Palo Alto

By Arrianna Mohler

4/18/17

Writer James Franco always has different ideas that no one would ever imagine. In his movies and in his books he writes as well as his acting career. Palo Alto was written because it relates to his home life when he lived in Palo Alto, California. Many different events go on, many illegal events.

Palo Alto is written by James Franco, he has also written many other books quite similar to this one. Such as A California Childhood and Hollywood Dreaming: Stories, Pictures, and Poems. All James Franco's books are very intimate and powerful. Palo Alto is a short story based on James' life as a teenager growing up in Palo Alto, California. This book really reflects on the deep feelings and thoughts of a teenager growing up in the spotlight as well as getting into trouble sometimes. The story mainly talks about stuff that James has gone through and what he's seen and heard about. Many illegal acts take place as well, like teenagers drinking and smoking weed on the daily, sex with a minor, someone driving down the highway the opposite way for the thrill of it and much more. The story has many stories within itself. There are many characters that have trouble within their own life and even some that have trouble telling a certain someone how they feel. April the main character, is stuck on love. She's confused of whether she should continue seeing her soccer coach or go for the one who's truly in love with her and her age, Teddy.

Overall, I really enjoyed Palo Alto. I thought it was a great storyline and had some things people could relate to in today's world. I liked how there were many different characters and how they all had their own personal stories and issues. Eventually you figure out all the characters stories are sort of alike. Considering they are all teenagers and think their worlds are coming down on them when really it's just a little bump in the road they can easy get over. All of the characters seemed real because they had real world problems and secrets. Many teenagers today are very secretive in their lives, because if their parents knew what they were doing they'd be in hot water. This book really reflects kind of on the opposite, sometimes a lot of the characters parents are barely around and I feel that is a big problem with today's world. Lack of supervision can cause wandering minds that get into trouble.

I've always adore James Franco's work, between his films and books they are very intriguing. James has many books similar to this one based on his California childhood as well as some other books. This was definitely a good read for me, it was very realistic. I highly recommend.