Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Quentin Jacobson, or Q to his friends, is about to graduate from high school. The path of his life looks pretty set--he'll go to college--but his life derails slightly when Margo Roth Spiegelman the cute and charismatic girl from next door breaks into his bedroom window and takes him on an adventure that is fun and unpredictable. And then Margo disappears.

Over the next few weeks, Q, with the help of his friends, begins to put together the clues as to what may have happened to Margo. And there are certainly plenty of them. (This isn't the first time that Margo has disappeared, nor is it the first time that she has left clues behind.) Along the way, Q makes some important discoveries and soon begins to ask the question--how well can you really know another person, and what does your perception of them say about you?

This one starts out fun, gets a little slow in the middle and then moves toward an unconventional but ultimately satisfying ending. (I didn't find the skipping graduation part particularly fair, or believable, but hey it's a book and it made for some highly entertaining moments as Q and his friends travel toward New York.) Prior to reading this book, I'd never heard of the concept of paper towns, though I found them quite amusing and fitting with the theme of the novel. Like all of John Green's work, there is a good balance between quirkiness and some more darker and realistic themes.

Recommended. 

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