The Young World

UPDATED REVIEW: Recently it was announced that Chris Weitz has signed on to write a stand alone Star Wars movie. With any luck, that announcement will bring a fresh round of curious readers to this book.The Golden Compass, an excellent 2007 adventure genre film adapted and directed by Weitz, though excised of its more controversial elements by the studio, had it's gross tarnished by an unfair pre-release dialogue. "Would Jesus see this film?" was a magazine headline. I think the new and current Pope would be fine with it, and honestly, I don't know if Jesus would have spent his time watching sci-fi adventure films ANYWAY, as cool as he was/is. But the damage was done. North America wasn't going to go see a film that was buzzed about as if it was a gateway to their children questioning Sunday services.What was lost in that dialogue about the movie was what an effective and fun movie Golden Compass was. I believe it's sort of a collective lost we didn't get to experience more of the films. The elements for a very satisfying trilogy were in place.Even all these years later Weitz released, via Twitter, his first written draft of The Golden Compass. Its a 180 page adaptation filled with reverence for the source material, and is also what he calls "unfilmable". It's also a testament to his skill as a writer, his thoughtful approach to a property, and it's release a little bit of residual artistic sadness that the film wasn't given the chance it may have deserved (nor the final cut he had intended).So what in the world does all this have to do with his book?Well, "world" is the operative word. This dude knows how to build a “world”; detailed, fast moving and a ton of fun thanks to some memorable characters insights on a post-apocalyptic predicament, and their break-neck journey to solve it.ORIGINAL REVIEW:Firstly, I haven't read a ton of Young Adult Fiction since the 80s , The Golden Compass and Potter being the sole exceptions. (I’m not even sure those qualify as YA.) I am however a fan of Chris Weitz, and was hoping to see his voice and influences loud and clear. I wasn't disappointed.Weitz has a proven track-record for writing and directing kids. This spirit is alive and well here . The burgeoning struggle with identity roles and pre-mature forced nostalgia, all facilitate the plot and inject tremendous humor and insight. These kids miss Facebooking as much living in the safety of a in the world that created social media. Yes, there are a ton of pop-culture references, but this abandoned generation is one where this is the culture that has shaped their lives. They mourn the Gods of Google and Facebook. Of SMS and IPhones. It's easier to mourn these losses then the overwhelming crush of the entirety of the adult world. Their self-consciousness in referencing a Gone World isn't lost on these kids, and provides much of the humor throughout. "What matters now?"If anyone is prepared to adapt and embrace wild hope, or even act out of "meh-whatever-might-as-well" indifference, it's teenagers. They do adapt, in both vicious and inspiring ways. And with a lot of welcome humor.There is nothing like the buzz of getting wrapped up in a good story that is well told.

I'll admit when first starting to consider this book to read I was a bit hesitant. I had read the reviews from others who read the book and some were as low as one star, others a five star. I, however, found the book to be better than I expected. To be honest it definitely wasn't a five star book. Not even close. It was enjoyable though. I found things I liked and things I didn't like. Overall it was a decent book good for passing time. Would I recommend it? Only if I knew the person liked post apocalyptic stories. Here are some things I liked and didn't like about this book. **spoilers**THE NARRATORS:I found Jeff to be a understanding character who seemed to have his head screwed on straight in the crazy world he lived in. Considering all the crap he has to go through from losing his brother to telling Donna he loves her (and her rather interesting reaction) he can be admired for the way he handles these situations and carries himself. Donna I have to admit was not my favorite character. She was ok as a narrator but she wasn't exactly a relatable realistic character. She definitely did NOT talk at all like a regular teenager would, saying "like" in practically every sentence. Yeah teenagers don't have the best grammar, but we, like, don't, like, use like in every,like, sentence. There are also times when she would have some random memory or flashback, and it would screw up the flow of the chapter, and they were a little unnecessary at times. Although the characters weren't picture perfect they did do a lot for the story with their individual personalities. No two characters were alike.STORY:The story itself was definitely a creative one. A world full of anarchy and teenagers, with a sickness that kills everyone but teenagers. There were some creative aspects to the plot. Things like the union square gang, the bazaar, and the long islanders. These were nicely executed. The ending however was what really screwed the story over in my humble opinion. It seemed rushed and unsatisfying, as if the author had not cared at all about the ending. I had to read it over once or twice before I understood what happened. Even though the ending was a complete blow off, the thick of the story had managed to save the book.WRITING:Well, well, well. The writing. I have to say I had been very confused for some of the story telling, finding that I had to go back and read portions all over again. This mainly happened when Donna narrated. Other than the fact I couldn't understand what the writer was saying sometimes, the writing was pretty good and well done. I especially liked it when Donna seemed to lecture about non racism and prejudice and old ways and what not, making it seem like there was a moral message in there somewhere.OVERALL:Overall the book was alright. No it wasn't my favorite book or even in the top few but it was enjoyable enough. If your looking for a "pass the time book" then this is probably a good choice, if your into the post apocalyptic thing. If your looking for the best book of all time I don't recommend this one. Again I enjoyed it, but that's basically it. So feel free to decide for yourself if you want the book or not, but my solid rating is 3.5.

My son loved this series

Weitz's vision of a post-plague New York City is much like the island of Manhattan: messy, huge, and overwhelming. Some of the characters were interesting, and his bouncing between two narrators was fine. However, this was overly dramatic, to the point where I got the sense he was thinking more about blocking it as a movie or TV series than about developing the characters in front of him.

Great novel for young adults and mature teenagers. Keep your 13 and younger teens away from it. Compelling story, great character development, but somewhat inappropriate.

Ich wurde das Buch aufmerksam, da es auf einer Internetseite als eine Mischung aus Maze Runner und Tribute von Panem vorgestellt wurde. Die Geschichte ist recht spannend, kommt allerdings nicht an Maze Runner oder Tribute von Panem ran. Es gibt viele Wendungen, die größtenteils vorhersehbar sind. Das Englisch ist gut verständlich.Ich kann das Buch nur weiterempfehlen.

My son really enjoyed this.