Review #149: paper Towns by John Green

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“That's why I love road trips, dude. It's like doing something without actually doing anything.”

----John Green

John Green, the international best-selling author, created yet another masterpiece with his book, Paper Towns, and I would like to thank Mr. Green for introducing me about the concept of paper towns and subdivisions and other cartography facts. No this is not a map story or anything to do with it, instead it's a teenage road-trip movie based on some mind blowing facts about the very existence of Paper Towns.




Synopsis:
Quentin has always loved Margo Roth Spiegelman, for Margo (and her adventures) are the stuff of legend at their high school. So when she one day climbs through his window and summons him on an all-night road trip of revenge he cannot help but follow.

But the next day Margo doesn’t come to school and a week later she is still missing. Q soon learns that there are clues in her disappearance . . . and they are for him. But as he gets deeper into the mystery – culminating in another awesome road trip across America – he becomes less sure of who and what he is looking for.

Quentin grew up loving his beautiful neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman. and now he is going to graduate and he is still head-over-heels in love with Margo, but now he loves her from a distance since Margo has a hot boyfriend. Margo Roth Spiegelman loves mysteries and loves to spin one for herself. After a crazy night out in her town with Quentin, she disappears from the face of the earth. But Margo has left clues, moreover, she has left them for Q to find them out, thus leading to a memorable road trip across America to find his love, Margo Roth Spiegelman.

Hats off Mr. Green, you've done it again. Once again you have made us fall for striking teenage characters who I'm pretty sure are going to make an impression whoever reads the book. Honestly, speaking, I never got a chance to read The Fault in our Stars, and I feel ashamed of the fact that I still have not read the most-loved book of 2014. So I'm new to his writing style, prose and other techniques. So I'm now going to pick that book up-The Fault in our Stars.

In the Paper Towns, his writing is exquisite, flawless and articulate and I instantly became a fan of his writing style. His prose is evocative and the narrative is just like some teenager narrating his fun yet sad and lonely story about some girl he fancies. From the very first page, Quentin's free-flowing narrative captivated me, and just like Quentin, I too started liking the idea of Margo Roth Spiegelman. Well, that's doesn't only leave us with Quentin's POV, Green has left us with enough space to see the story from our own POV, hence at times, I got really furious with Margo Roth Spiegelman's character, I mean can't she see that her cute neighbor is irrevocably in love with her, rather than hanging out with a douchebag.

Now the characters, I think that's the brownie points of his book. The characters will captivate you, cultivate your mind and will ultimately enrich your soul. And at the end of the book, it leaves you with a feeling of gratefulness. Green has flawlessly embodies himself into Quentin's character to narrate this story. And what to say about Quentin- he is an epitome of every meek and lonely high school teenager. Loving someone for ages, getting bullied by stronger and loser guys, having weird friends just like him, and didn't like to attract too much attention while in school. Whereas the central character, Margo Roth Spiegelman, is the wild high-schooler who wants to get away from her town, she is the girl with bigger and crazier dreams and nothing worked perfectly without Margo Roth Spiegelman- not the prettiest, yet the most charming girl of their school, who is a big-fat fan of weird mysteries. Quentin's friends, Ben and Radar- the two geek band guys were equally sweet and striking. I mean Green has a natural talent to craft his characters with realism.

Moreover, the gravity of some human relations are strongly depicted, like die-hard friendships to relationships between a parent and a rebellious child or how a child turns out to be a rebel, peer pressure, future plans etc, everything that a normal and average teenager goes through are vividly and intricately captured in the book. Even the emotions run high in this book, making us feel every bit of pain, joy and happiness in a teenager like Quentin's life.

I think Mr. Green loves metaphors, like
“That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfast cereals based on color instead of taste.”
And Paper Towns is full of such metaphors. There is a huge amount of mystery in the book which the author have portrayed it brilliantly, unfolding it with twists and turns. But the mystery is portrayed like some treasure hunt filled with clues here and there, in one word- adventurous treasure hunt of Margo! I hope it's movie adaption does full justice to the book. The movie is releasing on 5th June, 2015, starring Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne.

PS: Some books don't require a review to prove it's greatness whereas some demands to be reviewed, and Paper Towns falls in the former category!!

Verdict: Grab a copy now, before the book hits the screen! A must-read! 
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Author Info:
John Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award presented by the American Library Association. His second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His next novel, Paper Towns, is a New York Times bestseller and won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best YA Mystery. In January 2012, his most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, was met with wide critical acclaim, unprecedented in Green's career. The praise included rave reviews in Time Magazine and The New York Times, on NPR, and from award-winning author Markus Zusak. The book also topped the New York Times Children's Paperback Bestseller list for several weeks. Green has also coauthored a book with David Levithan called Will Grayson, Will Grayson, published in 2010. The film rights for all his books, with the exception of Will Grayson Will Grayson, have been optioned to major Hollywood Studios.

In 2007, John and his brother Hank were the hosts of a popular internet blog, "Brotherhood 2.0," where they discussed their lives, books and current events every day for a year except for weekends and holidays. They still keep a video blog, now called "The Vlog Brothers," which can be found on the Nerdfighters website, or a direct link here.
Visit him here 


Book Purchase Links:

• Amazon US 
• Amazon India