Quentin Jacobsen has always adored the outgoing, adventurous and unpredictable Margo Roth Spiegelman from the outskirts, until one midnight adventure to get revenge on Margo's old friends. Quentin finally thinks things have changed between the two, but the next day Margo is nowhere to be found. "Paper Towns" by John Green tells the story of two teenagers living in Miami. First, there is Quentin Jacobsen. He is a quiet boy who is afraid of living on the edge. The easily manipulated teen is drawn to another character, Margo Roth Spiegelman. Margo is daring and always looking for attention. She has many solo adventures which include running off to different states, leaving only clues certain people would understand. As seniors in high school, Margo wants to pull the prank of her life, but needs Quentin to help her with half of it. Leaving Miami, know one seems to care that Margo has run off, acting like it is casual, only because it is. Quentin sets off to determine the real Margo Roth Spiegelman.
Criticism
The part I didn't like about this book was the ending. It wasn't that it was a bad ending, it just cut off really quickly. It didn't flow into an ending like I would have liked, it just ended with a sentence that sounded like it should have been in the middle of a paragraph. The last sentence (which doesn't give away anything I promise) is "Yes, I can see her almost perfectly in this cracked darkness" (Green 305). I guess I didn't like the ending because maybe I didn't really stop and think and process what it meant. I'm still not sure what it means, but I do think it tied the book together in such a way where I can't help but think about it.
Author's Writing Style
John Green is one of my favorite authors for his story plots, but also for his writing style. He uses such amazing detail and such different ways of telling the story that I really enjoyed. He doesn't use the classic names and plot while writing a story, he uses names and plot lines I never could have thought of and no other authors whose books I've read have thought up with either. Some examples of names I liked were Margo and Quentin. I think they are so different and help the book come together. The plot itself is so interesting to read about because of how he writes. In the book, Margo is writing a story, and John Green wrote her story with such amazing details which can be seen in this paragraph from Margo's story " It turns out that the crime was committed by Robert Joyner's alcoholic ex-wife's sister's brother, who was insane because possessed by the spirit of an evil Egyptian house-cat. But in the story, you and me and Myrna Mountweazel go and battle the killer who tries to shoot me, but you jump in front of the bullet and die heroically in my arms"' (Green 290). This was one of my favorite passages of the book because I love how it is written.
All in all, "Paper Towns" was truly amazing. I love John Green's other books as well. This wasn't like "The Fault in Our Stars", which was sad. This one was more of an uplifting story about a boy who wanted to find the real girl beneath one who he never knew.
