about Paper Towns and John Green

WARNING! May contain spoilers!

Last night, I stayed up reading until 5am, as you do, and I finished the book Paper Towns by John Green. Now in my spare time, I enjoy fangirling over shows, books, movies, people, and various other things. One of these things is John Green. 

Paper Towns took me about 2 weeks from start to finish, which is pretty average for me. I didn't zoom through it, but it was one of those books that really makes you think (which is most of John Green's books). The main character of this book is named Quentin, who is a senior in high school. He has lived next to a girl named Margo Roth Speigelman ever since they were both 2 years old. The book is based in Florida in a perfect little subdivision where nothing ever goes wrong. The story begins with Quentin and Margo as kids; they were riding their bikes in a park when they find the very dead and decaying body of a man slumped against a tree. They find out that this man committed suicide and the metaphor of strings is introduced. Little Margo comes to the conclusion that "all the strings inside him broke." 

Since then, Margo and Quentin drift apart and stop being friends. That brings us to the present day of the novel when they are seniors in high school. Margo is center of the universe to everyone in the school. Although, she isn't your typical popular high school girl. She is known for playing pranks, telling people the honest truth, and running away from home. Quentin keeps to himself and has a few friends that he keeps close. The main story of the novel starts when Margo shows up at Quentin's window one night and takes him on the most grand adventure he's ever experienced. After causing all kinds of debauchery involving some of their classmates, Margo tells Quentin that she will miss hanging out with him. The next day, Margo is gone. Margo has disappeared several times before, but this time seemed a bit different to Quentin, like it was more final and real. Since she is 18, the cops cannot do anything since she had left willingly, and her parents get fed up with her shenanigans and change the locks.

The remainder of the novel is Quentin playing detective, finding clues that she has left him, and tracking down Margo Roth Speigelman. 

Throughout the search, Quentin realizes how different Margo is to every person who knows her. He thinks that he is in love with her, but he is only in love with the Margo he knows. How does he know that this is the real Margo? She displays herself differently to her family, friends, and to Quentin. Everyone who is searching for Margo comes to realize that none of them know who she really is. The only way that Quentin can find her is to find out where the real Margo Roth Speigelman would go. 

While reading this book, the things that made me think weren't so noticeable until I put the book down. The important things are subtle. There are no huge epiphanies thrown in your face or anything, but reading Quentin's thoughts almost makes it feel like you know what his dilemma is without him saying it. Most of John Green's novels have an important underlying message. The thing that I took away from this novel is that it made me so aware of how I am perceived by others. How do I present myself and is it a good representation of the real me? Am I different around different groups of people? Do I give off a good image of who I am on the inside? I think that I hide a lot of things from people, but that's because sometimes, I don't want people to see what's on the inside because it scares me. It takes a lot for me to trust someone enough to let them see the real me. I think I was able to relate to Margo a lot in that she has walls that are hard to break down. She comes off to everyone as a very strong willed person, but on the inside, she is confused and lonely and lost. And because she changed herself so much in order to hide the real Margo, even she forgot who the real Margo was. Her strings were breaking one by one. 

I really enjoyed this book. It may not have been full of heart-wrenching moments and it didn't make me cry for a week, but I thought it was a good mix of mystery and self awareness and love and just trying to figure out who people are, including ourselves. John Green always succeeds to make me think about the important things in life. 

Overall, I'd give this book an 8.5 out of 10. Cheers, John Green! Keep doing what you're doing.

If you want to check out an excerpt from the book, John Green himself will read it to you over on the vlogbrothers channel! I think it's such a beautiful thing to hear an author read their own book because you know that's exactly how it's supposed to sound.

x Christa