Paper Towns by John Green, 305 pagesQ is a nerdy guy, friends with two other nerdy guys, and all of them are just weeks away from their high school graduation. Q is also in love with his next door neighbor, the beautiful and popular Margo Roth Spiegelman (yes, you should use all three names when referring to her), though he never talks to her. It seems like that's the way Q will end his high school career until one night when Margo knocks on his window and takes him on a whirlwind tour of Orlando, meting out revenge on those who have wronged her. Will things change for them at school? Will Q actually get to talk to Margo in public now? Who knows, because by the time Q gets to school, Margo has disappeared, running away from home for another adventure.
This could be a generic boy-with-a-crush-on-a-hot-girl story, but John Green in his complete awesomeness (more on that in a bit) makes it a much deeper story, delving into the nature of identity, the connections between people, and whether or not you can ever really know someone. It's not always believable, but that doesn't make the characters and their emotions any less relatable. Also, because of this book, I'm now obsessed with the very real notion of paper towns, which I will not describe here as I don't want to spoil this book for anyone.
So back to John Green and his awesomeness. This is not his best book (I'd give that crown to An Abundance of Katherines, or if you catch me on a weepier day, The Fault in Our Stars), but he's an incredible writer, so you should read this anyway. And heck, since he's such an awesome person, go check out anything he's ever done, including his rapid-fire videos for Mental Floss and his back-and-forth vlog conversations with his brother Hank (who's also pretty cool).
I'd agree that this probably isn't his best, but it certainly deserves more credit than it gets. Seems most people drool over "Alaska" and "TFiOS" and forget that the others exist.
ReplyDeleteKara, we are John Green opposites. Paper Towns is my favorite and An Abundance of Katherines my least favorite.
ReplyDeleteSteve, you're totally right. And I should have said that while this isn't his best, it's still better than most books out there. He just sets a very high bar for himself. (Also, I still need to read "Looking for Alaska." It's sitting on my shelf at home though, so I can't imagine it will be too long before I get to it.)
ReplyDeleteAnd Karen, that's funny. I think what I liked about An Abundance of Katherines is the pure absurdity of trying to mathematically predict love. I can see why someone would want to, especially if someone lives and breathes math, but yeah... absurd. I can see why someone wouldn't be as charmed by that as I am though. :)