Paper Towns

Author: John Green
First Published: September 22, 2009
Publisher: Speak
305 pages (paperback)

This is my first John Green book. I picked it up at the airport when I was going to Maui, thinking I could enjoy it on my flight over there. I had seen the trailers for the movie but never watched it. I ended up finishing it really quick because I was pretty engrossed in it. The last half of my plane ride was pretty boring because I had nothing left to do (no TVs on the plane, boo).

Paper Towns is about a boy named Q (Quentin) who has liked this girl named Margo (who also happens to be his neighbour) for a long time now. Margo is (to Q) a super interesting, mysterious girl. She's one of the popular girls but doesn't act like it. They haven't talked since they were little kids though.

Then one random night, Margo asks Q to join him in her revenge spree around town (she found out her boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend). Q is hesitant, but goes along anyway. It turns out to be an amazing night with her. The next day, however, she's gone. Her parents report her missing, but they don't really seem to worry too much since she's been a bit of a problem child for them. None of her friends seem to care that much either. Only Q tries to look for her.

Overall, it was a pretty interesting read. Q seemed like a good guy and I liked his relationships with his friends. I enjoyed reading about the revenge spree and then the subsequent search for Margo. What made the book a little less interesting was the fact that I did not quite understand why Margo was so mysterious/attractive/interesting. She didn't seem like a particularly unique person, and she hadn't spoken to Q for years before the events of this novel. I figured Q just had a big crush on her, but to be honest I did not understand what made her special.

Not that that deterred me from enjoying the novel, but it did kind of hinder me from feeling as attached to the quest of finding Margo as Q did. Like, I didn't particularly care what happened to Margo, I was just curious where she went.

Lastly, the reason I gave this book three stars despite enjoying it a fair bit was because the ending was abrupt and I just did not like it. I don't want to spoil the ending, but basically I said, "Huh? That's it?" at the end.

My Rating: 3/5