Paper Towns
By John Green
Publication Date: October 6, 2008
ISBN: 9780525478188
Ever since he was a child, Q was enamored with Margo Roth Spiegelman. She wasn't just a person, she was a presence, someone who warranted being known by their full name. Now, on the cusp of graduating high school and fully aware he'll never be more than a neighbor to her, he's ready to move on and go to college. That is, until she shows up at his window one night dressed as a ninja, and climbs back into his life. After a night of adventure, whereupon she inflicts an incredibly amount of revenge on some fellow classmates, he's sure that the remaining days in school will be perfect. But when Q arrives to school the next day, Margo isn't there. Nor the day after. Although she's always been an enigma, one prone to disappearing randomly only to encounter an incredibly adventure, he's unsure this time. Soon, Q sees clues left for him by her, clues that lead him on his own adventure and towards a mystery he'd never expected. Yet, as he gets closer to her, he starts to see less of the girl he thought he knew.
John Green is a power house in YA literature, so I was immediately tempted to pick up one of his novels. This one, which, like his previous two, has received many accolades, is set in Orlando, so clearly I was drawn to it. There was something incredibly neat about seeing streets I drive down every day immortalized in print. That said, the book was fantastic.
Part mystery, part coming-of-age tale, Paper Towns takes the reader throughout the streets of Central Florida and beyond on one big adventure leading to an overwhelmingly honest metaphor. It's about what we imagine others to be, and what happens when we find out who they really are. It's about love and loss - but, really, it's about realizations.
Q (Quentin) is an excellent protagonist, written terrifically honest. Single minded, as many teenagers are, he sets on this quest to find Margo with his two best friends Ben and Radar along for the ride. Each character is wonderfully portrayed and their ongoing antics are perfect and often hilarious. They act and sounds like teenagers - Ben with his ongoing quest to get a prom date and Radar with his love of the Omnictionary (a Wikipedia-like site). And Margo is a mystery, an alluring one, and it's obvious why Q wants to find her.
The book pieces together every part of high school you remember (life-changing road trips), and every part of high school you'd like to forget (embarrassing nicknames). And it's all neatly wrapped around one elegant Walt Whitman poem. Every time I wanted more, more was given. Green's writing has small tidbits and off-side mentions that add another layer to the writing. An absolute excellent read that wasn't just deep, but also fun.
Sound interesting? Fun? It truly is.
John Green's site
See Green talk about the book on Penguin's site
John Green's ning site
A John Green fan driving around Orlando for those who want to visualize where the book takes place. (I kind of want to do this now for one of the other chapters.)
2 comments:
I'd read reviews of this book before, but I didn't know it was set in Orlando! Very cool. It always means more when you know exactly where they are talking about!
This looks fantastic!
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