . ."

In fact, on the page I took that excerpt from (p. 2), I counted eleven instances of the words was or were. If Green had given just a wee bit more thought to the sentences, some of those could have been taken out.

2. Overuse of the pronoun I: "I pulled out my phone and . . . . I clicked over to the article . . . . I scrolled down farther to a list . . . . I reminded myself . . . ."

The paragraph from which those (incomplete) sentences arose consists only of five sentences, four of which begin with "I" and then a verb. As my editor likes to say, "Don't have pileups of declarative phrasing get in your way." Green's a good enough writer to again, take some of those out.

3. Introduction of a slew of characters right off the bat: This is no Game of Thrones, but in the first chapter alone, we meet or have mention of the main character, Aza, as well as Mychal, Daisy, Davis, Dr. Karen Singh, and Molly. In addition, we find out her friends call her Holmesy. Not too many characters, but in one fell swoop, the list might be a bit long.

Since I haven't read all that far, I'm stopping my critique here and now. The plan will be to read the book as a reader first, and then to go back and read it again as a writer. Green is a master; he can teach me quite a bit. But I need to be open to that learning and growing before I can expect to actually reap the rewards from such a teacher.

Happy Reading and Happy Writing!

~Christina