Book Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Date Started: August 16th 2013
Date Completed: August 20th 2013
Genres: Romance, Adventure, Mystery
Rating: Four stars
Review:
It's always difficult to write a review of any John Green book, and the popularity around them makes it even harder to make a fair conclusion, but this is what I thought. It seems that most people tend to like Paper Towns less than the rest of Green's novels. I've only read three (The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns) but I liked this book a lot more than one of his other novels.
Quentin grew up next door to Margo Roth Speigelman, and he's been fascinated by her just as much as she was in the idea of escaping their 'paper town' of Orlando. But a wild midnight ride taken with her to wreck havoc on her past enemies leaves Q with the idea that maybe his curiosity in her hasn't been completely useless all these years. And then Margo disappears, and Q calls upon the help of his best friends to follow her confusing treasure map of clues. But when leads falter at dead ends Q starts to lose hope that they'll ever find her.
I don't really know how to describe John Green's writing. You can't really understand it until you've experienced it: not only is it written with a narrative that makes the reader connect with the character straight away; with description and metaphors (don't get me started on those) that bring everything to life around them; with emotions and actions so vivid and lifelike that you can actually experience them yourself, but with such a huge range of wonderful, true and useful phrases that fit to the story, and everyday life perfectly.
Green is a wonderful storyteller, but he knows how to help and talk to people at the same time. Which eventually results in a book that talks to the reader, rather than just telling them the story of a couple of teenagers.
The story is actually quite similar to Looking for Alaska in many ways - but I enjoyed Paper Towns a lot more. Although not a lot happens in either book, what did actually occur in Paper Towns interested me and caught my attention. I was also more connected to the characters, so I cared more about them when certain things happened to them.
I don't generally get on very well with 'high school' style stories. I still don't really know why, but the cliques and tensions don't interest me. So, for the first part of this book, I wasn't completely enthralled. It was fine to read, and I wasn't too put off by the setting and complementary stereotypes, but I wasn't enticed.
What I really loved was the mystery side of things (and the countless meaningful quotes, but that's the same with any and every John Green novel). The mystery element actually made sense and was believable and exciting (all things I was worried about after Looking for Alaska).
And then the end couldn't have been more perfect. You can always count on Green to write a realistic ending. (well, you can always count on his to write realistically. Period.)
John Green likes creating very unique characters that are already alive when you start reading, and so easy to relate to. And he still manages to make us draw away from them and their actions at certain times. Really, he needs to write a book on human nature and philosophy, because if he doesn't understand it, no one does.
Quentin was a great protagonist. I really liked him, even from the start. He changed a lot during the book, and not necessarily for the better. But it worked perfectly with the story, and was clearly planned, and very subtly carried out. He's a clever guy and, surprisingly, his obsession with Margo didn't bother me too much.
Margo was perfect. I've never read a character who stars in a story so little, and ends up becoming the most real character in the whole thing (I'm not saying that the other characters weren't realistic, it's just Margo was on another level). She's selfish, bratty, a troublemaker and arrogant - and she's definitely not portrayed to be a 'good' person. But we actually question what is a 'good' person by the end, because we know stereotypically Margo isn't one. But we feel like she should be, or should at least be considered.
Radar was cool. I have to admit, both of Q's friends didn't stand out that much to me, but I always loved reading their dialogue especially. They're really funny, but I would sometimes have trouble not getting mixed-up between them. But Radar was definitely the geeky one.
Ben was the more macho one, but he wasn't really anywhere near that. I really liked them both but, like I said, I have trouble picking out individual qualities from them. But they both performed their purposes well.
I actually really liked Lacey. The great thing about her is, we're told a lot of information about her in a negative way from someone else's perspective. But then when we actually meet her, we can see and possibly agree with those statements, but there are also other things that were overlooked, that actually makes Lacey a reasonably attractive character. (Again, John Green questioning everything.)
The pace was slow, let's be honest. But it's not supposed to be fast. I always struggle with the laid-back speed of John Green novels, because it's so different from what I usually read. But it is worth it in the end, and I do deliberately keep going with them, because I know it does pay off.
I have to say though, there is a lot more action and fast-paced events in this book than the other John Green books I've read, so that stuck out for me. But for this type of book, the pace isn't so important since the reader is constantly thinking and processing everything that's happening and everything said anyway.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes thoughtful stories, and who is already a fan of John Green. Most people tend not to like it as much, but I personally like it more. It is leaning slightly more towards a thriller than his other works, which might have something to do with it, but it's still very subdued and meaningful. There's also an adventure flare, along with some good mystery, and an interesting romance.
Image Source: http://johngreenbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/
2010/06/PaperTowns2009_6A.jpg
It's always difficult to write a review of any John Green book, and the popularity around them makes it even harder to make a fair conclusion, but this is what I thought. It seems that most people tend to like Paper Towns less than the rest of Green's novels. I've only read three (The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns) but I liked this book a lot more than one of his other novels.
Quentin grew up next door to Margo Roth Speigelman, and he's been fascinated by her just as much as she was in the idea of escaping their 'paper town' of Orlando. But a wild midnight ride taken with her to wreck havoc on her past enemies leaves Q with the idea that maybe his curiosity in her hasn't been completely useless all these years. And then Margo disappears, and Q calls upon the help of his best friends to follow her confusing treasure map of clues. But when leads falter at dead ends Q starts to lose hope that they'll ever find her.
I don't really know how to describe John Green's writing. You can't really understand it until you've experienced it: not only is it written with a narrative that makes the reader connect with the character straight away; with description and metaphors (don't get me started on those) that bring everything to life around them; with emotions and actions so vivid and lifelike that you can actually experience them yourself, but with such a huge range of wonderful, true and useful phrases that fit to the story, and everyday life perfectly.
Green is a wonderful storyteller, but he knows how to help and talk to people at the same time. Which eventually results in a book that talks to the reader, rather than just telling them the story of a couple of teenagers.
The story is actually quite similar to Looking for Alaska in many ways - but I enjoyed Paper Towns a lot more. Although not a lot happens in either book, what did actually occur in Paper Towns interested me and caught my attention. I was also more connected to the characters, so I cared more about them when certain things happened to them.
I don't generally get on very well with 'high school' style stories. I still don't really know why, but the cliques and tensions don't interest me. So, for the first part of this book, I wasn't completely enthralled. It was fine to read, and I wasn't too put off by the setting and complementary stereotypes, but I wasn't enticed.
What I really loved was the mystery side of things (and the countless meaningful quotes, but that's the same with any and every John Green novel). The mystery element actually made sense and was believable and exciting (all things I was worried about after Looking for Alaska).
And then the end couldn't have been more perfect. You can always count on Green to write a realistic ending. (well, you can always count on his to write realistically. Period.)
John Green likes creating very unique characters that are already alive when you start reading, and so easy to relate to. And he still manages to make us draw away from them and their actions at certain times. Really, he needs to write a book on human nature and philosophy, because if he doesn't understand it, no one does.
Quentin was a great protagonist. I really liked him, even from the start. He changed a lot during the book, and not necessarily for the better. But it worked perfectly with the story, and was clearly planned, and very subtly carried out. He's a clever guy and, surprisingly, his obsession with Margo didn't bother me too much.
Margo was perfect. I've never read a character who stars in a story so little, and ends up becoming the most real character in the whole thing (I'm not saying that the other characters weren't realistic, it's just Margo was on another level). She's selfish, bratty, a troublemaker and arrogant - and she's definitely not portrayed to be a 'good' person. But we actually question what is a 'good' person by the end, because we know stereotypically Margo isn't one. But we feel like she should be, or should at least be considered.
Radar was cool. I have to admit, both of Q's friends didn't stand out that much to me, but I always loved reading their dialogue especially. They're really funny, but I would sometimes have trouble not getting mixed-up between them. But Radar was definitely the geeky one.
Ben was the more macho one, but he wasn't really anywhere near that. I really liked them both but, like I said, I have trouble picking out individual qualities from them. But they both performed their purposes well.
I actually really liked Lacey. The great thing about her is, we're told a lot of information about her in a negative way from someone else's perspective. But then when we actually meet her, we can see and possibly agree with those statements, but there are also other things that were overlooked, that actually makes Lacey a reasonably attractive character. (Again, John Green questioning everything.)
The pace was slow, let's be honest. But it's not supposed to be fast. I always struggle with the laid-back speed of John Green novels, because it's so different from what I usually read. But it is worth it in the end, and I do deliberately keep going with them, because I know it does pay off.
I have to say though, there is a lot more action and fast-paced events in this book than the other John Green books I've read, so that stuck out for me. But for this type of book, the pace isn't so important since the reader is constantly thinking and processing everything that's happening and everything said anyway.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes thoughtful stories, and who is already a fan of John Green. Most people tend not to like it as much, but I personally like it more. It is leaning slightly more towards a thriller than his other works, which might have something to do with it, but it's still very subdued and meaningful. There's also an adventure flare, along with some good mystery, and an interesting romance.
Image Source: http://johngreenbooks.com/wp-content/uploads/
2010/06/PaperTowns2009_6A.jpg
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