The Tragedy Paper is a modern tragedy that is a required read for the Four County Junior English class. The story is set at the Irving boarding school and tells about Tim, a student with albinism who is a new arrival at the school. He begins a relationship of sorts with Vanessa, a girl he met at the airport on the way to the school. Tim deals with both Vanessa and her boyfriend Patrick and the pressure of writing The Tragedy Paper, a senior essay assigned by the English teacher Mr. Simon. Tim leaves his story for a member of next year’s senior class, Duncan who stays in the same room that Tim had previously lived in. There are however three reasons that the the book the book shouldn't be read. Firstly there are other tragedy stories that are better known. Second there are a lot of people who didn't seem…show more content… Stories like Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Hamlet have stood the test of time and would be a better example of tragedy.
The second reason is that a lot of people seemed to dislike reading the tragedy paper or seemed somewhat disappointed by it. While not a scathing review, Darienne Stewart, a reviewer on Common Sense Media, did say that “The Tragedy Paper is a decent debut novel, but author Elizabeth LaBan stirs up a lot of material that doesn't seem to go anywhere.” While it would be difficult to find a book that everyone would like to read the task is not impossible.
The book deals with things that are common in life. The characters deal with things like bullying and drinking. However these things are so commonplace that reading about them can be boring. The characters in classic tragedies however are faced with far greater tragedies like the death of family members. Facing obstacles like these are far more inspiring than just solving the problems of everyday
