Review: Paper Towns

Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
ISBN/Publisher: 978-0-14-241493-4/Speak (part of Penguin)
Age Group/Genre: Young Adult
Awards/Honors: Winner of the Edgar Award for best Young Adult

Quintin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman have been neighbors since childhood. Now, they are about to graduate high school. The thing is Quentin has been in love with his neighbor since they were little, but they went there separate ways after discovering a dead body when they were kids. Margo became one of the cool kids and friends with the people that bully Quintin's group (the band kids).

One night Margo shows up at Quentin's window asking for him to join in on an adventure of revenge against her cheating boyfriend and others that knew about the cheating. Q eventually succumbs to Margo's request as long as there is no breaking and entering. And the two of them go around the "paper town" of Orlando.

After their adventure, Margo disappears leaving mysterious clues for Q. Quintin, with the help of his buddies try to figure out the mysterious Margo, but will they find her in time to graduate high school?

When I first picked up the book, I really wanted to know why it was titled Paper Towns. Although there are a couple of definitions, I really enjoyed Margo's thoughts on "Paper Towns." She describes Orlando as one, "It's a paper town . . . look at all those cul-de-sacs, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were meant to fall apart." In other words, its a fake. And it is something that the characters in this book struggle with as well as real life people. We all struggle with finding what is real and what is fake or seems fake.

Again, Green does an amazing job with the writing...it is witty with wonderful dialogue. I absolutely love the dialouge between Quintin and his buddies...they are a crack up : ) I kind of got bored after a few failed attempts at finding Margo, but in the end, the story brought me back to loving it.

If you enjoyed Green's other books, I definitely recommend this one : )

A few favorite parts...

"It's Mission Impossible shit now. Used to be I could just sneak out like a regular goddamned American---just climb out the window and jump off the roof. But God, these days, it's like living in a fascist dictatorship." -Margo, page 29

"I shaved this morning for precisely that reason. I was like, 'Well, you never know when someone is going to clamp down on your calf and try to suck out the snake poison.'" Margo, page 75

RHAPAW ran not on gasoline, but on the inexhaustible fuel of human hope. Q describing his friend's Buick called RHAPAW (Rode Hard And Put Away Wet), page 90

And I really liked the scenes when Q's parents gave him presents...you'll have to read to find out what they were and why I thought they were funny...even my mom cracked up at these parts.

My Rating:

(I bought this from a store called FullyBooked)

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