10. Daisy Miller, Henry James
Henry James was one of those crazy ex-patriots like T.S. Eliot who left the United States to live in Europe. This makes a very clear impact on the themes and stuff of Daisy Miller.
The main character is a man named Winterbourne; like James, he used to live in the U.S., but also like James, he has been living in Europe so long that he’s almost forgotten how Americans behave. Enter Daisy Miller, a beautiful, exuberant American girl. She catches his interest and sparks his imagination, and they enter into a kind of unconventional courtship. However, their relationship is soon compromised by Daisy’s outrageously (for the times, anyway…) flirtatious manner towards other men, which shocks the elite of Europe and other American ex-patriots. Drama ensues as she is gradually shunned from all respectable society. I feel like I’m always saying “drama ensues”, ha ha—I guess it’s a common plot thread.
Essentially, this is a novella about manners, much in the same vein as Edith Wharton. It’s kind of funny, because Daisy Miller is so similar to Wharton’s House of Mirth in terms of the whole “flirty with men, unjustly shunned by society” theme, and yet despite James and Wharton being BFFs, they hated each other’s work.
Anyway, I just kinda like history and like stuff that looks at how societal mores have changed over time and such, but that sort of thing can also be incredibly depressing. I do recommend Daisy Miller, but I don’t think it’s necessarily to everyone’s taste.
11. Looking for Alaska, John Green
Recently, I had the following exchange with a friend.
FRIEND: excitedly blah blah blah, John Green, blah blah blah…
ME: …who’s John Green?
FRIEND: stops for a moment to give me an incredulous look What? You’ve never read John Green?!
ME: …um, no.
FRIEND: OMG YOU NEED TO RIGHT NOW BLAH BLAH BLAH…
So I begged my dad to buy me a copy of Looking for Alaska, and he agreed. I was originally going to read it on the plane to *college visiting* and all that, but I really wanted to try it out.
Looking for Alaska begins with teenager Miles Halter leaving home to go to the Culver Creek Prep School in Alabama. His purpose for leaving? To seek the “Great Perhaps”, as described by the last words of poet François Rabelais. Something to note about Miles: his hobby is memorizing the last words of famous people.
When he arrives at Culver Creek, the first acquaintances he makes are the most important in shaping his future friendships—his roommate, Chip Martin (nicknamed “the Colonel”), and the beautiful, enigmatic Alaska Young down the hall. Through his various new experiences at school, ranging from the academic (his religious studies class), to the more personal (forming meaningful relationships, smoking, getting drunk, having his first sexual encounter, and ultimately falling in love), we follow along for the ride as Miles dives headfirst into finding his Great Perhaps and, in the process, growing up and maturing.
I thought this was an interesting book, but to me, it falls into the same category as Catcher in the Rye (for they are very similar thematically, in some ways): well-written, engaging, and verging on the profound—but at the end of the day, not the book for me. Though I did enjoy the ride, I never was able to fully get into Miles’s head and really feel for the characters. Maybe I’m just a prude, but I never saw the need for all the completely illegal drug stuff the characters did throughout the book, in terms of drinking and smoking and stuff, and I didn’t really like the implication that everyone did those things at the school. :/ I do think that John Green does a good job of showing that he, as the author, feels the kids are being reckless and irresponsible, especially given the ending. It wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, but it certainly keeps you interested and reading. I do think I’ll be reading more John Green, though, so stay tuned for that. ;)
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