Postby Eskarina » Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:48 pm
I'm trying to figure out how to answer this question in a good way, without giving to much of the plot away. Part of this will inevitably go in spoiler tags though. I hate to give people content warnings with no context, because sometimes this content is neccesary in books.
Ok, so Pudge goes to this boarding school and meets a group of friends but there's something looming on the horizon. We know this, because the books tells us how many days are left until something happens before each section. At the beginning we are one hundred and thirty six days before. At school, pudge is quickly absorbed into a group of high achieving, very intelligent kids. I want to stress that because while, yes, they do smoke and drink and pull pranks, they also are straight a kids. It's not like they are drop outs. The days left at the beginning of the sections heightens the awareness that something is about to happen; this can't last forever as it is. What we don't know is what will change, if it will be for better or worse, or how it will change the characters.
Finally...
In the end the book doesn't promote irresponsible behavior, it uses it to drive across a point and show characterization.
You might, in the end, find you disagree with Green's conclusions (you probably will. He's not a christian), but not reading a book because you might disagree with it is silly. You only fully understand your own point of view when you understand why people disagree with it.
So much universe, so little time...