Yesterday we spoke about internet icon Hank Green and the brother’s many achievements as the heads of an online video empire. Today we will look at John’s other claim to fame, as a writer of Young-Adult (YA) Fiction.
YA Fiction tends to have a reputation in the literary world as a subsection of the industry which ‘serious’ writers should avoid. It’s the realm of wizards, and aliens, and stories that shy away from real-world themes.
John Green is one of several authors who, over the last decade, have been proving this to be wrong.
Much of this stems from the reality of his characters; they are broken, flawed, confused, but full of hope and life. This was true of John in his teenage years, though much more the former in middle school. In an episode of his Vlogbrothers Youtube series, he refers to his younger self as “not just a nerd, but a stupid nerd”.
He was bullied extensively, and lived in fear until coming to accept that his tormentors were just as human as he was, and that what they did to him was not a reflection of his value as person, but a result of their own issues. This inspired his later writing. Even his most wizened characters aren’t anywhere near perfect, and that’s why his readers connect.
In 2005, he released his first novel, entitled Looking for Alaska. It was a modest success, and won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association. Though it expressed themes of friendship and young love, controversy surrounded the elements of sex and explicit language the book featured, especially when it started to be taught in English classes at various schools. In 2012, seven years after its initial release, Looking for Alaska appeared on the New York Time’s Best Sellers list for Children’s paperback, though Green adamantly states that the novel was never intended for young readers. As of 2014, over 300,000 copies of Looking for Alaska had been sold.
He followed this up a year later with An Abundance of Katherines, which tells the story of a child prodigy on a quest to find out what it means to matter. Quirky and insightful, it nonetheless remains one of his lesser-known works.
Paper Towns was released in 2008, one year after John started to receive attention for his Brotherhood 2.0 Youtube series, produced with his brother Hank. It was awarded the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel and the 2010 Corine Literature Prize. It debuted at #5 on New York Time’s Best Sellers list, and later went on to be adapted by Fox into a movie that had a slow, but ultimately successful international release.
John’s breakout novel came in 2012. The Fault in Our Stars – inspired partially by his former work as a hospital chaplain, and partially by the death from cancer of Esther Earl, one of his ‘Nerdfighter’ fans – has sold over 10.2 million copies. It was #1 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, #1 on Indiebound’s bestseller list, and #9 on The Bookseller bestseller list. The New York Times named it their ‘Book Review Editor’s Choice’, praising the novel for “(staying) the course of tragic realism” in a story that has moments of sadness intwined with engaging characters and pleasing humour. Time called it “damn near genius”. It remains on the New York Times Best Seller list for young adult paperbacks to this day, after spending 49 weeks at #1.
The film adaptation was released in 2014. On a budget of $12 million, it went on to make over $300 million worldwide. Shailene Woodley went on to win several awards for her performance as protagonist Hazel Grace Lancaster, including The MTV Movie Award’s Best Leading Actress. She dedicated her speech to John, saying “It changed my life when I read (the book), and being a part of this film dramatically influenced who I am today. His words will transcend time, because they transcend any age. There’s not one single demographic that won’t affected by the wisdom and the compassion and the beauty that he laces into every single thing that he does in his life”.
Attention swirled around John Green, with an eager audience of millions now hanging on his every word. His thematic maturity has been a major factor in changing the face of the YA market, previously best known for fantasy offerings like Harry Potter and Twilight. Book bloggers have come to refer an endorsement from John as ‘the John Green bump’, due to the increase of sales that usually follow.
John himself has often rejected such terms, clarifying that he is only highlighting the quality of the work; the success that follows come from the work itself.
He also identifies as a feminist, and has spoken out against misogynistic themes in literature, which he feels often get a free pass because people see in them a reflection of modern culture. “This happens a lot, I think, with books by men, and I don’t want male writers (including me!) to get that pass.”
Of late, news of John’s literary work has been slow coming. He continues to work on his podcast and Vlogbrothers, but announced that he would be taking a social media hiatus as of September 2015 in order to focus on his next novel.
He has a lot to live up to, but judging by his accomplishments over the last decade, he’s sure to leave readers very happy when the next book hits shelves.