Paper Towns by John Green

“The thing about Margo Roth Spiegelman is that really all I could ever do was let her talk, and then when she stopped talking encourage her to go on, due to the facts that 1. I was incontestably in love with her, and 2. she was absolutely unprecedented in every way and 3. she never really asked me any questions…”

Quentin Jacobson has always loved Margo from afar. So when she climbs through his window to summon him on an all-night road trip of revenge he cannot help but follow. But the next morning, Q turns up at school and Margo doesn’t. She’s left clues to her disappearance, like a trail of breadcrumbs for Q to follow.

And everything leads to one unavoidable question:

Who is the real Margo?

First published: 2008

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As you all might know, I am quite the fan (admirer?) of John Green. I’ve been watching the videos he makes together with his brother Hank (they’re the Vlogbrothers) for a long time now, and I was doing that before I even knew he was a writer. I still haven’t read all of his books (taking it slow, so I have more time to enjoy them), but a few weeks ago I decided I needed a John Green Novel Fix. So I read Paper Towns!

I was expecting to race through it and really love it, and well, that’s kind of what happened. Although the racing through part only really started in the second half of the story. John just has this amazing writing style that keeps you turning the pages.

Although, I have to be honest and say that I was less amazed by Paper Towns than I was by The Fault in Our Stars and Looking For Alaska. This novel felt kind of similar to Looking For Alaska, what with the weird relationship between Q and Margo being similar to the one between Pudge and Alaska. This didn’t really take any of the fun away from reading the novel, though. And, of course, there were some very thought-provoking quotes again, as is always the case with Mr Green.

And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future–you go to high school so you can go to college so you can get a good job so you can get a nice house so you can afford to send your kids to college so they can get a good job so they can get a nice house so they can afford to send their kids to college.

Or the one liner:

The town was paper, but the memories were not.

There is just so much truth in many of the statements these characters make. I think that is what I (and so many other people) love about John’s books. There is so much to recognise and so much to think and wonder about.

As I’m typing this I’m kind of exhausted, and I feel if I go on typing I’ll end up being completely incoherent, so I’ll leave it at this. If you haven’t read any of John Green’s novels yet: go do so! Well, I can’t tell you what to do of course, but I’d highly recommend it!