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    The Patterns of Paper Monsters
    The Patterns of Paper Monsters
    The Patterns of Paper Monsters
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Patterns of Paper Monsters

    Written by Emma Rathbone

    Narrated by Steven Boyer

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Born in South Africa, Emma Rathbone was a Henry Hoyns Fellow at the University of Virginia, where she received her M.F.A. The Patterns of Paper Monsters is her debut novel. Convicted of armed robbery, 17-year-old Jacob is sentenced to a Virginia detention center. Bored, Jacob begins romancing an inmate he bumps into once in a while. But when Jacob is asked to help bring the center down, he must choose between his new relationship and the chance for escape.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 8, 2011
    ISBN9781449867522
    The Patterns of Paper Monsters

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    Reviews for The Patterns of Paper Monsters

    3.5/5

    16 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I loved this book!It is a story about Jacob Higgins, a 17 year old in a Juvenille Detention Center in Northern Virginia. Jacob is a typical, angst ridden teen -- awful home life, druggie, tough kid. But, Emma has his story (in a quasi-diary format) to be pitch perfect! She does not patronize him, she just lets him tell his story and view the world from inside his head -- which she does perfectly!!
    • 3/5
      "My name is Jacob Higgins. I'm seventeen years old. It was about three months ago that I woke up from a fibrousy Klonopin haze to find myself standing on the steps of this building, at the beginning of a punishment that, I'm sure you would agree, far outweighs the crime."The narrator of this story is serving a six month sentence in the Braddock Country Juvenile Detention Center - referred to as "the JDC" - for a botched 3 am convenience store robbery attempt. Jacob's life up to that point wasn't exactly a bowl of cherries. Coming from a broken family of low income with an indifferent mom and a series of abusive "step-dads", Jacob's comments and observations of his surroundings in the JDC - where everything is bathed in white light, honor pledges need to be signed before computer use in the Media Center is allowed and pens need to be signed out and accounted for at all times - are a delicious blend of anger, arrogance, sarcasm and the odd existential realism thrown in to keep the reader on their toes.Written in a quasi-journal format, I was impressed with how Rathbone was able get inside the male teenage mind and create a believable character in Jacob. With descriptions of the JDC, a walk through of a 'typical day', interactions with his fellow detainees, the center staff, 'mandatory' social night, cleaning chores and Family Day it was easy for me to connect with the story. Rathbone tackles some difficult topics, like domestic violence and inadequacies of the juvenile detention system, with a clarity and understanding that was not at odds with the character of this wayward teen.Overall, I enjoyed viewing the world through Jacob's eyes, with all of its emotional intensity. It wasn't page-turning riveting, and I felt the ending was missing something but I haven't been able to pin down what was missing. I am a little bugged by that. A good debut and I am curious to see what Rathbone will write next.
    • 5/5
      Seventeen-year-old Jacob Higgins is bored. He’s bored with good reason, of course. He’s been locked up in a Virginia juvenile detention center for the past three months. He was thrown in for, what should have been a simple armed robbery that went a little bit askew.Over 200 pages, Jake winds through the antiseptic, over lit hallways he shares with his fellow detainees (psychos, for the most part) and staff members (idiots, all of them). He mopes about, giving a sardonic, yet eloquent tour of the place, occasionally sidestepping to discuss his “home” (containing his constantly battered mother and his refrigerator of a stepfather, Steve).This is, far and away, one of my favorite books from this past year of reading. There isn’t one, specific thing I can point out, indicating why I loved it so much but I think, as a package, it works.Jake is lovable, even at his most cynical. There is also more emphasis on the clarity of inner monologue than creating some sense of teen angst, which could easily have been a down fall. There are hard parts, dealing with domestic violence, but Rathbone approaches them through Jake’s eyes in a refreshing, albeit, difficult way.I know that writers either have what it takes to make their stories work or they don’t. I know that no amount of time will improve something that simply isn’t there. Still, I just can’t believe that this is Rathbone’s first novel. It simply stellar. Period.Publisher’s Weekly compared the book to Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and that cinematic darling, Napoleon Dynamite but I have to differ. I think it stands alone. I highly recommend the story to almost anyone. Trust me; it’s just that good.