Young adult author John Green has just released his fifth solo novel, Turtles All The Way Down, and folks, this avid (adult) reader can barely contain her excitement. To fill in the uninitiated, John Green has attained enormous commercial and critical success for his novels over the years, with The Fault In Our Stars and Paper Towns both becoming major films. His nuanced, empathetic writing has attracted an almost obsessive audience – an obsession that has only been fueled by his work on YouTube as one half of the vlogbrothers.
And yet, amongst all these successes, Green has also garnered himself an extraordinary number of vocal haters – sourpusses who have criticised his work for being ‘whimsical’ and cringily formulaic. His characters have been called ‘pretentious’, and even ‘too witty’ to be believable, while some readers have found his female characters too ‘manic pixie dream girl-esque’ for their tastes.
I’m tired of critics devaluing authors that write for children and teenagers.
But for every criticism, there is something to celebrate about the author in response. First off the bat, Green is clearly extremely well read, and it shines through in his writing. Not only is his prose sophisticated, but he has also long proved unafraid to integrate it with complex concepts – namely mathematical theorems in the case of his excellent An Abundance of Katherines.
Yep, Green has some considerable skill when it comes to taking you along for the ride (quite literally, given there’s a road trip in almost every one of his novels). He may follow a formula, but he does so while ever so slightly subverting the norm, twisting the YA genre from the inside out.
Oh, and that’s not even to touch on Green’s power to evoke genuine emotion – if you claim to have not shed a tear during The Fault In Our Stars, then you’re either lying or a sociopath.
And yet perhaps most importantly of all, Green knows his audience. His writing works so well amongst teenagers because he treats his readers like intellectual equals: his characters are caught up in their own worlds and prove occasionally profoundly egotistical… But come on, don’t you remember being a teenager? His characters are flawed, but relatable, and they grow. Even if we downright hate them (I couldn’t stand Q from Paper Towns), we can’t help but care, and want them to win – and that’s the sign of a genius storyteller.
I’m tired of critics devaluing authors that write for children and teenagers. There’s merit enough in educating a generation with thought-provoking stories that teach you to embrace your quirks. Besides, well written YA novels are entertaining as hell at any age.
So I will be reading Turtles All The Way Down, thank you very much. And I won’t have the haters ruin that for me.
Turtles All The Way Down is out now.
