Paper Towns

Title: Paper Towns

Author: John Green

Publisher: Speak

Publication Date: September 22, 2009

Genre: romance, YA, adventure.

Length: 305 pages

Where I bought mine: Book depository

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 igneous 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 became 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… 

One of the reasons, why I think teens and adults alike like reading this book, is due to the characters. Sure, there are many books with special characters, but this was different. The characters in Paper Towns pulled you into the story so fast, that halfway through I thought that Margo Roth Spiegelman was indeed a real alive person living in my neighbourhood. Margo is a very strong and memorable heroine, and it is very hard not to quote her all the time. What I however, did not like was that after reading through about half-way, nothing seemed to be happening for a few chapters. This really annoyed me, since the mystery and plot was great and I really wanted to know what would happen next ASAP. After those slow-moving chapters I stopped reading the book for a day or two but had to know what it would end like, so I picked it up again and finished in about a day. The plot finally sped up and the end was very unexpected, but honest and memorable like the characters.

Another thing I liked, was that the book was divided into three parts, each explaining a certain philosophy which was a very important to the characters in the book. To be honest, everyone kept talking about how great John Green’s writing was, but I never really thought I would like it. It might have been because it just seemed like some pointless book… until I read the first chapter.

After finishing Paper Towns, I decided to buy all the John Green books I could find in nearby bookstores.The story is about Quentin, who loves the very adventurous and popular Margo Roth Spiegelman. They used to be childhood friends, while now they don't even talk to each other, since they (after years and years) grow apart. The story also shows that there is a very thin line, between bravery and stupidity and it is not meant to be crossed (like it was often by Margo). Margo seems like a very decent heroine, and I wasn't disappointed with her at the start of the book at all. (SPOILER! I hate her at the end of the book of reasons obvious to anyone who read Paper Towns…) Another problem, was that Margo was supposed to dramatically change throughout the book, after Q finds clues about what she really is like. The problem was, (maybe it is just me) she did not change at all. From the start of the book we know she is quirky, and adventurous, sometimes doing regretful things. To me it seems like, the author is basically highlighting something already obvious in big bold letters. It was however gripping, and I didn’t get tired of the plot at all.