Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Paper Towns by John Green



Quentin Jacobsen has loved Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar for most of his life. She is a mixture of mystery and adventure and her own quirky personality.. With end of high school mere weeks away, Q accepts Margo’s quirkiness that is closer to fantasy than reality.
This acceptance changes when Margo, dressed like a ninja, opens Q's window and asks for his help:
"Tonight, darling, we are going to right a lot of wrongs. And we are going to wrong some rights. The first shall be last; the last shall be first; the meek shall do some earth-inheriting."
This kicks into gear an all-night adventure that will change Q's life, particularly--he hopes--how his life relates to the enchanting Margo Roth Spiegelman.
Q’s thought pattern is interrupted when Margo disappears.. Part of being Margo Roth Spiegelman demands the occasional disappearance to plan and execute further adventures. Q, however, can’t pretend this disappearance is normal because Margo left clues. Q, with the help of his realistically written friends, tries to trace Margo's route and he finds more questions than answers, realizing that he might need more than clues to lead him to the girl he loves. He determines he might need to reevaluate everything he previously associated with Margo Spiegelman.
“Paper Towns combines elements of a coming-of-age story and a mystery. Q's search for Margo is, in many ways, just as important as working through the tedium and nostalgia of his last weeks in high school. The story is also very contemporary: the characters have (very clever) screen names that they use to instant message, a website not unlike Wikipedia (here called Omnictionary) finds its way into the storyline. Still, the timelessness of the story seems to ensure that this novel will not become dated as technologies change. Green's inclusion of excerpts from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass also points to this book's lasting power.
The writing keeps readers' attention with an abundance of Green’s wit and makes the book read through quickly. Paper Towns is unique and Q's narration is unique.Anyone who yearns for “the good old days”, will enjoy Green’s combination of nostalgia into present day circumstances.

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