Book Review :: Paper Towns, by John Green

Who is the real Margo?
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...

Last updated on 29 March 2022

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After reading the Goodreads description I thought ‘Ah, dead bodies, crazy neighbours, elaborate schemes and a giant person-finding treasure hunt?! Yes please!’ Basically, it was brilliant.

What is Paper Towns about?

Paper Towns is broken up into 3 parts. Part one introduces us to all the characters, and lets us in on how Q and Margo are neighbours and Q has loved Margo since forever ago. Q’s best friends Ben and Radar (nicknamed after Radar in M.A.S.H, although puberty caught up with him and he no longer looks like Rader…but the name, as it does, stuck) are crazy and love playing video games at Q’s house. Radar has a website that is kind of like Wikipedia which is a constant reference and go-to point for them. Part one also includes Margo and Q’s crazy night out and involves fish, Veet (like for shaving your legs), Mountain Dew and Tulips (intrigued?). It’s a lot of fun, that scene and you really get to know Q and what he would do for Margo.

Part 2 is when Margo goes missing, and clues are left for Q and his friends to try and find her. It’s actually a very clever part of the story and I love how Green connects the dots between things. While the second half of part two was a little boring, I loved the beginning, when the clues are coming to light. Part 3 is basically a giant road trip and was a laugh-out-loud section of the book. While I don’t know what I think about the end of the story, even now, weeks later, I think it ended how it needed to end.

It’s in third person from Quentin’s perspective, and it’s very well written, like all John Green novels, and besides that slightly dragging bit at the end of part 2, I read and read and read and couldn’t put it down. As well as the whole clues-to-find-Margo thing going on, Paper Towns is also about teenage drama, Prom and Graduation, finding out who you are, and who your friends are, how far people go for others, high school, family, and teamwork. Primarily, it’s about, for me anyway, friendship. Not just between Q and Margo, perhaps least so about them, but about Q and his friends.

If you’re a fan of John Green, YA novels, mysteries and clue-finding-missions, or you even just love a good road trip, read Paper Towns. Then let me know what you thought.