Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green was interesting to say the least. I enjoyed the original format of the story, the witty characters, and the humor that was laced throughout the framework of the book. The main premise of this book is that in one way or another, the entire story revolves around the character Margo Roth Spiegelman. So to get things started, the story is told from the point of view of Quentin Jacobsen, a senior in high school who has been in love with Margo since they were kids, who just so happens to live next door to him. After recounting stories of how odd Margo is, she shows up in the middle of the night outside Quentin's window asking him to join her in a night of revenge filled escapades. What follows is an interesting evening where we get another perspective of Margo that even Quentin didn't know existed.

Once Quentin and Margo both go home after their joyous evening of fun, Quentin can't help but think if Margo will talk to him at school tomorrow, share their inside secrets, or even acknowledge his presence (she is a popular girl after all). Once Quentin gets to school he realizes that Margo isn't there- no biggie, he'll just wait to talk to her later at home. Hopefully she has another night of madness planned. However, four days pass and no one has seen any signs of Margo. The cops are called but her parents aren't worried seeing as this is her 6th or so attempt to run away. They think she'll come home when she wants to, but Quentin isn't so sure- especially when he finds a clue that references the night that they both spent together, which seems to be left specifically for him. What follows next is Quentin's attempt to find Margo, along with his best friends, through the chain of clues that she's left him, hoping that he can bring her back to him when she's seemed to fall off the face of the earth.

I really enjoyed reading the first half of this book, and parts of the second half as well. There were a lot of hilarious parts where I found I had to reign back my laughter because my roommate was asleep in the next bed. The middle of the story, the part where Quentin is trying to connect the clues and find Margo was a little slow, and parts of the story where he's looking for a specific clue could have been edited- it took too long to find Margo through her clues. I know the story is supposed to be somewhat realistic, but Quentin is seriously obsessed with finding her- it would have been nice if Green would have sped up the process to either make it seem like Quentin isn't obsessing over Margo, who seems really odd and wacky, or have him give up at some point.

The ending was not what I expected at all, and looking back, wished that Green could have come up with another ending. Once you find out what happens, it's kind of a letdown. Other than that, the story is enjoyable, and worth reading.