Paper Towns

by John Green

From the bestselling author of The Fault in our Stars and Looking for Alaska, now a major TV series

Quentin Jacobsen has always loved Margo Roth Spiegelman, for Margo (and her adventures) are the stuff of legend at their high school. So when she one day climbs through his window and summons him on an all-night road trip of revenge he cannot help but follow.

But the next day Margo doesn’t come to school and a week later she is still missing. Q soon learns that there are clues in her disappearance . . . and they are for him. But as he gets deeper into the mystery – culminating in another awesome road trip across America – he becomes less sure of who and what he is looking for.

Masterfully written by John Green, this is a thoughtful, insightful and hilarious coming-of-age story.

• ISBN10: 140884818X
• ISBN13: 9781408848180
• Publish Date: 19 December 2013 (first published 1 October 2008)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Imprint: Bloomsbury YA
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[vagasker]

Reading this book I expected something magical to happen at any time. Maybe the fantasy genre screwed me or it's John Green's writing, I don't know. It's nice though, books are supposed to have a magical feeling to them.

Anyways, this is not my favourite John Green book by far. Both tfios and Looking for Alaska were better (in my opinion) but it was a good read. I'm not jumping back into the contemporary genre soon, but I'm glad I read this book though. I love John Green and one day I will have read anything he has ever written.

[boghunden]

With a different ending, it would have been four stars... What exactly was the purpose of this book? Maybe that was the point though, maybe it was supposed to resemble life?

So yeah.... The time has come that I read another book by John Green.
This one was good. I liked it. Much better than [b:Looking for Alaska|99561|Looking for Alaska|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394798630s/99561.jpg|919292].

The writing style was so John Green, and I highlighted a lot of sentences. I got rather philosophical at times! Haha. But no seriously, it really was wellwritten. The humor was so me, which only added to the experience.

As far as the storyline goes, I liked it a lot, but the ending kind of ruined it for me. I was hoping for something more. I don't know, it's John Green, I'm sure he could've come up with something. Well, clearly he couldn't. Or wouldn't. Well...

I liked Q and I liked Margo - until the end that is. Then they sort of lost it.... They became these "normal teenagers," which wasn't how I saw them throughout the first 80% of the book... That's a shame!
I really liked Q's friends as well, they were simply hilarious! And Ben, with his "stop the car, I need to take a piss" - that's so me lol!

[Sam@WLABB]

Another great John Green novel. There is a great deal of humor, but also, self-reflection and growth for many of the characters.

[Nessa Luna]

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

Quentin “Q” Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spielman are going on an all-night revenge road trip through the city of Orlando. After this trip, Q hopes things will be different, that Margo will finally hang out with him at school, but when he gets to school the next morning, Margo isn’t there. Nor the day after, or the day after that. In fact, Margo has disappeared off the face of the earth. Together with his friends Radar and Ben, Q tries to solve the mystery that is Margo Roth Spielman.

I wasn’t planning on buying this book when I was in Newcastle, but when I picked up Half Bad it had a ‘second half price’ sticker on it. Later, I saw Paper Towns with the same sticker, while none of the other books on my list had a sticker. So I decided to bring Paper Towns with me as well.

What I liked:

I really like John Green’s writing. I loved the Fault in Our Stars, I loved Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and I really want to read the other books he’s brought out. I really enjoyed reading about the revenge-plan Margo had thought of, and the things they did after that for their all-night road trip. I am a huge fan of road trip books, movies, tv shows, etc., and I really want to make an amazing road trip myself, so I loved reading about it in this book. My favourite part was definitely the last part, where Radar, Ben, Q and another person (not going to tell you who, because it’s kind of a spoiler) go on an unplanned road trip the day they were supposed to graduate.

The way the road trip (and especially the stops at gas stations) is described made me laugh, and the incident that happened (though it made me a tiny bit scared for a moment) was funny as well, especially the reactions of the people in the car afterwards. It was a bit of a shame though, that the road trip was so short and only at the last part of the book. I had kind of expected the whole book being about an epic road trip, but it took almost 250 pages to get to the actual road trip part.

I also loved the little clues that Margo left behind, the trips that Q made to find out more about these clues and all the research the friends did to find out where Margo has gone to. I couldn’t really relate with any of the characters, maybe with Margo a bit. I would love to leave the town I’ve lived in for nearly eighteen years, and just go anywhere I want.

What I didn’t like:

There wasn’t much I disliked about this book, other than the fact that Ben liked to call girls ‘honeybunny’s’. It might have been funny the first time, but after a while it just became really annoying, and I just started to dislike Ben as a person. Okay, he’s an awesome friend, but he needs to get rid of the whole honeybunny thing. Also, the whole thing with Radar’s parents collecting black Santa’s felt a bit weird and unnecessary to me, it kind of felt – to me – like it was added only to make us laugh.

In the end, I really enjoyed Paper Towns. I don’t think it was just as amazing/better than The Fault in Our Stars, but I enjoyed it!

[shannonmiz]

Full review HERE!

I have read that it is similar to some of Green's other books, especially Looking For Alaska, but I haven't read that yet, so who cares? (Kidding. I am sure this is pertinent information, I just don't happen to be able to provide you with it yet. Sorry.)

Anyway, I had bought this one on sale, figuring I'd give it a chance. I read it in between some dark and dismal dystopian books, and I know I read this at the right time- my mind was due for a contemporary, and due for some lighter moments.

Not to say the whole book is light, no, that isn't the case. But, it is set in this world, you know, the one with cars and electricity and food and shit. I like that world sometimes. And, if I am being honest (and totally showing my age) it reminded me of when I was in high school, and I loved remembering that time. No, I didn't run around looking for some strange girl, but I had some wonderfully eclectic friends, and that absolute belief that what was happening right then was the most important thing in my life. Because it kind of was.

The best part of this book is the characters. Sure, Q is great, but his friends, oh, his friends just make the book. I could read about them all day. Nay, I would read about them all day. John Green, get on that, please and thank you. You could just call it "Radar and the Black Santas" and I would be game. There, I've named your book. Go forth and write.

There were quite a few things that resonated with me throughout this book:
1. Q longed for something, and actually went after it (and you know, dragged his friends along). I have always wanted to be "that" person, and for Q to be was kind of awesome.
2. Margo should seek a large amount of mental health counseling before she enters the real world, because guys like Q aren't going to be chasing after her forever.
3. I LOVE Road Trips.
4. The ending worked for me. I don't usually love that type of ending (no, I am not telling you what happened!), but it just plain worked for me. I can't say much more, but it was fitting, appropriate, and contented me.

Bottom Line: Just read the book. And then do me a solid and read Looking For Alaska and let me know about that comparison thing. I jest, I will read it myself and let you know. Promise.

[nitzan_schwarz]

2013 cleaning my shelves challenge

I loved the first part for it's Margo-ness adventures.
I loved the second part for the undeniable deepness of it all, and for Q's mousing (and Ben and Lacey's relationship. Totally adore those two. And Radar, of course).
I loved the third part for the hilarious bits, and the conclusion of the story.

I adored the whole book as a whole mostly because every few pages I had to stop to think "How the hell does John Green comes up with this things?!
I adored this book as a whole for how different the different parts are, while still having a sameness about them.
I adored this book as a whole for making me think none-stop. My brain can always use the exercise.

So, I guess, at the end of the day, all I can say is; brilliant.

[Kelly]

http://divainpyjamas.blogspot.com.au/

This book started out really enjoyable, I found myself suppressing snorting laughter at the dialogue between Quinton and his friends, the second largest black Santa collection, one eyebrow bullies, miniscule penises, urinating in bottles and balls... Yes... Balls. It was immature but perfectly timed.

Half way through, what started as a light hearted comedy suddenly became very serious. Discussing mental health, self esteem issues and the pressure of being a teen on the cusp of adulthood. I was bitterly disappointed. I'm not shallow, but I was thoroughly enjoying Paper Towns up until that point and realised how similar it felt to one of his other works, Looking for Alaska.

With all three John Green novels I've finished, they all have the same sense if fun adventure, at least one eclectic character, an underlying social message and no ending. His novels are read to incite discussion, make us ponder life and those around us and leave you to draw your own conclusions on what happens after you read the final page.

It was witty, intelligent with brilliant banter and memorable characters, but for once I need John Green to give me a final, not up for interpretation, happy and satisfying ending, not the usual fence sitting.

[Chelsea]

Not one of my favourites but it was decent. I don't usually read these kinda of book so I was prepared to not like it a little. I'm used to action books and this book is more calm I guess you could say. I thought all the clues that the main character had to solve were really cool and the idea of the whole book wasn't bad but I hated Margo so much. He does all these things for her and she doesn't even care. She just seemed really stupid and immature to me. The book was ok and probably great if you like these kinda of book but this one really wasn't for me. I found it boring and flat. I didn't like the plot or the characters which made it hard to read. But the writing was really good so props for that.

[clementine]

The first time I read through all of John Green's books, Looking For Alaska was my favourite. I was going through my pretentious "Books are not deep unless they involve death" phase, I think. (I still seem to have an affinity for books that involve death, but I can enjoy those that don't.)

John Green wrote Paper Towns as a conscious response to LFA, and I think that shows. The characters are more complex and realistic, and the Manic Pixie Dream Girl aspect is really explored and subverted - and much more successfully so than in LFA.

Since we're talking about characters, can I just say that Lacey is amazing? She's a perfect example of what I'm talking about here: you think she's going to be one way, and then she kind of is, but she's also completely different. She's a real person, she's not some caricature of a popular, pretty high school girl. Margo, in fact, is the closest character to a caricature, and that's because she makes herself into one.

I think what's so magnificent about Paper Towns is that it is both achingly beautiful and emotional and nostalgic and all those sorts of things and then side-splittingly funny. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more hilarious and enjoyable road trip in all of film and literature. Not that I have read every book and seen every movie, but damn is that a good road trip.

I always think John Green does a fantastic job of weaving metaphor and literary references into his text. I loved the way he included Leaves of Grass, I loved the strings, I loved the mirror, and I absolutely adored the cracks and the light. (In fact, my grad quote was "It is saying these things that keeps us from falling apart. And maybe by imagining these futures we can make them real, and maybe not, but either way we must imagine them. The light rushes out and floods in." I just like that a lot.)

Whatever, whatever, you all know I love John Green and I think it's pretty difficult to find better YA. Paper Towns was definitely better the second time, with its highly enjoyable cast of characters, surprising details, and emotional depth.

[Jyc]

★★★★★ // Favorite John Green book. I didn't realize how much I loved this book until I re-read it a few years later. It was nostalgic. Just like Q, I didn't love high school as much as I've been letting on. But what sustains my fondness over it isn't the people and the big moments, but that temporal moment of my life when I was young and bitter and still utterly curious about the world. And this quest to find Margo had both been a not-so-subtle quest to find himself, and this romantic idea of wandering the earth to find his 'soul mate.' The Greek belief that soul mates are bound to find each other's half and reconnect is reminiscent of this journey, but I'd like to think that staying together forever is not necessarily the case. Sometimes meeting that one person who understands you is enough. More so, I loved this book's tackling of our projections—of how much we idealize a person up to such point that we forgot that we do not own their memories, and neither how they'll turn out to be. What a treacherous thing to believe—that a person is more than a person.