Review: "Paper Towns" by John Green

Author: John Green
Genre: Young Adult/Contemporary
Publication: Speak
Release Date: October 16, 2008
Pages: 305
Spoilers: I’ll try not to. And if there are spoilers, I will warn you!
Rating: (4.5 / 5)

Since today is the BIG day, aka premiere day of Paper Towns, I want to share my review of Paper Towns with all of you. I’ve read The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska too, both by John Green, and must admit I had very high expectations and I do believe this is, in my opinion, no his best book. I do believe it works really well on the big screen. So I have good hopes. Here we go.

“Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. 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 the girl he thought he knew…” [goodreads]

So first, I gotta say, I love Q. Nomatter how childish, or stupid, or stubborn or ignorant he can be, he’s also very loveable and smart. Q is in love with Margo. This is something we find out, as a reader, quite fast. John knows how to build plost: boy and girl fall in love, somebody dies. I’m not spoiling anything, but this book is a bit different.

So Margo is selfish, but also very very troubled and neglected by her parents, which we find out about pretty fast. Margo wants to run away from everything and everybody, not realizing that she’s actually hurting a lot of people by leaving without saying goodbye. Q is hurt, her parents are hurt and her best friend is hurt. Yet somehow people tend to believe it’s a game Margo is playing, Q stays  clear about wanting to find her and give her good help. Yes somehow this never ever works out in a John Green novel.

As the story onfolds, one finds itself wondering who the heck Margo Roth Spiegelman is, which is good, since that’s really the question of the book. But halfway through the book, I found myself wondering if a) anything is EVER going to happen and b) what’s up with this poem that Q keeps reading every single damn chapter. I think I can quote it in my sleep. I had some trouble reading during this part of the book, but I pulled myself through it. The last few chapters of the book are actually hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing and feeling sorry for them but I also wanted to go on a roadtrip myself.

In short: I think John Green wrote a pretty amazing  book, though sometimes is was a bit dull, althouhgt the writing was wonderful, but it’s by far not his best book. But I do believe this book is quite perfect to be a movie. And the movie I’ll be seeing tonight.

Sorry for the hasty review, but I’m so excited for the movie premiere tonight! 

What did you think of the book? And what do you except of the movie? Let us know in the comments down below!