BOOK REVIEW | PAPER TOWNS BY JOHN GREEN

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Pages: 305
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

ISBN: 9780142414934
Publisher:  Speak (The Penguin Group)
Published:  September 22nd 2009 (first published October 1st 2008)
Rating: ★★★★☆

Synopsis

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew... 

My Review

I think it is very important to say that if you are planning on reading this book don’t focus on the ending… enjoy the adventure.

In this story we meet just a few characters. Quentin, Margo… their parents, and friends Radar, Ben and Lacey. There are a few other characters that play significant roles in the story and why it goes where it goes, but the focus is really on Margo and Quentin. They spend this one amazing night together and then the next day she’s gone. Normally shy and timid Q steps out of his comfort zone because he is determined to find Margo, he enlists his best friends and they start their rescue mission of finding Margo through various clues she left behind.

When you’re a senior in high school, you have a huge unforeseen future ahead of you. It’s time to make life changing decisions: college, career, even the relationships in your life. It’s not so clean-cut and simple anymore. You are finally becoming who you are. Who is that exactly? Do you know yourself? How well do you know those around you? Quentin really finds himself in this journey to find Margo. She’s such a smart cookie. She really knows herself, sure of herself and it’s so great to see how it all plays out.

This story is a journey. Take it for what it is. If you’re going to read this wanting a fairytale ending, then don’t read it. It’s really about discovery and realizations you can only have on a road trip with those you’re closest with. The bond these kids create is life changing and beautiful.

We tend to create bubbles around ourselves. Even now as an adult I have this “idea” of who people really are, even my closest friends and people are constantly surprising me… in good ways and also in bad ways. The thing is, do we really know people? I mean can we really know someone a whole someone? It’s a great question and it really makes you appreciate individuals for who they are.

Paper Towns surprised me. It was not the light fluffy book I expected and it didn’t end the way I expected either and it wasn’t until I finished the book that I realized it was never about the ending, it was everything along the way. It is such a great story.