Paper Towns
From the #1 bestselling author of Turtles All the Way Down and The Fault in Our Stars
Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery
#1 New York Times Bestseller
USA Today Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Bestseller
Now a major motion picture
Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery
#1 New York Times Bestseller
USA Today Bestseller
Publishers Weekly Bestseller
Now a major motion picture
When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night--dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge--he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they're for Q. Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.
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Community Reviews
This is my favorite, so far. John Green has a wonderful blend in his books. Gorgeously written prose, tiny moments of hilarity, and good characters and selfish characters who are really just people. But where with The Fault in Our Stars I felt a little bit like I was being played and with Looking for Alaska the characters were too selfish for me, Paper Towns hit the perfect blend and struck a bit of truth along the way.
The story revolves around Quentin (what a classic name if ever I heard one), an ordinary boy in Central Florida who gets sucked into a grand night of revenge-taking by his mysterious and beautiful next-door neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman, who has one of those magical name trios that resonates with a power beyond its meaning. The day after their grand nighttime escapades, Margo Roth Spiegelman disappears. Quentin then can't let go of the idea of her, and he embarks on a journey of discovery, both of himself and those around him and, definitely, Margo Roth Spiegelman.
Yes, the plot is not astoundingly original. None of John Green's plots have proven to be so. However, I have realized that John Green is irrefutably good at putting into words those feelings I experience so deeply but can never express eloquently, about humanness and being and meaning and all those things that are the pieces of string on our insides and connect us to each other like those leaves of grass. And he does it so well I want to hate him and just can't. I also appreciate that he elevates teen fiction without being pretentious or snobby (or, if he is, he pokes fun at it). I've said it once or three times and I'll say it again: teenage boys should be eternally grateful to John Green because he has humanized the teenage boy in an incredibly accessible way.
God, I blasted through this book. I feel kind of empty now, which is my favorite post-book feeling, because it's a kind of grief. If it was a good book, I grieve for it, because it's over. Later, I'll smile because it happened, but right now I want to just stare off into space and think about where I was when I finished The Fault in Our Stars and how I felt then and how I feel now and how much I liked it and how I might not like it this much tomorrow when the incandescent glow of finishing a book starts to fade, but right now I am bathing in it and I want to express how that feels. Right now I am experiencing the grief as fully as I can. And tomorrow I'll pick up another book, because starting over again is the only thing that starts the healing process until a book breaks my heart afresh.
Read it.
Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged;
Missing me one place, search another;
I stop somewhere, waiting for you.
The story revolves around Quentin (what a classic name if ever I heard one), an ordinary boy in Central Florida who gets sucked into a grand night of revenge-taking by his mysterious and beautiful next-door neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman, who has one of those magical name trios that resonates with a power beyond its meaning. The day after their grand nighttime escapades, Margo Roth Spiegelman disappears. Quentin then can't let go of the idea of her, and he embarks on a journey of discovery, both of himself and those around him and, definitely, Margo Roth Spiegelman.
Yes, the plot is not astoundingly original. None of John Green's plots have proven to be so. However, I have realized that John Green is irrefutably good at putting into words those feelings I experience so deeply but can never express eloquently, about humanness and being and meaning and all those things that are the pieces of string on our insides and connect us to each other like those leaves of grass. And he does it so well I want to hate him and just can't. I also appreciate that he elevates teen fiction without being pretentious or snobby (or, if he is, he pokes fun at it). I've said it once or three times and I'll say it again: teenage boys should be eternally grateful to John Green because he has humanized the teenage boy in an incredibly accessible way.
God, I blasted through this book. I feel kind of empty now, which is my favorite post-book feeling, because it's a kind of grief. If it was a good book, I grieve for it, because it's over. Later, I'll smile because it happened, but right now I want to just stare off into space and think about where I was when I finished The Fault in Our Stars and how I felt then and how I feel now and how much I liked it and how I might not like it this much tomorrow when the incandescent glow of finishing a book starts to fade, but right now I am bathing in it and I want to express how that feels. Right now I am experiencing the grief as fully as I can. And tomorrow I'll pick up another book, because starting over again is the only thing that starts the healing process until a book breaks my heart afresh.
Read it.
Failing to fetch me at first, keep encouraged;
Missing me one place, search another;
I stop somewhere, waiting for you.
Another road trip adventure story! I love these.
I also love the mystery that seems to surrond Margo. But then, there is no mystery. It is all in what we perceive. It's all in our heads. We can believe whatever we want to believe, but were probably not right.
I'm glad that this story wasn't overly complicated in the teen love department. Not that I'm saying Green's books are. I'm just glad there are good stories out there that don't revolve around one character finally falling in love with another. It's a breath of fresh air.
Because of this book, I am also now the proud owner of my very own black Santa.
He makes me happy.
I also love the mystery that seems to surrond Margo. But then, there is no mystery. It is all in what we perceive. It's all in our heads. We can believe whatever we want to believe, but were probably not right.
I'm glad that this story wasn't overly complicated in the teen love department. Not that I'm saying Green's books are. I'm just glad there are good stories out there that don't revolve around one character finally falling in love with another. It's a breath of fresh air.
Because of this book, I am also now the proud owner of my very own black Santa.
He makes me happy.
There were highs, and plenty of lows. I'm just glad it's over. This book was just something to get through... like an unnecessary roadtrip.
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