michaelapr's reviews
81 reviews

I may come back to this one but at this moment I just can't seem to get into the story. 

This is exactly what you would expect out of a Christian Romance: Lighthearted and predictable, but a decent story all the same.

I did enjoy this book. I can see why it got a lot of hype when it came out and I wasn't disappointed, even if it's not quite a 4 star read for me. I enjoyed the writing style the most. It's quick and rye with a touch of humor and feeling. I'm also a sucker for "all these characters are connected - watch and see how they're connected AND how they come together and effect each other." When done well it's an enjoyable experience and in this case it was done well. I also enjoyed the characters, particularly the side characters and Six Thirty - the dog who gets one of my favorite POVs in the book.
Certain aspects of the book didn't do it for me. They were far and in between but they still left this book just under the 4 star mark.
Some of Elizabeth's little monologues that established her as ahead of her time felt stilted and unrealistic to me, for instance. Don't get me wrong - women had these thoughts at the time and I've read books that reflected similar ideas, I just know I've read authors that have addressed these views in a less preachy, take you out of the story way (see Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You for instance).
There were also moments where the "villiany" of some of Elizabeth's colleagues felt... overblown. The sexism and explicit harassment in the workplaces at this time was very real. However, it was often insidious and structural, which was not reflected in this book in a realistic way. It reminded me of the workplace sexism in Season 3 of Stranger Things where the men in Nancy's workplace were depicted as cartoonishly villianous for reasons I never understood. Depicting these experiences in this way, both in this book and a TV show, just doesn't seem very helpful to add to the conversation of sexism or feminism to me.
I also felt like the ending was rushed - like the author had a page limit and had to wrap up the loose ends as quickly as possible to be under that page mark. It made what should have been a satisfying ending lackluster, at least to me, obviously a lot of people really loved it and in a way I can see why. But still, the potential was there and I wish it had been reached.
Like I said, overall I liked this book. I can see why it's so popular because it's a story that many people want and need - a story where we can stick it to the man in less conventional ways. But I can also see it's flaws and missed opportunities, which is why it gets 3.75 stars from me.

I may come back to this later because I like the premise but honestly I'm not a fan of the writing style and I hate seeing a so called "strong independent woman" constantly questioning herself because of a man child.

This one is full of red herrings that tricked me until the very end. A very good read!

This was such a disappointment. It started off really good - you have two intriguing mysteries, a troubled detective with a fun partner who he has a great, fun relationship with. It was a slower pace than I'd like and the story stalled multiple times because of that but still. It had my interest. But in the last maybe 40% of the book the main character turns into this ultimate jerk that ruins the entire dynamic and then the story stalls out into an unsatisfying ending. So in the end I just feel really bummed in the worst way wondering: "What was the point in the way this book ended?!?" 

Paper Towns is one of those books that are misunderstood in the most ironic way. I've seen many people criticize it as book about a manic pixie dream girl - which I can understand to a certain extent. The reason why this is ironic is that at the beginning of the book Quentin and everyone else DOES think of Margo Roth Spiegelman as a not real person, a manic pixie dream girl but then as the book goes on Quentin realizes what a mistake this was and he tried to understand who she truly is as he tries to find her - and ultimately fails. Because you can't know a person fully but you can at least try. In the process he also realizes this about his friends and himself, which is the part I like the best.
The book itself is a fun read. The characters are funny and endearing with their teenage antics. Does the book sometimes go into long spiels about life that can't seem a bit much for a supposed 18-year old - yes. But I don't mind because it all fit in with the story itself. Do I wish we had a more tidy ending? Yes. But then it still fits with the story itself: there is a future that is hopeful but we can't guess what it looks like even if we can try, just like Quentin's quest.

This was definitely an enjoyable read. It has an interesting premise: What happens to children who went into different worlds, like Narnia, but then came back? How do they readjust to the "real world"? Is that even possible? The author does a good job of answering these questions through a variety of likeable, and unlikeable, characters. In some ways I wish that this story had been more fleshed out so that we could have gotten to know the worlds and characters more. But I still enjoyed it overall and found its ending pretty satisfying.

Maybe not as good as the first one but still a solid good time, particularly in the beginning and the end.