What´s An Abundance Of Katherines?

Teenagers are seen as the most apathetic age group time and time again; with growing problems in today’s world concerning politics, the economy, and social issues, it’s no wonder the youth of today are they way they are. There is little to no hope for them to completely change everything for the better without help from the older generations. The youth should be able to live freely, as they choose without the restriction of older generation’s strict standards like the absolute necessity of a good reputation. Some choose to live their lives to the fullest, like John Grady from All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy. He and Alejandra risk overwhelming prejudice to be together. The passionate environment of the lake scene is reflected using

Plenty of teenagers read books every day for entertainment and for school. But they don’t just read for amusement or that they need it for their classwork, they read because it is what they go to when things turn rough. Like what people said, books are a powerful thing, it can be hopeful and scary. Sherman Alexie is a wonderful writer, poet, and has published plenty of novels and short stories. Sherman Alexie’s purpose of writing is to give teenagers hope that things would work out alright, although it might be rough from time to time, and he also uses humor to entertain his readers. He provides teenagers things that they can relate to, and he addresses many crucial issues in his works. He uses numerous amount of stylistic techniques in his

John Green’s, Looking For Alaska, is a book about the lives of a group of teenagers and how their experience, alone and together, shape their lives as they grow towards adulthood. The main character, Miles Halter, lives a boring and lonely life. He has no friends and wonders what he is missing and decides to go to boarding school in Culver Creek to try to search for his “Great Perhaps” (5), what lies beyond his known, safe life. The reader follows Miles’ journey as he makes friends, falls in love, takes risks, has fun experiences and deals with immense grief at death of Alaska. Looking for Alaska has been the subject of much debate, controversy and complaints and has been banned numerous times due to the inclusion of sexual content, alcohol

. Captivated by the trials of others’ encounters, the reader finds hope in his own life. For some, books are an escape. He is able to disappear into a new world, with different lives, and extreme or sometimes even similar situations. However, his real world problems are still ever-present. In Sherman Alexie’s article, “Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood,” he claims that many

Teenage readers, take than anyone,undoubtedly relate to the characters’ sense of helplessness. they believe that parents, teachers, ministers, and every second authority is restricting their individuality and their freedom.

Girls in Taylor’s high school typically drop out to have children of their own. Many of the boys drop out to work on farms. Taylor sets morals for herself to stray away from getting pregnant or dropping out to work on a farm. Along with Taylor, “Mama always said barefoot and pregnant was not my style. She knew” (Kingsolver, 4). A neighbor of Taylor, Newt Hardbine had adhered to the typical act of their town. Newt dropped out to work on his father’s farm, and in the meantime got his girlfriend pregnant. Newt and Taylor could pass as brother and sister, so people within the town always wondered who was going to be the one to escape the small town life. This primarily affects Taylor in her decision to leave Pittman County. She does not want to conform to the social norm of her small town, so Taylor decides to work in their county hospital just to make enough money to buy a run-down Volkswagen. She makes a goal for herself, to drive until she is out of gas and rename herself after the town she ends up in. From there, she would continue until her car broke down and settle in the new town. It is ones choice to let themselves be affected by these morals so this example shows how the societal norms of a town are able to run one away to avoid

The First book of the series completely broke me, I couldn’t wait to read book 2. Now that I finally had, I’m a mess. Lake and Manning, their broken love story completely gutted me. I knew it would destroy me, but I didn’t know how much. This book is full of angst. So much emotion and sadness, but yet I couldn’t help but turn with every page. Author Jessica Hawkins really know how to tell a story, because with every look and every want that Manning and Lake felt..I felt Lake. With every page I read Manning and Lake couldn’t stop digging into my heart and soul, the pain that they caused me was so much with everything they couldn’t be for each other.

As an adult reader who has crossed over to the reality of life, reading about these characters can be a transparent, futile exercise because as adults looking back at youth we have the experience to know where these characters are headed before they even start their journey. However, for young adults who are still in the throes of existential angst this is a powerful novel that handles teenage rites of passage and coming-of-age issues such as loyalty, friendship, belonging, and even death and loss very well.

Many books engage the reader’s interest. Two such stories are “Homecoming” by Cynthia Voight and “Will Grayson, Will Grayson” by David Levithan and John Green. There authors captivate the reader’s interest through the themes of choice, the different point of views and the strong principal characters.

“At some point, you gotta stop looking up at the sky, or one of these days you will look back down and see that you floated away, too.” (Paper Towns, 98). This sentence brings a very heartfelt mood to the story. John Green says in an interview with New York Times that he uses more romantic words and feelings to draw in his teen or young adult audience. Margo as a character makes you want to pay attention to the little things and life and take nothing for granted, because one day you will look back on the small things and realize the impact they had on your life, and how they were truly important. In his other book, John Green brings a very emotional story to home for many young adults. It shows the struggles of anxiety, being in a relationship, and big losses in ones life. Aza says to Davis “Most adults are just hollowed out. You watch them try to fill themselves up with booze or money or God or fame or whatever they worship, and it all rots them from the inside until nothing is left but the money or booze or God they thought would save them.” (Turtles All the Way Down 126) This quote is very hard for some to digest. It shows all the bad things people do to fill their voids of loss or mental illness in their

If there is one time in your life where everything that you do focus on your self image, your fears, your relationships, your beliefs, everything that is you, has to be in your high-school years. In the novel Looking For Alaska, the author John Green makes great use of the following literary devices symbols, similes, and the use of many significant themes throughout this dramatic novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from beginning to end. The reason why I enjoyed this novel is because of all of the drama, conflicts, and comedy that occurs all the way to the end. This is truly an amazing read.

Miles Halter, a tall stocky junior from Florida. An only child, leaving the nest for the big state of Alabama to be enrolled into the Culver Creek boarding school. Miles was never the type of person to have many friends, he was never super popular, nor did he have a girlfriend. But on his last days of being in Florida, his overly nurturing mother insists on throwing him a party. “I was more or less forced to invite all my “school friends,” i.e., the ragtag bunch of drama people and English geeks I sat with by social necessity in the cavernous cafeteria of public school…” (3) But Miles’s , unpopular, no friends, no girlfriend streak is all about to change. Little did he know that he would not only make many new friends, but also fall in love. But not the type of love you would get from a sappy Hallmark movie rather a forbidden love. A love will ultimately affect the friendship of one of his soon to be closest companions.

All Colin could think about was Katherine, “Colin missed her. Missing her kept him awake more than the coffee, and when Hassan had asked to drive an hour back, Colin said no because the driving kept him going. It kept the loneliness of crushlessness from being entirely crushing. But still the thought still lurked out there, he’d been dumped. By a girl named Katherine. For the nineteenth time.” Colin and Hassan arrived in Gutshot Tennessee, where they got a job and met a new girl Lindsey. Lindsey was dating a guy named Colin so Colin and Hassan referred to him as “the other Colin (TOC). Hassan and Lindsey got drunk one night and came home after midnight. Hassan was telling Colin about all of his stories when Colin showed no interest. Hassan went off on Colin because Colin is too self involved and he is too worried about himself. He never listens to Hassan’s problems even though Hassan is always there picking Colin back up after a Katherine breakup. Colin admits to Lindsey while they were on a hike that he likes her. Hassan and Colin were walking in a graveyard when they saw Katrina and TOC having sex in the graveyard. Colin showed Lindsey the video saying “dated when we were sophomores and we’ve been hooking up occasionally ever since.” And that’s when it officially ended for TOC and Lindsey. Lindsey and Colin could finally hit it off with each other and really ended up liking each other they ended up dating. It was Colin’s first girl not named

A young adult novel’s audience often desires relatable characters and a meaningful plot that helps them to find resolutions to their own uncertainties concerning life. Many authors employ the literary technique realism to satiate these cravings. Today, there are some popular novels that attempt to imitate this, such as the coveted The Fault in Our Stars or Divergent. These selections, while widespread in the hands of young adult readers today, will not stand the test of time in the way that The Outsiders has, written by S. E. Hinton in 1967, has. This novel, both produced by and intended for teenagers, instead is a better candidate of realistic young adult fiction. Other selections, from Hinton’s era and from today, do not radiate the same

Love, illness, and loss: the trifecta of any young adult romance novel. John Green has established himself as proficient in all three tropes through his many novels and several movie adaptations. While he is often praised for his portrayal of love and loss, his use of illness is just as prevalent in two of his stories. The Fault in Our Stars (2014) showcases cancer in young adults, whereas Looking for Alaska (2005) is written around the mental illness of the protagonist’s love interest. Green takes these two themes and writes them in contrasting ways, such as tone of voice, how the characters interact with others, and how those characters deal with death. The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska by John Green are perfect examples of