Review : Paper Towns by John Green
Paper Towns by John Green
Pages : 305
Genre : YA, Contemporary fiction
Stand alone
My Rating : 4/5
About the Book :
After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues — and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.
My Thoughts :
I had been putting off reading Paper Towns for months and years because I knew once I read it, there would be no more John Green left for me to read (until Mr. Green puts out a new book, of course!) But every reader’s patience has its limits, and I had finally reached mine last week when I promptly devoured Paper Towns.
I can now say that, for me, there are two types of John Green novels. The first one is more dramatic : it pulls your heartstrings and offers something moving and memorable (see The Fault in Our Stars or Looking for Alaska). The second one is more on the romcom side : it has more of a youthful, fun, and entertaining tone. An Abundance of Katherines was like that, and so is Paper Towns.
The book has many parts and I have to say that, for me, the book only got really interesting once Margo disappeared. And even after that, for a while, I had a hard time with Q’s obsession for her. She was too mysterious and perfect, the eluding beauty he had always longed for. I was worried we were heading for a perfect happy ending; I am glad to report that, happy or not (I don’t want to spoil anyone here!), the ending did address this issue of how Q perceived Margo. This confrontation of expectation versus reality, and of accepting people for who they are rather than who we want them to be was, for me, the strongest points of the novel.
This being said I also enjoyed Q’s quest for Margo and the road trip with his friends. As always with John Green, the writing is clever and humorous, with a lot of introspective moments and realistic teenage concerns. While some of Q’s friends annoyed me at times (for me there always seems to be one annoying sidekick in Green’s novels, the exception being TFiOS), I had fun with them and I appreciated their dynamics.
Overall, Paper Towns was a really entertaining novel. It certainly has the potential for a good movie, and even though it wasn’t my favorite John Green novel, it is still a book I would happily recommend. Perfect to put you in the mood for summer and relive the end-of-high-school nostalgia!
I’ve only read The Fault in Our Stars but I loved it so I’m anxious to read more of Green’s work.
TFiOS is definitely one of his best. If you liked it you might enjoy Looking for Alaska, too! It’s my favorite of his.
I’ve read Looking for Alaska and really enjoyed it. This sounds like a good summer read.
Looking for Alaska is my favorite of his! But yes, Paper Town has more of a summer read vibe going on, even though it has its own complexity 🙂
I have this book (and audiobook) but still haven’t read it! You’re inspiring me to check it out. Hope the movie will be a good one (and TFIOS too of course!)