Dull as dishwater and I like my water far more interesting, Annoying narrative voice and characters that were gray, pale gray and light gray, After racing through this book today I have some mixed emotions about "The Tragedy Paper, " On one hand, I really enjoyed it, The way the story was told was innovative and refreshing, The basic premise of the story is ayear old boarding school student receives a set of CDs hidden in his new room at school.
The CDs tell the story of the former tenant of his room, a lonely albino student enthralled with a popular girl, and the "tragedy" that befell them.
The writing of the book was very compelling, and I was totally sucked into the story, However, I found the ending to be anticlimactic, I really wanted a big POW and I felt the ending was more of a fizzle, I wanted the author to go all out and really blow my socks off, The story was still wonderful and very wellwritten I just could have used more intensity at the end, I feel like the story deserves it,
This was a readtoreview book for Net Galley LaBan's The Tragedy Paper is contemplative and academic, sure to appeal to readers looking for a meatier, slowerpaced read.
It's a strange sort of book, though one that certainly has some good company, Though I didn't exactly fly through The Tragedy Paper or become caught up in the characters, I really enjoyed reading it, curious to find out what had happened during the previous year at the Irving School.
There's a whole subset of young adult fiction about boarding schools, Something about them calls to the imagination, I guess: the freedom or how elite they seem, perhaps, The Irving School has an illustrious history, complex traditions, and the requisite quirky professor needed to help guide the main character to enlightenment in the style of Dead Poets' Society.
The Irving School holds more appeal for me than many of the boarding school settings I've read that don't have magic, from the archway to the custom of departing seniors leaving treasure behind for the student next to receive their dorm room.
Duncan, ostensibly the main character of the piece, really only serves as a frame story, which is rather daring.
The treasure left for Duncan is a stack of CDs, upon which Tim Macbeth has recorded the story of his tragic semester at Irving School.
We really actually learn very little about Duncan throughout The Tragedy Paper, since he spends most of his time either listening to Tim's story or thinking about Tim's story.
While ordinarily, I might find this framing device frustrating and unnecessary, I like it here because the way that Duncan becomes caught up in Tim's tale the same way I become entangled in a wonderful novel.
I thought it was a wonderful sort of metaphor for the process of reading, becoming caught up in the journey of someone else and growing as a result of it, though you have actually been a passive observer.
Tim Macbeth, like all tragic heroes, suffers from a fatal flaw: being too uncomfortable with himself as a result of his albinism.
All his life, Tim has been stared at, feared, or pitied because he was born without the pigmentation most people have.
He has never been particularly close to anyone outside of his family and resists connection with anyone new, sure that they will only ever see him as an albino, not as a deeper person.
Of course, the person most obsessed with his albinism is Tim himself,
From the beginning, it's clear that something awful happened during Tim's one semester the second semester of his senior year at Irving School.
There's a girl, of course, beautiful and perfect and maybe even interested in him, but, unfortunately, she also has a boyfriend, the most popular guy in school.
There were some echoes of Looking for Alaska in this, I think, The mystery of the harrowing event at the end of the year kept me rapt, but was a bit of a letdown when I finally got there, mostly because of the allusion to a literary work I didn't much care for in the first place.
The Tragedy Paper will appear to a certain niche of reader, those who prefer high concept to action, At no point did I feel bored and LaBan sustained my curiosity about the mystery all the way through, LaBan's debut is impressive, and I will likely be reading more of her work in the future, This review can also be found on sitelinkMy Fiction Nook,
"Enter here to be and find a friend, "
I wasn't quite sure what to expect when requesting this ARC on Netgalley, but the summary was intriguing, and I was hoping for a bit of YA fare that was different than most.
And boy, did Elizabeth LaBan deliver, In an exceptional debut novel, she explores the theme of tragedy in both literary and emotional contexts, What is tragedy How is it defined, and is it possible that one person's tragedy is another person's unfortunate accident What makes a tragic figure
With crisp and thoughtful writing, the author paints a deep and moving picture of a prestigious high school/boarding school and the young men and women at the center of the book.
Each year, the seniors are assigned a 'tragedy paper' for their English class, like a thesis of sorts, that makes up a big chunk of their final grade.
And each year, the incoming seniors worry from the getgo about this paper, some more than others,
Duncan Meade is an incoming senior, and school tradition dictates that each previous year's senior leaves a 'treasure' in their respective room for the next student assigned.
When Duncan finds out that his room, the smallest on the senior floor, was previously occupied by Tim Macbeth, the story's unconventional narrator, he's at first a bit bummed out.
Tim Macbeth is an Albino and only attends the Irving School for a single semester in his senior year.
There are hints from the getgo that something bad happened, though the reader isn't told any details, Duncan was there, and the event still occupies his mind and guides some of his choices, though again, Elizabeth LaBan delivers the suspense and only hints at things.
In his new room, Duncan finds a letter from Tim, and a bunch of CDs, And three keys.
The book is written from a dual POV, For Duncan, the author chose a limitedrd person narrative, while for Tim, she uses the CDs and thus thest person narrative, to differentiate between the two male MCs.
Their voices were distinctly different, and I had no difficulty distinguishing where one ended and the other began,
The author masterfully weaves a suspenseful plot, leading up to 'The Game', a senior year event, planned by the lead senior for the year, who was chosen as the junior officer during the previous year's event.
And as the story unfolds, the reader is sucked deeper and deeper into the minds of the young men, both struggling with first love and feelings of inadequacy.
The contrasts between the two main players and the choices they make, with Duncan actually thinking about their similarities as Tim's story unfolds, are what made this book so very special and unusual in today's YA world.
The author also explores the differences in doing what you know is right versus what you know will make you feel good, as well as following the rules/traditions versus breaking them to suit your own needs or ego.
A well developed supporting cast, including the love interests, the rival Patrick as well as the central teacher, Mr.
Simon, give additional depth and meaning to the book,
And even if the buildup to the event led me to expect a bit more than what actually happened, I finished this book rather stunned at the brilliantly quiet way in which the author delivered the climax and was left thinking about this book long after I closed it on my Nook.
Was what happened to Tim and Vanessa truly a tragedy or just a result of bad choices and circumstances beyond their control And is Daisy right when she absolves Duncan from thinking what happened is at least partly his fault Do both of them deserve forgiveness
If this is the caliber of writing Ms.
LaBan delivers, I cannot wait to see what more she has in store for us, I highly recommend this book,
I received a free ARC from the publisher via Netgalley, A positive review was not promised in return, .stars
I was so close to just barely liking this book! But even then, it was a slow and extremely boring read.
The concept of tragedy could have been so heartbreaking, but no, readers are left with watereddown characters and the most uneventful plot ever.
I was left having no feelings for any of the characters, none of whom had any depth, With the premise of the novel centralized around literary tragedy, this novel could have been one of those emotionally draining, worldchanging stories! But yeah, it really wasn't.
It was flat, boring, and I can't believe I bought this in hardcover,
Furthermore, I can't believe people actually think this is insightful, The dramatic title and ambiguous synopsis is the only thing that suggests profound thought, There is, in my easily supported opinion, no quality to this story, The characters show no depth at all, The relationships are so superficial and anything that actually connects the characters is shallow, Every symbol, foreshadowed event, and anything that would provide this socalled "profoundness" to The Tragedy Paper was plain as day.
Vanessa was the most boring love interest, nothing defines her other than that for some reason Tim likes her, Why does he like her exactly Who knows, all it was to me was one of many badly constructed relationships, And Tim being albino I mean really, do you have to reinforce the image of snow and concept of Tim being an outcast any more blatantly I mean, what else makes him an outcast other than the lack of pigment in his skin, because it really wasn't developed at all.
With poor characterization and shallow, blatant use of literary devices not to even mention the uneventful plot this novel is a joke in terms of Tragedy.
It is obvious, flat, and overrated, I originally started reading this novel mostly due to the fact that the author, Elizabeth LaBan, was coming to our school and I was going to get a chance to go to a workshop during class I did go, and it was really cool, for anyone who's wondering Elizabeth LaBan is like, super nice.
While I was reading it I heard mixed reviews from most of my friends, The overwhelming message I got from those reviews was that the book was okay not great, not horrible, but fine, There was a lot of talk about how the climax was kind of a letdown, And I was like, okay, let's see what I think,
So, here's what I think, It was pretty good! Not, you know, amazing but a nice read,
Quick recap before I really go into everything, though: Duncan goes to boarding school and has just gotten his room basically the worst possible one he can get.
It's tiny, cramped, and way in the corner of the hall, And the Irving School has a tradition of seniors leaving a gift in their room for the next person coming in.
Duncan gets a set of tapes from Tim Macbeth and I will say that I adore the Macbeth reference they throw in with the names, although it doesn't really apply to the story in the end, who he has a relation to that he tried to erase from his mind.
The story basically follows Duncan's life at school and Tim's as well, through the tapes,
One of the things this book does really, really, well is build up suspense, I spent much of the story really wanting to know what went down between Duncan and Tim, which I'm sure was the intention.
The book also did an excellent job of keeping me interested to see how Duncan and Tim knew each other,
I also really liked the premise of 'The Tragedy Paper', the final paper that all seniors have to write.
I thought the way it tied into the story was very clever and well thought out,
And while I know that some people didn't think the climax was executed well, I didn't think it was too bad.
It didn't make my jaw drop but I honestly thought it was fine, My only real problem with it was that it went by so fast, I felt like the whole book built up to this one moment and it was over in around three pages,
As for other problems, I do have a few, Daisy, for one thing she's a nice character, but completely underdeveloped, She came in out of the blue, with no explanation to her character or her past with Duncan, or honestly, anything.
It was like she was only a character there to fuel Duncan's angst and play the role of his girlfriend, rather than being a developed character with an actual role in the story.
And this is mostly just me, but I didn't find myself truly caring about many of the characters other than Duncan.
Tim was, honestly, kind of annoying to me, and I just didn't find myself caring too much about Vanessa, Daisy wasn't developed enough for me to really care about her, So that leaves Duncan, who I actually did really like and feel bad for,
The ending of the book with Duncan's kindof breakdown and his talk with his teacher was very well done.
I really got the sense of Duncan's guilt and his trying to overcome it basically, I did really like Duncan,
But honestly, I didn't really care for Vanessa's and Tim's romance, It felt kind of weird to me, and I just couldn't really bring myself to care, Even after everything I didn't even blink
an eye about the outcome.
Maybe that's just me, though,
Allinall, I thought the book was nice, Nothing that I'd scream praises about in the middle of the street, but it was wellwritten, the buildup is great, and the story is pretty well done.
Overall, it's a good read if you're looking for something a little bit sad, .
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