Paper Towns: John Green | Review | FTM

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 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 the girl he thought he knew...

- Goodreads Synopsis

This Review Will Be SPOILER-FREE

I have only read two other books by John Green, those books being The Fault in Our Stars and Looking For Alaska. (You can read my review HERE) My thoughts on those books weren't horrible, but the expectations I had towards those books weren't met. I had, had Paper Towns sitting on my shelf for many months, and the only reason why I read the book was so I could see the film coming out in July. I find that John Green's story lines to be very generic, especially in Looking For Alaska. The main problems I had with the books I had read before were the characters and the story, John Green is an excellent writer but his story lines and characters never interested me, until now.

Going into this book, I went with a complete open mind. The voice of Quentin wasn't any different from John's previous characters, it still had the sarcastic and witty kind of feel to it. Not to my surprise, this book was partially a love story, but the love story element did not distract from the more interesting parts of the story. This book as a whole was a lot of fun, and I can see how it could translate well onto the screen. The relationship between Margo and Quentin was really enjoyable for me, but with the movie coming out, I couldn't help but picture the movie actors which wasn't really a bad thing.

As I've said before, I had found John's story lines to be generic however the storyline of this book really caught my eye. The plot of this book really made me smile, I feel like the reason why is that it's main point of focus isn't on the love story aspect but the adventure and mystery.

I feel that John Green really captured the dialogue and thoughts of a teenager a lot better then let's say Looking For Alaska. Everything in this book was a lot more realistic and believable. Out of all the books I have read by John Green, Paper Towns would probably take first place.

While reading this book, I noticed how happy I was in the beginning and all of the sudden when Margo disappears, the whole tone of the story is down. To me that was a good thing just because Quentin was very saddened by her disappearance, but in between the lines you could see that light that Quentin had every time he found a clue, and when he could solve one.

One of my favourite elements was how this was a coming of age story, Quentin not only found himself in this book, but he also found Margo. In the beginning of this book, Quentin was a completely different person and by the end of it, he is someone who is free.

"Margo was not a miracle. She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was just a girl."

Just like Margo's clues, there are bread crumbs hidden in the pages of this book that are sending you a message, that you must understand in order to really love this story.

Overall I would say, that this book has a very light tone to it, it's a book that can really lift your spirits! It has a sense of adventure, and there is almost a playful and childish element to it. Paper Towns takes you on a lighthearted journey. No matter how generic I find these characters, you can't help but love them because they have something that sets a spark. When you reach the end of this book, you'll be left satisfied but there will something missing from you, and that will be the future stories of Margo Roth Spigelman and Quentin Jacobsen. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars!

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