I had an incredible listening month (tune in later to find out more), but if I have to pick one favorite it would have to be:
Okay, so I sometimes complain about the statistical improbability of all the death in YA (of protags and their parents/siblings), but then someone else does it so right that I tell myself to stop complaining and just let the masters have at it.
This book does it right...so amazing.
Indy's children's hospital is called Riley's (not Childrens, as in the book). They have red wagons to cart the young children around and people from all over the state make and donate quilts to the patients who have to go there (none of that was in the book). Also, their playground (also mentioned in the book) was funded by one of my favorite famous Hoosiers (second only to Kurt Vonnegut), David Letterman.
The other big hospital is called Methodist, not Memorial as in the book (my Aunt had two heart transplants there).
Finally, the characters complain that there are no mom and pop restaurants in Indy...I know this is part teen angst, ragging on your home town...but it's just plain not true.
Like getting off the main strip of Time Square to find the good restaurants in NYC, you have to get away from the main mall areas in Indy to find the homegrown restaurants:
Arnis, which serves the best pizza and chef salad known to man (or, at least, to me), started in my home town of Lafayette, IN and is now in Indy too.
Also, one of the things I miss most here in NJ are the lack of mom and pop Mexican restaurants...in Indy they have one in almost every strip mall.
But, let me repeat...none of this takes away from the amazing-ness of this book.
What about you? Read this? What was your Feb favorite?
Yet another book you're talking about that I bought but haven't yet read it. i suck. boo
ReplyDeleteI haven't read that one yet but my Feb fav was ACROSS THE UNIVERSE!
ReplyDeleteLoved this book, too. Thanks for the insider knowledge of Indianapolis. I find myself doing the same thing with any book set in Madison, WI--I am a real stickler for accuracy in that setting.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your reaction to a setting you're familiar with in real life. I'm reading Paper Towns right now, which is set in Orlando, which I am very familiar with as a Florida girl. I've had a few issues, too. Do you think a completely fictional town would be better than writing a real one with little inaccuracies?
ReplyDeleteThis book was so awesome. I recommend it to everyone I talk to.
ReplyDeleteHa, that would kind of bug me if it were my hometown. I've got my copy of this book--I need to read it now!
ReplyDeleteLaurie, I fictionalize my settings for just that reason...sometimes I'll use elements of a town I'm familiar with but still use a fictional name.
ReplyDeleteTFIOS was AMAZING. But I totally feel you about fictionalized versions of real cities--when it's your hometown, it just feels so wrong.
ReplyDeleteI'm *STILL* processing TFIOS.
ReplyDeleteTFiOS is waiting for me to read. My guess is that the fictionalizations are deliberate. If I recall correctly, John Green grew up in Indiana, and moved back there from ny within the last 3 or 4 years.
ReplyDeleteOh agreed! I LOVE this book! I was a little intrigued yet hesitant about the female protag - so used to those males, but I loved it. I snatched it the day it hit the shelves.
ReplyDeleteColin- Yeah, I figured it was on purpose...interesting about him growing up and going back to IN...in the after-book interview he mentioned his first job out of college being in Ohio, so I figured he was a midwesterner.
ReplyDeleteI read this one this month too and really liked it. Such an amazing book. Good choice.
ReplyDeleteColin and Jennifer, I should amend the word "inaccuracies" to "liberties." Because I do think the setting changes in TFIOS and Paper Towns are deliberate. Still, it gives you pause when you're reading.
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