1. Green, John. Paper Towns. New York: Dutton Books, 2008. Print.
2. Plot Summary –
One night, Quentin Jacobsen wakes to the sound of his neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman, at his bedroom window. She is dressed like a ninja and takes him along for an adventure to commit revenge to those who have wronged her. Quentin has never had an exhilarating night such as this and when Margo runs away from home, he worries and wonders where she is. With a slew of clues hidden throughout her former stomping grounds, Margo hints to Quentin where she might be. Although this is their senior year, Quentin stays diligent in his search for Margo and even convinces his group of childhood friends to tag along. Is Margo actually alive or will his discovery be much darker?
3. Critical Analysis –
Paper Towns is a young adult mystery book that has reached critical acclaim and has won the “School Library Journal Best Book of the Year Award. “ Besides its intense popularity, it has been nominated for the “Young Reader’s Choice Award,” Black-Eyed Susan Book Award,” and the “Volunteer State Book Award.” School Library Journal says, “[John Green] nails it – exactly how a thing feels, looks, affects – page after page.” When it comes to the Green’s writing, I would have to agree that he has an ability to create realistic characters. This is made apparent when Quentin is debating on whether to attend the prom or not, “Absolutely nothing about any of it appealed to me – not slow dancing, not fast dancing, not the dresses, and definitely not the rented tuxedo (Green 16).” I could see and feel Quentin’s emotions as he is struggling with the idea of prom and what that entails. Although being embarrassed about his dancing skills is important, renting a tuxedo takes precedence, which I found comical. He does validate his reason for his dislike of rented tuxedos in that, “renting a tuxedo seemed to me an excellent way to contract some hideous disease from its previous tenant, and I did not aspire to become the world’s only virgin with public lice (Green 16).” I would imagine many teenagers would chuckle at this thought and Green does a fantastic job of making his characters relatable by constructing thought processes that would make sense to a teenager. For example, from Goodreads, Nicole commented, “The characters were fantastic and believable. The dialog between the friends was great and funny as I have come to expect from John Green (2011).”
While Green does make
the characters believable, the character of Margo Roth Spiegelman moves from
reality to fantasy. Reality because she has been Quentin’s neighbor since
childhood and he feels that they are friends, and fantasy due to how the high
school students, friends, and even Quentin accept her embellished stories that
seem too farfetched to be true. Quentin becomes so enamored with Margo after
their frolic in town that he becomes consumed with the need to find her. I
found this a bit unrealistic because although they were neighbors for many
years, he quickly became obsessed to the point where he was willing to forfeit
the moments of high school to find her. Goodreads commenter, Nicole also agrees
that “it veers from an amusing and interesting start to the baffling obsession
of Quentin in his quest to find the will-not-be-named girl after they had one
night of vengeful fun (2011).” Being
that this is a mystery title, I should not have been surprised at Quentin’s
ability to disregard just about everything around him because as Literature for Today’s Young Adults
notes, "protagonists are likely to be bright and energetic young people,
not yet cynical about the world (Nilsen, Blasingame, Donelson, Nilsen 249)."
If Quentin were an adult, he may not have had these romantic views of finding
his maiden in distress and perhaps, Margo wouldn’t have left such bleak clues
around random areas.
Another weakness of
this book is that the first quarter of it was rapid, in my opinion. Quentin
went on his escapade of revenge with Margo and it seemed very high energy and
accelerated. Once the morning after set in, we are left with Margo missing from
home and attempting to go through day-to-day life without her. It becomes apparent
that Quentin is obsessed with her and the rest of the book is about him finding
clues that will help in his search for her. As stated in Literature for Today’s Young Adults, “the victim is often connected to the protagonist - a family
member, a friend, an admired adult, a boyfriend or girlfriend - and the protagonist
is virtually forced to enter the game and examine the puzzle (Nilsen,
Blasingame, Donelson, Nilsen 249)." The book became about Margo’s game
instead of the bond that develops and grows between Quentin’s high school
friends, which I found to be important as well. There are instances of alcohol
infused parties, sexual encounters, and social stratification that teenagers
can relate to, but essentially Margo’s disappearance sneaks back into play near
the end of the book. It would not be surprising if readers somehow forgot about
Margo’s disappearance because of all the events that happen in between the
beginning and the end of the book.
Overall, I enjoyed
the story. The first quarter’s pace was somewhat misleading, but I found that
Quentin’s social events were hilarious and could happen to teenagers today. I
thought the ending would be more climactic instead of Quentin and his friends
walking right into Margo with more anger than happiness and relief. Especially,
after a nineteen hour drive in a minivan that included a close-call with two
cows. In my opinion, the cross-country traveling seemed to have the same level
of excitement as Quentin’s night with Margo. Although there were parts of the
story that I thought were slow, I truly did enjoy this book and will be reading
John Green’s other works.
Works Cited
Green, John. Paper Towns. New York: Dutton Books, 2008. Print.
Nilsen, Alleen Pace, James Blasingame, Kenneth L. Donelson, and Don L.F. Nilsen. Literature
for Today's Young Adults. 9th ed. Boston:
Pearson, 2013. Print.
"Paper Towns." Amazon.com: Paper Towns. School Library Journal, n.d. Web. 14 July 2014.
<http://www.amazon.com/Paper-Towns-John-Green-ebook/dp/B001ANSS5K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405448611&sr=8-1&keywords=paper+towns>.
"Paper Towns." Goodreads, 20 Jan. 2011. Web. 14 July 2014. <https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6442769-paper-towns?from_search=true>.
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