Paper Towns Book Review- Jenn Martin

Jennifer Martin

English Period 2

11/15/13

Paper Towns

John Green's heartwarming, and witty best-selling novel Paper Towns, is yet another one of his engulfing reads that keeps readers on the edge of their seat throughout the entire story. Set in Orlando, Florida, the author describes the life of high schooler Quentin Jacobsen, mainly known as "Q", who has spent his lifetime obsessing over Margo Roth Spiegelman, the girl next door. On the outside she appears to have it all from being the most popular girl in school, to her looks and her personality. However, his whole vision of her changes when one night she arrives at his window and sneaks him out of the house so that she can have him drive her around for a night of adventures and revenge toward her ex-boyfriend and now ex-best friend. Their night consists of pranking, spray-painting, and "breaking and entering". Quentin’s view of Margo changes from the most perfect girl in school to a mysterious, unruly teen with evil intentions that are directed toward specific people. She is certainly not the person who he perceived her to be. Also, she brought out a rebellious, outgoing side of Quentin that he never knew he existed. After that night he truly believed that everything, including his social status, would be different the next day in school. However this was only an idea of his imagination because he soon finds out the next morning that Margo is not present in school and learns three days later that she had run away, leaving him with clues to her location. With the help of his friends and the clues she left him, Q attempts to find Margo and must face many obstacles along the way.  This intriguing mystery and realistic fiction novel explores the notion that "you can never truly know a person until you get to know them". As Margo describes, people are not made of paper or two dimensional, we have dimensions. This means that there is more to a person than what appears on the outside and people are not always what they seem. Margo expresses how, "That always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people wanted to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste" (37). She shows Quentin her true personality and teaches him this important life lesson.  Overall, although the middle of the novel becomes slow as when Quentin cannot overcome the obstacles that will help guide him to Margo's location, the plot is still extremely suspenseful and grabs the reader’s attention. The characters are extremely relatable and well developed. They deal with real life situations that teenagers in high school can relate to. It was also a really enjoyable story because you could get a feel for the character's emotions and thoughts. This book is for anyone who is looking for a quick and easy read because it is suspenseful, captivating, and a great work of writing.