Book review - 'Trouble' by Non Platt (SPOILERS)

Last summer I was lucky enough to spend a week working with Walker Book Publishers through a friend of my mum. During my time there, I got the chance to read a load of really interesting books that were in the process of being edited and my job was to give feedback on the plot, characters, reality, and even the cover designs for these books. This was just so much fun and something that a lot of people don't get the chance to do, and if you're a book worm then i strongly suggest contacting Walker Publishers and spending some time there for yourself because it was just so amazing. I also got to sit through meetings with some authors and do some research and write a little bit for a book that Walker are publishing hopefully this year!

One book, though, that I particularly enjoyed reading was 'Trouble' by Non Pratt, and coincidently she was one of the authors of whom I got to interview and sit in a meeting with, also giving her my feedback on her debut novel.What I found the most intriguing about this meeting was the casual throwing around of names of authors of whom they wished could read the book and review it so as they could quote it on the cover. Some huge names were suggested, such as John Green, Marcus Sedgwick, Stephen Chbosky, Becca Fitzpatrick, Michael Morpurgo and so many more. My favourite quote from one of the publishers; 'I spoke to John Green just the other week and it sounds as though he has far too much to do'.

The publisher who was looking after me that week had then asked me to write a full essay/review of the book to send to her and Non Platt to see what I, fitting into their target audience, thought of the novel and I struggled to find a bad word to say about it. The thing that I found most gripping about it, I have to say, was the originality and the fact that it wasn't your typical 'teenage-pregnancy' book; it didn't gross me out in anyway, the narrative was interesting and effective, fitting along with the plot, and was completely different from anything that I had ever read or was even used to reading. So, seeing as the book is officially published on the 6th of March (and I highly recommend everyone should get it - even if it's not something you're particularly into, just, get it. Please!), I thought I would post the review that I had sent to Walker and Non, of which, admittedly, I haven't read since I wrote it last. Enjoy!

Having heard what this book was about, I admit I was a bit sceptical about the plot and the fact that it was a book for young adults. Despite this, however, I was particularly interested in the way the teenager, Hannah, would be portrayed, whether she’d be seen as someone the readers like or someone the readers don’t like, and the way the readers would form their opinions on her. I have to say I was relieved to find that the novel wasn't too over whelming for young adults and the two central characters were very likeable, despite their situations. I honestly loved reading this book, not least because it brought out every emotion imaginable and was thought provoking; tense, frustrating, funny, sad and, in some ways, relatable.

At the very beginning it was easy to imagine Hannah and Katie and the type of people and characters that they were, as well as Tyrone, Rex and Marcy. I think it would be fair to say that every school has characters such as these and so there was a clear image and thought as to what type of people the people in this group were. What made this equally interesting and enticing was the fact that the story was told through the 1^st person narratives of both Hannah and Aaron, who were two contrasting characters at the beginning. Not only did this give readers an insight into Hannah’s activities, but it also gave us an insight into people’s judgements and opinions on Hannah even before she fell pregnant. For example, even Fletch has said that he’d had sex with Hannah because ‘that’s what she’s for’. I also felt that the narratives were so cleverly written when Hannah and Aaron were in the same situation, for example towards the end when Hannah saves Aaron from his drunken night in the pub following Neville’s funeral, Hannah’s narrative ends as she is telling him they can come back to the pub to scatter Neville’s ashes another time just as Aaron’s narrative begins with ‘When did Hannah get here? I don’t remember that’. It was so intriguing to watch their relationship, or not so ‘relationship’ relationship, grow stronger as they became dependant on each other to keep them sane; Hannah from her pregnancy and Aaron from the death of his best friend. Not only this, but even in the most awkward and tense situations, they were still able to make jokes to make the situation easier for each other. For example, whilst Hannah is in labour she says to Aaron to ‘stay north side’ and even while she’s giving birth he tells her to ‘CTFO’. In some ways, this was what the book was about and less on the pregnancy as this was what I wanted to read more about than anything else.

Moreover, the constant dramas and mysteries that develops throughout the novel I felt were incredible and were woven in with each other very well. From the beginning we, as readers, are wondering just who the father is and it is enjoyable to try to work out who it could possibly be, much like one of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery novels! Not once did I ever suspect that it could be Jay and I felt that the secret was hidden so perfectly so when the truth came out it wasn't expected, especially not from Aaron’s narrative. Not only this, but the friendship troubles that Katie and Hannah have are definitely relatable to the target age group as I know teenage girls are fickle and can have fall outs within their friendship groups. What I would slightly criticise, however, is just how realistic the things that Katie does may be. I understand that Katie loves the gossip and the attention, however I do feel that revealing Aaron’s secret and accusing him of killing his best friend to get to her old best friend was very harsh and I’m not quite sure it would really happen. Not only this but that particular part in the story was over very quickly. Having said this, it did make the readers, as well as Aaron and Hannah, despise Katie even more and the fact that Marcy stood up for Hannah and the way she was suddenly against Katie I thought was fantastic. Not only this, but the whole story about Aaron’s ‘past life’ was so tragic and, to a certain extent, heart wrenching. Throughout the novel we had been left with an unsettling enigma – what had happened before his holiday in Australia? Who were Chris and Penny? Why did he need to be Hannah’s baby’s fake father to keep himself sane? The way this was carried through was so enticing and when we finally found out just what had happened, Aaron suddenly became even more likeable and we feel sorry for him and the things that have happened in his life as well as the things that have happened in Hannah’s.  

Another small criticism would be some of the characters that we constantly see at the beginning, such as Tyrone and Fletch, suddenly disappear once Hannah finds out that she’s pregnant. This seems a little bit odd as Hannah’s surroundings and social position suddenly change. Whilst it’s understandable that this is because Hannah can no longer go out and drink with them every Friday night, I think it would have been interesting to maybe see them confront Hannah because they must be unsure as to whether they are the father of her baby. This would have caused more tension and drama and possibly would have made Hannah feel more isolated from her old life and friends the further into her pregnancy she went. Throughout the book, Hannah seems to have a crush on at least three guys and seems to be in love with two of them. Tyrone is the big crush at the beginning of the book and they have sex on a night when Hannah’s parents are away and she describes how she thinks he’s ‘hot’. The attraction with him may be the fact that he is her enemy’s boyfriend and she wants to get back at Marcy, however she then falls pregnant and talks about how she loves the father of the baby, both when we don’t know it’s Jay and when we do. Whilst all this is happening, Aaron is acting as the father of Hannah’s baby and her knight in shining armour and they both declare in their separate narratives that they love the other. This confused me a little bit at one point as I wasn’t sure even she knew just what she wanted and who she wanted to be with, particularly after she and Aaron kiss in her room the morning after his drunken meltdown. I also think that the character of Robert was a lot more important than he seems in the book because he is Jay’s father and Hannah’s step-father. Whilst I thought that it was interesting that Robert became like a father to Hannah after her biological father refused to make the trip to see her, I felt that he needed to be a little bit more involved so that when he discovers that his son is the father, the audience may feel a sympathetic for him and it’s a bit more of a shock for Robert and the readers.

In terms of the cover, I was slightly unsure about it being dominated with sperm as I believe that teenagers would laugh at it and be put off, also being embarrassed to be seen reading a book with something like that on the cover, particularly in public. I did, however, like the cover with the girl’s mouth being he ‘O’ in ‘Trouble’ as this girl would presumably be associated with Hannah. It would also be clear just who the book is aimed at, which is teenage girls. It was suggested that the cover should be shots of some swings in the park which would be the place that Hannah and her friends spend their Friday nights at the beginning of the book. However, I fear that this may be muddled up with a book called ’13 Reasons Why’ by Jay Asher because it has a very similar cover to the one that is suggested. This book has been very successful and film rights have been bought by Universal Studios.  I believe it may be creative to have a pregnancy test on the cover with the positive sign on it as well as the title of the novel; however I fear that this may be more suited towards the adult audience just as the cover with the sperm may be. I also imagined maybe a girl being the main focus of the cover and other people in the background clearly whispering about her although this may be straying from the books plot. I think that Jay Asher may be a suitable person to give a quote on the book as well as Jessica Warman who has written several novels of a similar sort of nature for young adults. I also firmly believe that John Green is a suitable author for a quote because not only is he extremely popular with teenagers today but his books are moderately similar to that of Trouble

Overall I really enjoyed myself and got completely compelled by its plot. I strongly believe that this book will be a great success and I am very much looking forward to it’s publish date just so I can pass it on for all my friends to read. The Twilight hype is slowly dying out, with it the dark romance genre, and in its place comes the John Green novels that have taken teenagers by storm. I think that Trouble fits in so beautifully with this hype and will certainly sell very well.

Film Review - Project X 'the best high school party ever'?

So it's 10pm on a Wednesday night and really I should be writing yet another pointless essay set by my appalling English teacher or doing some of the piles of homework I have yet to do. But instead, I decided to head straight to bed and spend the evening eating chocolate and watching movies, and I regret nothing.

I'd heard one or twice that this movie, for reasons completely unknown is entitled 'Project X', was basically a movie version of the TV programme 'Skins'. Now I, unlike several of my peers, am not a fan of the typical teenage genre ie. watching people have an awesome time getting drunk and kissing as many strangers as their muscles could handle. But having seen the trailer, this one intrigued me. So naturally I gave it a go and wow, I was impressed. Of course it had all the stereotypical teenage activities such as swimming naked, 'hooking up', taking illegal drugs, annoying your neighbours, the most important thing that matters in a teenagers life is popularity and friends and, girls. This entertains it's audiences, however I for one enjoyed this movie more for it's image and the attitudes and messages surrounding it.

So basically it's your typical 'parent's are away for the weekend, i'm home alone, i'm such a loser, let's throw a small party to gain some popularity' kind of plot. Oh and of course there's a love triangle. There's always a love triangle with teenagers. Predictable, right? What I admired about it, though, was the idea that the entire movie was filmed with a hand-held camera; the idea being that 1 of the 4 protagonists were recording the entire party so as to add to the realism and suggest that in watching it, we are joining in. The main character of Thomas is easily persuaded into throwing a party by his best friends, his limit of 50 people quickly turning into 1500. The movie gets progressively cringier, if that's even a word, and I found myself wanting to be there to join in in what looked like an absolutely insane party with so many people looking like they're having the time of their lives, but at the same time definitely not wanting to be Thomas or any of the neighbours, or Thomas's parents. It starts off with a couple of people being kept outside in the garden area so as not to trash the house. However, as word gets around and more and more people turn up, the party moves indoors and dangerous drugs are passed around. And would it really be a teenage movie without some sort of representation of the male gaze? That's right, boys and girls, boobies! flashed left right and centre. This was something that, yes, I felt was derogatory and sexist and down right uncomfortable but having done my research, 67% of those that watched the movie in it's opening weekend were under the age of 25 and 58% of audiences were male, and so I suppose it's met it's target audience.

'Project X' was really a measurement the whole way through. At what point would you call it a night and stop the party? How would you do it? How far are you willing to take it all? This was something I found myself screaming at my laptop screen. Personally, I think it all should've been put to rest when the dwarf gets put in the oven. Yes, you did read that right. Wanna know what happens? Go and watch it! I've also read that this film was the inspiration for several house parties all around America, costing literally thousands of dollars. Sure, if that's the way people are going to read the party, that's cool. If you want to sit in jail for the rest of your life, all your money forever going into paying the debt you will have looming on you because of that one night you got stupidly high and drunk just to make some friends, fine, whatever floats your boat.

But me? Well, despite it's constant objectivity of women and at times, embarrassingly unfunny scenes, it's actually made me take into consideration the role of the parents in all the house parties I go to. Ok, they are most definitely not on the same level as 'Project X' in any way, but I have certainly done things at parties that would be and I absolutely regret, which has had an effect on the parents and the host, be it emotionally or financially. After all, it is their property and even when they consent to their son/daughter throwing a party, respect must always be shown. Not to mention staying classy when getting drunk and keeping your top on.

I realise this is rather a mumsy thing to say in such a short blog post, but I think it's interesting in the way that some people will watch movies and take it in one way, such as wanting to match the most amazing yet life ruining event in their lives, or taking it in another, such as not wanting to ever upset so many people just for one nights fun, and to take into consideration the neighbours, parents, the host and the pets!

So remember kids, get pissed and have fun that's all good, but just remember that it's someone else's property, it's one night of many in your whole entire life and respect, dignity and common sense absolutely does still exist even with your drunken persona.