Again this is a review of the book, I have yet to see the "Paper Towns" movie.
Since I'm not a teen girl I had no idea who John Green was until "The Fault In Our Stars" exploded at the bookstore and then at the movie theater. I only went to see it because I took my daughter and her friend to it. It was actually decent and I was mildly surprised. But I thought that would be the last of my exposure to John Green.
Then I heard about "Paper Towns" and I thought that sounded like an intriguing idea. I finished reading this book Saturday early morning. I'm listening to the soundtrack as I'm writing this blog. It's a pretty solid soundtrack, I'll be writing a songs on themusicaddict's radar blog soon and I'll feature some of my favorite songs from that soundtrack. It's not as good as the "Pretty In Pink" soundtrack, but it's very close.
A brief introduction to the characters:
First up the miracle girl (see trailer) Margo Roth Speligman. It's her adventure and free spirit that drives the book. After an epic night of adventures with Quentin, Margo disappears the next day. Margo and Quentin completed 11 different activities on that night. See near the bottom of this entry for those 11 things. Quentin starts to learn who she really is, ironically, after she disappears. She left clues behind after her disappearance. Those include Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", travel guides and many other things. Margo's bedroom was full of vinyl records that no one knew about. The public and private Margo are very different than each other, even more so than for most people. The consensus of the characters in this book is that her parents were terrible people.
Quentin Jacobsen, Q, is the person that wants to solve the mystery of Margo and her disappearance most. Quentin is the narrator of this book. He went to prom with Margo, sort of. You're just going to have to read to find out. It became Q's obsession to find Margo, but did she really want to be found? He's known Margo since she moved in next door when he was 2.
Ben, Benners or Bloody Ben, Quentin's best friend most of the time. They've been best friends since 5th grade, he went to prom with Lacie. He was one of the four people who tracked down Margo and later became Lacie's boyfriend. A couple of years previously he had been hospitalized for a kidney infection, but Becca spread the rumor the blood in his urine was due to chronic masturbation.
Radar (real name: Marcus), he's called Radar because he looks like the bespectacled character from "M.A.S.H.", other than he's black and had a growth spurt. He was one of the four people who tracked down Margo. His parents have the world's largest collection of black Santas, over 1,200 in various sizes and shapes.
Becca Arrington, Margo's alleged best friend, until she had sex with Margo's boyfriend, Jase. Victim of evil deed numbers 2 and 5, Margo left a catfish for her. According to the narrator she's hot, but "1) "aggressively vapid", 2) "an absolute, unadulterated beast".
Karin, the person who told Margo about Jase cheating on her. At first Margo thought she was just trying to create drama. She was #6 on Margo's list, flowers and an apology note for letting Margo knowing about Jase.
Lacie, a not very good friend to Margo, she knew about Jase's cheating but didn't tell her about it. She was #8 on Margo's list, she also received a fish. She put the fish in her car, smashed down on the fish, letting fish guts go everywhere and then that smell soak in her SUV in the hot Orlando sun. She was one of the four people who tracked down Margo and later became Ben's girlfriend. Lacie ended up being a lot better friend than Margo thought she was
The city of Orlando is a character- it's one of Margo's despised paper towns.
Jason Worthington, Jase, victim of Margo's list, numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 7. Margo's ex-boyfriend, until Margo found out he was cheating on her.
Chuck Parsons, sometimes bully of Quentin, and victim of of Margo's evil deed list, number 10. They took off one of his eyelids and vaselined the doors in his house. He wasn't as tough as he thought and Margo kept him under control from bullying Quentin.
Angela, Radar's "I guess" girlfriend.
Cassie Hiney, the attractive girl with the unfortunate last name.
Suzie Chang, Quentin's former girlfriend. She went to prom with baseball player Taddy Mac.
On the historic night, the 11 tasks Margo and Quentin completed:
1) Put the Club- from infomercials- on Jason's steering wheel. Jason was at Becca's house when Margo and Quentin made their visit. Jason and Benna were having sex at the same time, which lead to a compromising picture of Jason.
2) Quentin called Mr. Arrington and let him know what was going on in his own house. Mr. Arrington investigated which caused Jason to leave their house promptly. He was nearly naked and was exposed to the world in all the ways you don't want to be exposed to the world.
3) Quentin took a picture of Jason as he was escaping the Arrington house.
4) They got his clothes from the Arrington house in case he tried to go back and get them.
5) They left a fish for Becca.
6) They leave flowers on Karin's porch with apologetic note. Karin was the one that told Margo about Jason cheating on her. Margo verbally lashed out at her thinking that Karin was just trying to create drama. But then she realized Karin was being nice to her. They left flowers and an apology note for Karin at her house.
7) They left a fish for Jason.
8) Lacie, was a bad friend to Margo. Or was she? She didn't tell Margo about Jason's cheating, they also left a fish for her. They put a M on her SUV. They put the fish in her SUV and then they slammed down on the fish, exploding fish guts all over her car.
9) They went to the Sun Trust building where they could see the effect of their handiwork. Margo knew the security guard, who they had a history with.
10) Margo let Quentin pick a revenge, he shaved off one of Chuck Parson's eyebrow.
11) They broke into Sea World.
The most amazing book in the world can be ruined by a bad ending. This is a pretty solid book and almost the perfect end. It feels true in every way. I so expected Margo and Quentin, but the truthful seeming ending was nearly perfect.
I give this book two thumbs up and urge everyone to read it, no matter your age. I don't know what it is but there's just something so magical about the teenage years. Green is able to capture that time of life and the elements that can make those few years so magical. When I was a teenager, the older person who understood us best was John Hughes. Now John Green is that person for the current age of teenagers.
themusicaddict
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