Paper Towns

John Green

Published 2008

305 Pages

Rating: B-

Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back 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 of the girl he thought he knew…

(from back of book)

There were parts of this book that I absolutely loved, but there were also parts of the book were I wish John Green either didn’t put in or wrote differently. Paper Towns is funny, compelling, thought provoking, and adventurous.

Paper Towns is divided into three parts: The Strings, The Grass, and The Vessel. Each section has its own quirkiness and excitement that keeps you on the edge of your seat. In the first section, the Strings, you meet Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman. They are both in high school but aren’t necessarily friends with one another. They have been neighbors since they were young and Quentin (Q) has had a crush on Margo ever since he could remember. But one night, Margo surprises Q at his bedroom window and takes him on an adventure/revenge trip of a lifetime. He believes this is a starting point for their friendship to blossom but the next day at school makes him rethink that thought.

The second section, The Grass, is kind of the mystery part of the book. Q and his friends plus a few of Margo’s friends try to uncover the secrets of Margo and what made her do what she did. This is the part of the book that is extremely thought provoking, as you read you try and figure out the clues along with Q and the gang. I was determined to uncover Margo’s secrets before Q, but that didn’t work out so well. Q definitely has a knack for discovering things that other people cannot.

The third section, The Vessel, is probably the funniest part of the book. Q and the gang are on a mission to get to Margo before she does anything she might later regret. This part of the book is divided up by hours and it describes the roadtrip to Margo. There are definitely some hilarious parts in this section, but also in the sections before.

The really big problem I have with this book is the ending. It was a decent ending, but I guess I expected something a lot more intense. But this ending is good with the fact that the reader can kind of guess what happens with Q and Margo.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. It had many great qualities and John Green wrote another winner. I believe most young adults would enjoy this book, especially if they are looking for something just a little bit different than what they are used to reading.

-Arielle