Dear Mr. Franco,Let me make it clear that I think you have talent. ACTING talent. You are an intelligent man and your films prove this. Which is why I fear you may be laughing at us, Mr. Franco. I fear that every time anyone writes a positive review of your book, you’re thinking “Ha, what a sucker!” Because I cannot believe that anyone with half a brain who studied English like you did, would write these stories in the way that you have, (let alone deem them worthy of publication) if it wasn’t some kind of joke.Let me first address your writing. I say writing and not ‘writing style’, because you have no style, Mr. Franco. And anyone who thinks you do is mistaking bad (very bad, laugh-out-loud bad!) writing for something edgy and provocative. I get it. You’re writing about teenagers and their soulless, empty existences, and you want to reflect this in the writing by writing in first person like a teenager. But here’s the thing: your multiple speakers all write in the EXACT SAME WAY. So how does that reflect any kind of authentic voice? I can say with hand on heart that your writing is the worst I have ever read of the published kind. You make Dan Brown look like Dickens. Your pages read like lists. And your story-closing sentences are truly terrible. I think the worst was “When we got older, I did things in my life and she did things in her life.” Would you not agree? Now, to the content. I know you are trying to shock us here. You want to open our eyes to just how awful teenagers can be. But I just don’t believe you, Mr. Franco. I know the things that happen in your stories happen in real life, I do. But I also believe that people are unique, and that if you take a group of teenagers loosely interlinked by school and neighborhood, that they are not ALL going to be racist, homophobic, misogynists, of the type that you attempt to portray in all their hideousness. Where’s the variety? Can’t some characters do things other than drive around, get wasted at parties, and participate in gang rape? Okay, I admit there are a couple of glimmers of humanity amid your character wasteland, but they are forgettable because your speakers are forgettable. The only ones I can distinguish in my mind from the others are the girls, just because they were so few and far between. It’s not that you don’t scratch the surface of your characters, it’s that there is nothing under the surfaces to make them worth scratching in the first place. I see that you have written a novel, Mr. Franco. I’m afraid I won’t be buying it. I don’t really feel like being a sucker. Yours sincerely,Clara Palo Alto by James Franco very well could be considered the bible of the modern day teenager. It touches on some very real, very important aspects of youth. I had a feeling that James Franco was going to be a good writer, but I was more than impressed by his wording and simply his compassion and understanding of the adolescent mind, male and female. This collection of short stories will have you enveloped in it's own little world, Palo Alto, California, the way it was when James was growing up. Parts of the book will leave you in tears, but even those parts along with the rest of the book will pull on your heart strings immensely. I don't just recommend this book, I prescribe it.
What do You think about Palo Alto (2009)?
It appeared dull and nonsensical. But after all it was human experiences and I kept asking myself; "Have I experienced these feelings?", and when I realized I had I felt empty and sad because those moments are the things that change you and make you either a good or bad person. I wasn't ready for that realization. Some of the stories were hard to absorb, and overall swallowing everything made me think. It felt right.
—mich
Okay,so i watched the movie then i read the book and that made me imagine characters in a certain way.Tbh every book that has been written since the catcher in the rye carries a bit of salinger vibe.My favorite story was Yosemite but i cant call this book a page turner and even though it has realistic portrayals the characters are a bit too on the edge i would of preferred more ordinary characters.
—rondem1018
Basically: "I don't know what I expected." - Michael Bluth
—carol
