The problem is how he writes his male characters as his own teenage self-inserts and the female characters as his own dream manic pixie girl. Neither archetype feel like genuine people and just because you make your female character "interesting" doesn't erase the fact that they only serve to further the male's development
His Brother, Hank Greens, write books bc he had a great idea and want to share. I agree that John does not plan and write good ideas, amazing and different stories, however I think he writes feelings. Feelings about being lost, feelings about being in love, being confused, being alone, being weird, feelings about hating who you are and bc of that being mean to people around you and than just hate yourself harder and harder, feelings about being sad but happy at the same time. I love his books bc I can absorb the feeling that the pages carries but I really wanted to read something like that with older characters you know? I think writers focus too much on the yough.
I'm not gonna lie, his writing style is kind-of formulaic. However, I think in his case it works. His stories have provoked emotions out of me in ways that most books do not. In the case of LFA, I feel like I know the characters in that book, I feel like they are actually people.
I feel like you can sympathise with John’s books and characters because he writes them all based on personal experiences. The one that I related to most is Turtles All the Way Down. It provoked a lot of emotions because I could really feel it was written from the heart and has the most personal experiences and emotions 😊
I honestly understand this opinion BUT Looking for Alaska is one of my favorite books ever and I actually do this he got that message across that "people are just people" because I finished reading it and I had been all wrapped up in Alaska and her pedestal kind of fell apart as I think he was trying to do with the book. The other thing I would argue is that Alaska is the true main character of the story, yes Miles is the narrator but I think that the book is really more about the person Alaska was (truly) and the person she could've grown up to be.
The only part I disagree with is that you said that the characters from the fault in our stars aren’t quirky in a weird way. Yes they are, I mean the guy literally puts a cigarette in his mouth and doesn’t light it, to prove a stupid point. No kid would do that. Also I feel like it romanticized dying.
I totally agree. His writing style gets in the way of the his message/themes for me. He puts effort into these convoluted/overwrought metaphors that don’t add much to my understanding besides thinking the character is pretentious
I completely disagree. What I love about his books are that they don't feel staged. InThe Fault in Our Stars especially, I know it's your favorite, it took a whole new approach to the whole kids dying thing. As a teen I had an author who I LOVED who wrote about kids with terminal illnesses. Like the say in TFIOS it's always "They where always happy" or they started a foundation to remembered forever. That's not real. Every day kids dye with no one but family to remember them. Also with Looking for Alaska, I know of books that deal with teen death, but not the guilt and true suffering in the aftermath. I think that's what I like most about his books, yes there are quirky characters, but to me they seem real. Like someone you could have know. He also lays it out, no sugar coating or flowers. I respect your opinion. But have to respectfully disagree. 😁
I also have 4 of his books and I'm currently finishing Looking for Alaska And all I can say is that yes most of his characters have quirks and yes they have issues but the thing about John Green's books is that they are actually deep and different.
I mean it's not common to watch movies or read books that shows us the emotional struggle of cancer patients that Gus, Hazel and Isaac showed, do we? And I'm actually thinking of rereading paper towns because of how I stupidly failed to notice how the title of the three parts of the book The Strings, The Grass and The Vessel coerce. I only realized it after reading page 301 to 302. And the metaphor honestly amazed me. I respect your opinion tho and this is mine.
It is true but, I love his books, like I like the feeling of reading the same book with different backstories and stuff. And how could you forget looking for Alaska?!? 😂 it’s my favourite 😂
Sammmeee I read Paper Towns a while ago and I was fighting through it took about 3 months to actually read, I was going to start his other book but I stopped after the first 3 chapters. I was kinda mad at myself because I used to watch his RUclips videos and also follow him on tumblr a lot I liked him as a person but his books are a no for me. I think if he went under another name and released a new book I could tell that's its him after the 1st chapter lol
the first three books are iterations on an idea. i should probably just buy Paper Towns and TFIOS as unique books. that'll save me the frustration of reading the same thing three times
There's something about adult men writing about angsty teens that rubs me the wrong way... I haven't read Looking for Alaska, but I saw the series, and I hated it. Alaska is a terrible person. Do any of yall remember being a teenager? How many of your HS friends read Kurt Vonnegut and questioned the nature of reality? It's just not believable. And I'm sick of YA novels using past abuse to excuse current bad behavior. Alaska is a self absorbed, overly pretentious "I'm not like other girls" kind of person, that treats her friends like shit. I was angry at her the entire time I was watching it.
And a the story of the book is not the most important part about it . Its the way how you look at things after you finish reading. You'll read a thousand books with cliche stuff which i think you will call amazing and hell of a story. It wont mean anything in your life, but JOHN GREEN? his books gives you hope it changes the way you think.
exactly! other authors focus on the storylines and having a nice A to Z experience, john however seems to automatically put his main focus on feelings and morals, plus does so in such a poetic way which i think is very appealing and special. i get how that exactly throws some people off. it's something that stays when you finished, not just because the storyline is great but because of his particular portrayal.
Doggy! Yes. Yes. People are afraid to dislike his books because they like him as a person, but i just feel like he can't write. Bottom line, I don't have time to waste on someone who recycles the same formula and doesn't even do it well, making it obvious that he's using a formula.
I agree with everything. Thank god it's not only me who feels the same way about his books. It's actually frustrating cause all my irl friends and block mates are obsessed with all his books.
I don't like him either. I've read the fault in our stars, paper towns, looking for Alaska and will Grayson will Grayson. And they're all the same! White girl with issues. White boy with some kind of issue. White body stalks white girl. And he doesn't write well in my opinion and he covers it up with clever metaphors.
Haley Allen Thank you! I thought I was the only one that thought that all of his characters are the same. I read TFIOS (which I actually liked and I thought was his best book) and then I read Paper Towns and hated it and forced myself to finish it even though I was over it halfway through. Then I tried to give Looking For Alaska a chance and didn’t even get a quarter of the way through because the characters were basically Quintin and Margot recycled into another slightly different storyline
Haley Allen Could not have stated it better myself! It’s just white white white with very basic and generic issues but worded very cleverly so it passes for some people
Haley Allen they aren’t all white necessarily. most of the time, people just assume that the characters are white because when a lot of people read, they just assume the characters are white because, generally, in the media, most people are white
@@cindy1928 john green admits his characters are white (minus some background characters being people of color but they rarely get any time to develop in his stories) & he has said before in an interview that he doesnt really care about representation because he sees it as like "book for white kids/books for Latinos/etc" which grossly misunderstands what representation means to marginalized people
John Green doesn't write books just because HE HAS TO WRITE EM. He writes because he loves to and i don't know if you have researched about him, but if you will, you ll find out that it were the little things he encountered in his life that made him write a book. He got inspired from the things most people usually ignore.
I've only read two of his books, but I haven't enjoyed them and I probably won't read any more of him. I found the characters very cliché and pretentious. They weren't real at all. The characters, I mean, they were too perfect and glamourised.
@@heavythinker16 I read Looking For Alaska too, and Paper Towns. And, to be honest, once you've read one of his books it seems that you've read them all. In the two I've read the characters are just the same with different names - nerdy nice guy with a smart friend to banter with and a manic pixie dream girl he's enamoured with.
If you've not been a guy that's unpopular/awkward/dork, you might not like any of his books that have a male teen main character. The "dream girl" in his story is often flawed and selfish, but the male puts the pussy on a pedestal and worships her (at least in the beginning). This is super accurate for how a teen dork views his crush. At the end though the male main character learns to view to girl as a human, flaws and all. The uncomfortable truth is that girls like TFIOS more because the main character is a female, and thus easier to relate to.
I only read Paper Towns, then I tried to read An Abundance of Katherines but I just couldn’t stand continuing to read it... and then the same happened again with his part on Let it Snow. So now I decided not to waste my time or money on him. It’s not just the stories are the same it’s also his style, the way he writes, HIS WORDS... it’s written John Green all over it... there’s a lot of pretend and “oh I’m gonna make my characters sound way to cool”... it’s so damn irritating!!!! I feel like he’s trying way too hard and pretending and that’s why it’s so annoying.
CAN I JUST SAY you’re too freaking gorgeous to exist. you have such a symmetrical/perfect face but not in a way where it’ll get tired out (if you get what i mean?) like i tried imagining if you wore makeup and to me it made it worse so DONT WEAR MAKEUP you’ll ruin ur perfectness there’s just that subtle yet striking beauty that kind of shocks me. like how does that happen?! and you obviously are aware of what best suits you because your glasses add to it. idk you’re just absolutely wonderful looking and from the video i can tell you’ve got an amazing personality with strong opinions. (also i agree on your opinions of john green very much)
Lilly Wilde Aww I never come on here anymore so I just now saw this but thank you so much! You are such a kind person and your comment made me so happy :’)
I honestly could not enjoy LFA. Alaska was an awful character and the whole book (or the last part of it anyway) was just Miles making everything about this fantasy relationship he had with her and didn't give a fuck about anyone or anything else.
Although you have a right to your own opinion and even though the books start generic it makes for a wonderful read like you said but the characters aren’t generic this is just generations of writing but if he did not have his heart in the book but reading one of his books first changes a person and no hate you are just giving constructive criticism.
The problem is how he writes his male characters as his own teenage self-inserts and the female characters as his own dream manic pixie girl. Neither archetype feel like genuine people and just because you make your female character "interesting" doesn't erase the fact that they only serve to further the male's development
His Brother, Hank Greens, write books bc he had a great idea and want to share. I agree that John does not plan and write good ideas, amazing and different stories, however I think he writes feelings. Feelings about being lost, feelings about being in love, being confused, being alone, being weird, feelings about hating who you are and bc of that being mean to people around you and than just hate yourself harder and harder, feelings about being sad but happy at the same time. I love his books bc I can absorb the feeling that the pages carries but I really wanted to read something like that with older characters you know? I think writers focus too much on the yough.
Wtf is the description
First Name 😂😂
and that's on creating manic pixie girl's for their sole purpose is to improve and teach the main character a lesson (usually a male)
I agree there's a part of that but he does subvert it in a way
It's not men's role to define the experience of women, I thought.
I'm not gonna lie, his writing style is kind-of formulaic. However, I think in his case it works. His stories have provoked emotions out of me in ways that most books do not. In the case of LFA, I feel like I know the characters in that book, I feel like they are actually people.
romanbalchisawriter Yeah, I feel like a lot of people would agree with you! To each their own :)
I feel like you can sympathise with John’s books and characters because he writes them all based on personal experiences. The one that I related to most is Turtles All the Way Down. It provoked a lot of emotions because I could really feel it was written from the heart and has the most personal experiences and emotions 😊
I honestly understand this opinion BUT Looking for Alaska is one of my favorite books ever and I actually do this he got that message across that "people are just people" because I finished reading it and I had been all wrapped up in Alaska and her pedestal kind of fell apart as I think he was trying to do with the book. The other thing I would argue is that Alaska is the true main character of the story, yes Miles is the narrator but I think that the book is really more about the person Alaska was (truly) and the person she could've grown up to be.
I like his books but I respect your opinion.
Chinmay Sathe I appreciate it haha
The only part I disagree with is that you said that the characters from the fault in our stars aren’t quirky in a weird way. Yes they are, I mean the guy literally puts a cigarette in his mouth and doesn’t light it, to prove a stupid point. No kid would do that. Also I feel like it romanticized dying.
Bhintuna Maharjan I’m not sure I said that word for word (I just rewatched and couldn’t find that part) but if I did I see where you’re coming from!
gus is not a regural kid he doesnt light it because its a metaphorethis is a rush because i going fats
bitch
Agree with your first point but I don’t think it romanticizes dying. It’s clearly portrayed as deeply sad.
I totally agree. His writing style gets in the way of the his message/themes for me. He puts effort into these convoluted/overwrought metaphors that don’t add much to my understanding besides thinking the character is pretentious
I completely disagree. What I love about his books are that they don't feel staged.
InThe Fault in Our Stars especially, I know it's your favorite, it took a whole new approach to the whole kids dying thing. As a teen I had an author who I LOVED who wrote about kids with terminal illnesses. Like the say in TFIOS it's always "They where always happy" or they started a foundation to remembered forever. That's not real. Every day kids dye with no one but family to remember them.
Also with Looking for Alaska, I know of books that deal with teen death, but not the guilt and true suffering in the aftermath.
I think that's what I like most about his books, yes there are quirky characters, but to me they seem real. Like someone you could have know. He also lays it out, no sugar coating or flowers.
I respect your opinion. But have to respectfully disagree. 😁
I also have 4 of his books and I'm currently finishing Looking for Alaska
And all I can say is that yes most of his characters have quirks and yes they have issues but the thing about John Green's books is that they are actually deep and different.
I mean it's not common to watch movies or read books that shows us the emotional struggle of cancer patients that Gus, Hazel and Isaac showed, do we?
And I'm actually thinking of rereading paper towns because of how I stupidly failed to notice how the title of the three parts of the book The Strings, The Grass and The Vessel coerce. I only realized it after reading page 301 to 302. And the metaphor honestly amazed me.
I respect your opinion tho and this is mine.
Deep? H.P Lovecraft is deep, Green is always writing the same shit while covering it up with metaphors.
@@eldritchpumpkinghost2968 You're entitled to your own opinion
,,,eeexcept they arent
It is true but, I love his books, like I like the feeling of reading the same book with different backstories and stuff.
And how could you forget looking for Alaska?!? 😂 it’s my favourite 😂
I respect your opinion as long as it doesnt hurt anyone.
Sammmeee I read Paper Towns a while ago and I was fighting through it took about 3 months to actually read, I was going to start his other book but I stopped after the first 3 chapters. I was kinda mad at myself because I used to watch his RUclips videos and also follow him on tumblr a lot I liked him as a person but his books are a no for me. I think if he went under another name and released a new book I could tell that's its him after the 1st chapter lol
Diamond Evans Lmaooo I agree haha that’s a good point
the first three books are iterations on an idea. i should probably just buy Paper Towns and TFIOS as unique books. that'll save me the frustration of reading the same thing three times
There's something about adult men writing about angsty teens that rubs me the wrong way... I haven't read Looking for Alaska, but I saw the series, and I hated it. Alaska is a terrible person. Do any of yall remember being a teenager? How many of your HS friends read Kurt Vonnegut and questioned the nature of reality? It's just not believable. And I'm sick of YA novels using past abuse to excuse current bad behavior. Alaska is a self absorbed, overly pretentious "I'm not like other girls" kind of person, that treats her friends like shit. I was angry at her the entire time I was watching it.
That definitely sounds like teenager shit
Idk man maybe you had boring friends but teenagers do be like that
How is Alaska terrible? HOW?
Ikr in my PreAp English we are supposed to read that book and the whole time reading it I was like 😬🤢 and especially how he describes Alaska, a minor.
And a the story of the book is not the most important part about it . Its the way how you look at things after you finish reading.
You'll read a thousand books with cliche stuff which i think you will call amazing and hell of a story. It wont mean anything in your life, but JOHN GREEN? his books gives you hope it changes the way you think.
exactly! other authors focus on the storylines and having a nice A to Z experience, john however seems to automatically put his main focus on feelings and morals, plus does so in such a poetic way which i think is very appealing and special. i get how that exactly throws some people off. it's something that stays when you finished, not just because the storyline is great but because of his particular portrayal.
Doggy!
Yes. Yes. People are afraid to dislike his books because they like him as a person, but i just feel like he can't write. Bottom line, I don't have time to waste on someone who recycles the same formula and doesn't even do it well, making it obvious that he's using a formula.
I agree with everything. Thank god it's not only me who feels the same way about his books. It's actually frustrating cause all my irl friends and block mates are obsessed with all his books.
kaleidoscope Ikr! I’m like bro no
I have put him in the formulaic author's category for some time. His writing resides quite nicely next to Jim Bucher and Dean Koonz.
I don't like him either. I've read the fault in our stars, paper towns, looking for Alaska and will Grayson will Grayson. And they're all the same! White girl with issues. White boy with some kind of issue. White body stalks white girl. And he doesn't write well in my opinion and he covers it up with clever metaphors.
Haley Allen Thank you! I thought I was the only one that thought that all of his characters are the same. I read TFIOS (which I actually liked and I thought was his best book) and then I read Paper Towns and hated it and forced myself to finish it even though I was over it halfway through. Then I tried to give Looking For Alaska a chance and didn’t even get a quarter of the way through because the characters were basically Quintin and Margot recycled into another slightly different storyline
Haley Allen Could not have stated it better myself! It’s just white white white with very basic and generic issues but worded very cleverly so it passes for some people
Haley Allen they aren’t all white necessarily. most of the time, people just assume that the characters are white because when a lot of people read, they just assume the characters are white because, generally, in the media, most people are white
@@cindy1928 john green admits his characters are white (minus some background characters being people of color but they rarely get any time to develop in his stories) & he has said before in an interview that he doesnt really care about representation because he sees it as like "book for white kids/books for Latinos/etc" which grossly misunderstands what representation means to marginalized people
YES FINALLY SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS ME 😂
Yay! Glad someone agrees. :)
holy shit yess I tried to like these books so bad but the writing style just ain’t for me, lfa I did like but man
Turtles All The Way Down is like another Fault in our Stars!!
HI I'M JOHN GREEN THIS IS CRASH COURSE US HISTORY
John Green doesn't write books just because HE HAS TO WRITE EM. He writes because he loves to and i don't know if you have researched about him, but if you will, you ll find out that it were the little things he encountered in his life that made him write a book. He got inspired from the things most people usually ignore.
I've only read two of his books, but I haven't enjoyed them and I probably won't read any more of him. I found the characters very cliché and pretentious. They weren't real at all. The characters, I mean, they were too perfect and glamourised.
Omg this is how I felt reading 2 of his books - An Abundance of Katherines & Looking for Alaska. Didnt even bother with The Fault in our Stars
@@heavythinker16 I read Looking For Alaska too, and Paper Towns. And, to be honest, once you've read one of his books it seems that you've read them all. In the two I've read the characters are just the same with different names - nerdy nice guy with a smart friend to banter with and a manic pixie dream girl he's enamoured with.
Red letter media piano
I think I loved Will Grayson, Will Grayson very much, tho I like your points.
If you've not been a guy that's unpopular/awkward/dork, you might not like any of his books that have a male teen main character.
The "dream girl" in his story is often flawed and selfish, but the male puts the pussy on a pedestal and worships her (at least in the beginning). This is super accurate for how a teen dork views his crush. At the end though the male main character learns to view to girl as a human, flaws and all.
The uncomfortable truth is that girls like TFIOS more because the main character is a female, and thus easier to relate to.
I only read Paper Towns, then I tried to read An Abundance of Katherines but I just couldn’t stand continuing to read it... and then the same happened again with his part on Let it Snow. So now I decided not to waste my time or money on him. It’s not just the stories are the same it’s also his style, the way he writes, HIS WORDS... it’s written John Green all over it... there’s a lot of pretend and “oh I’m gonna make my characters sound way to cool”... it’s so damn irritating!!!! I feel like he’s trying way too hard and pretending and that’s why it’s so annoying.
Nada Pw I completely agree! I haven’t read any of his newer books because I also don’t care to waste time or money on him :P
Bleh
someone tell me what the damn music is, the piano that plays around :40. khan academy uses it too and I love it but nobody has been able to tell me
NathanLucas5 Honestly I can’t even remember! So long ago haha. I’ll look into it and get back to ya ;P
I agree. I don't like john green because I feel that he doesn't write from the heart
CAN I JUST SAY
you’re too freaking gorgeous to exist.
you have such a symmetrical/perfect face
but not in a way where it’ll get tired out (if you get what i mean?)
like i tried imagining if you wore makeup and to me it made it worse
so DONT WEAR MAKEUP you’ll ruin ur perfectness
there’s just that subtle yet striking beauty that kind of shocks me. like how does that happen?! and you obviously are aware of what best suits you because your glasses add to it. idk you’re just absolutely wonderful looking
and from the video i can tell you’ve got an amazing personality with strong opinions.
(also i agree on your opinions of john green very much)
Lilly Wilde Aww I never come on here anymore so I just now saw this but thank you so much! You are such a kind person and your comment made me so happy :’)
Frrr his books suck. The fault in our stars is the only acceptable one.
I honestly could not enjoy LFA. Alaska was an awful character and the whole book (or the last part of it anyway) was just Miles making everything about this fantasy relationship he had with her and didn't give a fuck about anyone or anything else.
Although you have a right to your own opinion and even though the books start generic it makes for a wonderful read like you said but the characters aren’t generic this is just generations of writing but if he did not have his heart in the book but reading one of his books first changes a person and no hate you are just giving constructive criticism.
I see arctic monkeys shirt 🥰
You saw through him and his fabricated literary persona.
I genuinely just hate all of his books.
John Green is clearly for people who are too lazy to get into proper fiction literature but who are just smart enough to enjoy reading leisurely.
Haha that’s pretty funny
Then why do you have all the books just saying I didn’t mean to offend anyone
i read paper towns and was bored.I have all his books as well.
.
I only read 'Looking for Alaska'. It was just insufferable unfortunately. Never pickin' up any more of his books.
i can't respect your opinion if you love the fault in our stars... that book was awful.
You look like Angelina Jolie
Cartoonlover 447 Oh stop it hahaha, thank you you’re too sweet!
your opinion doesn’t matter lol
Neither does yours 😘