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The Patterns Of Paper Monsters (2010)

by Emma Rathbone(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

031607750X (ISBN13: 9780316077507)

languge

English

genre

Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction

publisher

Reagan Arthur / Back Bay Books

review 1: Solid fast read. Enjoyed Rathbone's peek into the mind of this teenage male character. Humboldt might recognize this youth; as might Meursault. Lolita meets the Stranger in an angst-filled room and had a baby. That baby is this book.An easy read that balances the disconnected and emotionality of teenagers, while exploring the difficulties of defining a personal moral compass in a superficial world. The book suffers from character tunnel vision though and some great characters introduced are ignored or just not developed in ways that would give us more insight into the protagonist. Perhaps, the author was trying to demonstrate teenage selfishness and self-centeredness, but I just felt disappointed.
review 2: I started reading this book at the library while wait... moreing on someone. I liked it so much I ended up checking it out. The author really nails Jacob's, the 17 year old boy narrator's voice, perfectly, which is quite a bit more than just adding "like" into every sentence. I really enjoyed about the first 100 pages, as the narrator described things and experiences from his unique point of view. After that though, I found the book easier and easier to put down and harder and harder to come back to, if that makes any sense. It seemed like Ms. Rathbone spent a great deal of time setting up her main character and giving him several challenging situations, and then those either drifted away, or felt rushed in their completion and then the book was over. Perhaps it's because we've (or maybe just me) been conditioned to have certain expectations when reading a novel. For example, there is a great deal of set up and discussion about many of the secondary characters, particularly his therapist, Lane, as well as his substitute history teacher and even his "mentor," Jim. With all of the set up, I was expecting to these characters to play a larger role than they ended up actually playing. The antagonist (for want of a better term), David practically does everything but wear a junior-sized Hannibal Lecter mask. But, perhaps most unforgivable of all, is what happens--or doesn't happen--with Jacob's "love interest," Andrea. The "courtship" section of their relationship is wonderfully done, with all of the stops and starts and fumbling that ring true. But then, she just disappears from the book. Again, perhaps this is a problem with my expectations and not the author's execution. But, I will say that the ending felt forced and rushed, a huge event that has been foreshadowed and hinted at takes place and then 1.5 pages later the book is over. I literally looked to see if someone had torn pages out, but no, it was the end, followed by "reading group/book club notes" and a suggested reading list of the author's favorite books. I liked the beginning of this book very much, and it is very clear the author has much talent, and the main character is very well done, but I think this book needed a bit more polish or editing, which in this case I think called for a bit more work on the concluding sections. I recommend this book with four stars for the great writing and the perfect pitch of the narrator's voice, but I also leave the caveat that the denouement may leave some readers wanting. less

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