Paper Towns



Title:
Paper Towns

Author: John Green

Length: 305 pages


The story begins with little Quentin Jacobsen (Q) and Margo Roth Spiegelman who find a body in the park. Ever since that night the two hardly spoke. Until one night a few weeks before graduation she shows up outside Q's window and takes him on a night to “Right song wrongs and wrong some rights.” When Q arrives at school the next day he finds that she is a mystery. As he finds clues she left behind he realizes she left a trail for him to find her. His quest is hilarious with his friends Ben and Radar.


If you take a coming-of-age story, mix in mystery, memorable characters, add profound statements about life, and a few interesting facts you'll get a book similar to Paper Towns.


The transition from Margo and Q from their childhood to their senior year in high school creates a connection between these two that creates a direction for the book. As the book progresses Q finds out more about Margo than he ever had when she was there. The mystery of Margo continues as she continually amazes him in the things he learns about her after her disappearance. In my opinion, I don't find Margo as one of my favorite characters, and she is leaning more towards the least. On the other hand Q and his friends, Radar and Ben, are thoughtful and extremely goofy and give the book a comical twist. These two characters were what lightened the mood of the story and I expect that without them it would have been a pretty depressing book. Radar and Ben were a huge part of the story and my two favorite characters.

.. Ben shouted “Jacobsen! Was I dreaming or did you and I go on a wild adventure in French Polynesia last night, traveling in a sailboat made of bananas?”
“That was one delicious sailboat," I answered.


My favorite character in the book was Ben. You have to love the one in the trio that does some of the stupidest stuff that gives everyone a laugh. The drunken Ben who super glues a beer can sword to his hand and dubs Q his designated driver for the night , I thought, was the funniest part of the book.


I felt that this book had a plot very similar to As simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway, but I took a liking to Green's writing over Galloway's. I thought that John Green hit a target that Galloway didn't; Q in Paper Towns seems to have more personality and likability than the narrator of As Simple As Snow. I think the reason I particularly liked Paper Towns over As Simple As Snow is that Q actually found Margo, whereas the narrator had no explanation and moved away.



Overall I thought the book was great, and I will be exploring further into John Green's books. I would give this book an 8 out of 10, leaning toward 9 and recommend it to anyone who likes anything funny and mystery. If you have read other John Green books I highly recommend this book.


Other books you may like:

Looking for Alaska-John Green
Once Was Lost- Sara Zarr