 2008-11-30 - Paper Towns by John Green
Title: Paper Towns (Hardcover)
Author: John Green
Publisher: Penguin Group
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publication Date: October 2008
Pages: 352
Rating: 5/5
Summary (From B&N):
When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night-dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge-he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they're for Q.
Review:
Yes, I know this review is late, I would've posted it on Saturday, but I didn't because I was too lazy to start writing it. But it's here now, and it's probably going to be a long one.
I'll admit it, the summary for this book made no entire sense to me until I finished the book, so I really wasn't sure what to make of the book to come when I first opened up the book and started reading. So, what happened in the book surprised me, big time. I wasn't expecting much, obviously like I said above, but what happened was entirely unsuspected.
Now, if you read this blog from the beginning you might've come by a review for Looking For Alaska, which I will not link out of shame (The review was like one of my first reviews and I think any of my review before March, and maybe even March itself, are really terrible, so I suggest not going back there and looking, you just might hurt yourself from the horrifying reviews. You have been warned.), and if you remember right, I was not a huge fan of the book. But, I feel that if I read the book again, I will understand more about it, and look at how well the writing is or how the characters were developed. But anyways, Looking For Alaska was a good back looking back, the writing was excellent and the characters were amazingly developed. Jeez, now I forgot my point, this paragraph is making no sense whatsoever, right?
Okay, Paper Towns, right. Paper Towns caught me in with the witty and the random humor and dark edge to the writing. Margo kept me in for the first part by a landslide (Not like I wouldn't have kept reading anyways) and Q kept me at the edge of my seat along with him. The emotions and the humor from Q, Ben, and Radar was spectacularly done and so hilarious. The first part of the novel was the best. I loved the dialogue between Q and Margo, and Q was one of the most real characters I know. This novel had me laughing my guts out and making my eyes tear up. Green is truly one of the most brilliant YA writers out there today.
Okay, i feel like I'm writing gibberish so I will get to the point: This novel is amazing. It is one of the best YA novels out this year. READ IT NOW!
2008-11-29 - AL-A-CA-ZAM! THIS IS BETTER THAN SPAM! (not that sets the bar to high)
Oh shizzel my nizzle.. This book is so great. I just Love Margo, and her insentient need Capitalization. I just love how John Green writes! He uses every sentence to Really develop the characters, I felt like their My friends. I don't know what more to say Other than its worth a read. Though, The only reason Im reviewing this book to to bring up the rating. This book faintly reminds me of the Ogles trilogy. (not on story line or anything, just the witting) turns our Scott westerfeld (author of Ogles trilogy and named as Best Books for Young Adults 2006) was one of his writing partners on this novel. WOOT WOOT for a small world.
2008-11-28 - What to say...
I don't even know what to say about John Green's Paper Towns. I found about about John Green through his video blog entitled "VlogBrothers" and I am so happy that I did. I first read Looking For Alaska, and that book made me so happy to have read it. But this review is not about that, it's about Paper Towns. Paper Towns chronicles a boy reaching out to an unattainable girl,and the hunt that follows is one of the most entertaining stories that I've ever read that leaves you excited and ready for more. John Green has done it again.
2008-11-27 - Just let the man write what he wants to...
...That is my suggestion to readers of John Green. "Paper Towns" begins as an exploration of the restless angst of a group of high school seniors in Florida as graduation approaches, but it morphs into something considerably deeper, a dark mystery that may not be entirely solvable. This novel is a bit deeper and more complex, for example, than Green's earlier "An abundance of Katherines". As I read, I found myself comparing it to THE hot young adult novel of the moment: "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. The comparison reveals the shallowness and unrealistic romaticism of Twilight, which invites teen or adult women to forget the real world for a bit. By contrast, Green asks young people to look at life and relationships in an adult way, to learn a few things about human nature, and to perhaps mourn. Real mourning, about real life.
That is not to say that this story is dark and dismal start to finish. There is a great deal of humor in this tale, as Quentin and his best buds throw caution to the winds in seeking their destinies at the end of high school, and jump into a van together on an epic road trip to rescue the near mythical Margo Spiegelman. But the thing of it is, Margo is not a myth, she is a real girl, with real problems.
It is wonderful to read a young adult novel in which the protagonist seeks to solve a complex puzzle by using Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" as a roadmap. It is wonderful to read a book for young adults that is about important things, real things, complex and painful things. As Quentin learns, we all have cracks in us that let in the light, and let our own light out. We are all broken, and we can all survive.
For a thoughtful teen reader this is great stuff, and adults can enjoy it too. While Green has certain characteristics (road trips, nerds, boy bonding, complex boy/girl romantic entanglements) in his works that mark them as his, he is also exploring fresh territory. Hitch a ride, it is worth it.
 2008-11-25 - different
I need to keep this short because I don't want to spoiler it, it's the kind of book where the reader just needs to give up control to the author and just go along for the ride and see where it leads. In this case it's a road trip through Florida but metaphorically speaking of course it's a sort of coming of age of a teenage boy.
Protagonist Q idolizes next-door hottie Margo and when she disappears he believes that she's left him special clues to find her, so he takes his friends Ben and Radar on a road trip to find her. Yeah it sounds pretty schizophrenic, right? But like I said, let your skepticism go and put yourself in the position of a geeky naive teenage boy and you can kinda see where he's coming from. Attention from a pretty girl can be like a narcotic. He kinda tries to be the white knight and rescue Margo, problem is there are two sides to every story.
This is a different kind of book, a bit of a predictable ending, I didn't love it enough to give a five but it was too well written and unique to give a three. I have to be honest, I didn't like either Q or Margo so much, Ben & Radar were much more fun, as sidekicks sometimes turn out to be.
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