Book Review! - Paper Towns ✭✭✭☆☆

     I spent my night on Tuesday reading. I haven't read like I read on Tuesday in a very long time, and it felt wonderful!

     I decided to read Paper Towns by John Green because the movie adaptation is coming out, and I wanted to make sure I read the book before I saw the movie. It's almost a requirement for myself. Anyway, I picked the book up off of the pile of books that I've collected in my room (They've been separated from the 100 or so books on the bookshelf in the living room.) around 7 pm. I read the final page at just before midnight. Like I said, I haven't read like that in a long time because school has been in the way, and there's enough to read for that.

     Now, I want to start off by saying that I think this book deserves more from me, and I think that I owe it to the story to read it more deeply than I did this first time around. Because I love literature, I understand that the superficial read that I gave this book does not do this book justice. As I was reading, I noticed that there was so much going on beneath the surface of the story of this boy that was obsessed with the girl that lived next door. But because I had the thirst for superficial consumption, I did not take my time to piece together the story beneath the story. And I want to acknowledge that that will affect my review of the book. However, that does not mean that, if and when I reread this book with the time it deserves, I will necessarily change my review. Hopefully, the summary doesn't contain too much spoilerage...


     Paper Towns is a book about a boy named Quentin and his infatuation with his next door neighbor, Margo. Quentin and Margo live in Orlando in a subdivision called Jefferson Park, in which all the streets are named Jefferson-something. When Quentin and Margo were young, around 10 I believe, they were quite close. They would ride bikes and play at the park together. One day, they go to the park and there was a dead body slumped against a tree. Quentin and Margo leave the park to go home and tell someone about the body. Quentin is kind of scared and creeped out, while Margo's curiosity is piqued. Margo decides to investigate and manages to get into the apartment building where the dead guy lived. She finds out that the guy killed himself. Margo visits Quentin later that night by appearing at his window. She tells him everything she found out about the dead guy. They have a little chat, and Margo leaves. That is the last time that Margo and Quentin hang out.
      Fast forward to high school, specifically senior year. Margo is pretty popular. Quentin is not and is single. Quentin has two good friends named Ben and Radar. Ben and Radar are very aware of the torch that Quentin is still holding for Margo even though the two of them have not been close for a long time.  One night, a month or so before graduation, Margo appears at Quentin's window. She invites him on an adventure. Now, I'm not going to spell out the details of the night for those that want to read the book, but according to Margo, the night involves no felonies. Maybe some breaking, and maybe some entering, but never breaking AND entering. And also some fish.
     Quentin expects to see Margo in school that day, and he hopes that the night before will cause Margo to treat him differently at school. Margo never shows up. Quentin quickly chalks it up to not getting enough sleep. But when Quentin gets home, there is a detective in his house. Margo has disappeared. This is not the first time that Margo has disappeared. She's taken trips without telling anyone before. But usually she leaves clues as to where she went and how long she'll be gone. According to her parents, there were no clues this time.
     Quentin finds a clue. He decides that Margo left the clues for him to find her after their adventure. With the help of Ben, Radar, and Margo's friend Lacey, Quentin finds a hiding spot of Margo's in an abandoned mini mall. Once the hiding place is found, Quentin believes he's hit a dead end. Ben and Radar decide that the dead end is a sign, and they want to focus on the end of the year activities--I mean, they are graduating high school, after all. Ben and Radar manage to convince Quentin to partake in some end of the year festivities instead of obsessing over Margo. But wouldn't you know that, literally, right before they are supposed to walk across the stage for graduation, Quentin figures out where Margo disappeared to! Ben, Radar, and Lacey all pile in Quentin's van, a graduation present from his parents, and set off to New York...from Orlando. Oh, and did I mention that they have to get there in right about 24 hours...and it's a 21+ hour drive? (Wow, this summary has gotten quite snarky...I apologize.)
     Quentin and gang make it to New York, and things occur, kind of predictable things. I do not wish to spoil the ending too much. But things happen, and yeah...

On to the actual review...and I cannot promise that there aren't spoilers...there are...I'm sorry.

     Overall, I feel like I wanted something more out of the book. I wanted there to be more of a point to Margo. I feel like if the book is going to revolve around a character, then give the character more of a point than to be the object that causes another character to grow. I understand that Margo and her disappearance and her leaving clues for Quentin forced Quentin to learn things about himself. I understand that he also learned that he didn't really know Margo like he thought he did, so his infatuation with her was based on something she wasn't. But the ending to their story just didn't cut it for me. Quentin drags his friends, and one of Margo's, on this scavenger hunt type thing based on clues that he doesn't really even know if he's interpreted correctly! He manages to get lucky at the last moment and takes off to go find her, with the gang in tow (though they did volunteer to go...).
     The end was anti-climactic. She has uncontrollable wanderlust and had to get out of Orlando. That's it. She didn't like her home life, and she didn't know how to say goodbye. She didn't really even intend for Quentin to find her!
     Quentin did learn that he has freaking amazing friends for putting up with is crap and joining him on the 21+ hour drive to find a girl that did not intend for him to find her. Quentin did learn that he was infatuated with an idealized version of Margo that didn't really exist. And Quentin did realize that Margo's and his paths were meant to go in different directions.
     I think that the magical element of Quentin figuring our where Margo was at the last minute combined with the realness of the situation that Quentin find Margo in didn't really mesh for me. If we are going to have the unrealistic turn of him figuring it all out, then end the book a little more fantastical. If we are going to have Margo trying to start from nothing outside of Orlando, then maybe Quentin shouldn't have figured it out last minute and she should have just contacted Quentin near the end of the summer saying she was alive and filled him in on her adventure.
     Either way, I still feel like there could have been more. I wanted Margo to have more than an abandoned barn in the middle of nowhere New York. And I wanted more for Quentin than a 21+ hour drive that ends with a parting of ways.

Well, I think that just about does it. Sorry that it's so long. Sometimes I don't know when to stop adding detail. Oops.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Until next time!

<3 Amber Marie