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I know that I have posted a piece about John Green already, but I have just finished another of his books, and I thought I would write the next one on his novel Paper Towns. This is a book that has been sitting on my shelf for months and this was the first chance that I had to be able to read it. To my surprise, it really only took me about a week and a half to read the 305 pages. This is a big deal for me because I am a slow reader. I love reading (hence the English teacher in me), but I'm just slow in the fluency, or pacing.
In my post before about John Green's book template (here), I explained how the format of his books are typically laid out. Therefore, I was not surprised that this book followed the same format. Boy meets a girl that he cannot have, boy has comedic friends, there is a mystery to be solved, things don't always end the way that you may think. Regardless of the predictability, his books are still very enjoyable. I guess that's why I keep going back to them; the characters are realistic in terms of their interactions and dialogue, the slight twists to the story is often surprising, and there are a number of scenes that literally make me laugh out loud.
The narrator of the book is a high school senior named Quinton ("Q") who doesn't fit in with the popular crowd at school. That is another typical element of Green's work, his protagonist is an unlikely hero that has trouble going with he norm. (I can't remember if this is in the last post for John Green's format, but if it's not, it should be.) He has a childhood friend named Margo Roth Speigleman, whom lives next door to him. The two have drifted apart over the years; she went with the "popular" crowd, and he congregates with the band kids. Margo comes to Q late at night, and makes him help her prank a number of people in the middle of the night along with breaking into Seaworld.
Little does Q know that he will not see Margo the next day. Just when he thinks that their friendship is going to develop, and bloom into a romantic relationship, Margo disappears without a trace. The novel follows Q's journey to track her down. This is not the first time that Margo has left, and typically she leaves some strange clues behind as to her location. Again, the endings are not always what you would expect, and this one is no different.
The plot of the book is solid, however I do feel that it does drag on a little bit. I think that there are a few parts that could be reduced because they are repetitive, and uneventful. Aside from that I did enjoy the book thoroughly. In my contact with many people who have read his books, I have found that most people either love his writing or hate it. I fall in the middle; I don't love it because I think it is extremely predictable, but I enjoy it very much. His writing style fits in with my type of humor and the characters remind me of those that I know and grew up with in high school. I feel that is the connection that I have for the books; just the fact that I can see many of these characters within my head.
Check it out for yourself, it's a pretty quick read. Let me know what you think in the comments before, and as always subscribe to my posts to get the newest ones.
