by Deborah
Posted on January 13, 2009 at 10:20 pm

At first I was getting the manic pixie dream girl vibe from Margo, and thinking to myself, “oh John Green, can’t you write a realistic female character?” But then I thought of all the manic pixie dream GUYS that I read about and love (ahem, all of Sarah Dessen’s male characters), and realized there’s plenty of manic pixie to go around in the YA world. I did like Margo a lot in spite of the pixie vibe, and I agree with you that the conclusion saved the day.

by Amy
Posted on January 14, 2009 at 10:14 am

Hey, Deborah! Thanks for writing. You know, I never thought about the existence of the manic pixie dream GUY before. Interesting switcheroo!

by Deborah
Posted on January 15, 2009 at 5:25 pm

Hi Amy!
I sort of hadn’t thought of the MPDGuy either until I read this book. I would get annoyed at Margo’s seeming perfection and grumble about what a high standard for women that the author must have, but I was enjoying the book so much otherwise. I thought of books I loved like The Truth about Forever or The Year my Sister Got Lucky (I read that one after reading your review and loved it). I loved the guys in those novels, but they and guys in similar novels, are dreamy artists/musicians/ or just all around understanding and sensitive guys that seem to exist only to dry the tears or conquer the fears or do something else worthy for the female heroin, and I thought, “maybe John Green isn’t the only one with high gender standards.” A MPDGuy seems fairly common to me in YA books, but still very rare to see in TV or movies, where it is very common to see the usual Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
(BTW — this is not meant to be a jab at Sarah Dessen, who I love!).