By Samantha Romero |Staff Writer|
Author John Green brings to life quiet Quentin ‘Q’ Jacobsen, the high-spirited Margo Roth Spiegelman, and their quirky, round-the-bend shenanigans in his novel “Paper Towns.”
If you were to look up a map of New York, chances are you would stumble upon the town of Agloe. The only thing is, Agloe, doesn’t exist.
Agloe is a “paper town”; a paper town is a fictional vicinity usually used by map companies to avoid copyright infringement from other companies, or in this case to create a story.
Quentin is enamored with his idea of Margo; she is everything Quentin could imagine― intelligent, funny, daring, and surprising, particularly when she sneaks into his bedroom at midnight, inviting him on a quest.
After a night of adventure, predominately fish and blue spray paint-themed, Margo delivers Quentin—mostly—safe home, leaving him hoping for something more from his unexceptional life.
Margo runs away and Quentin discovers what he believes are clues to Margo’s whereabouts, and with the help of his friends, the journey for Margo begins.
No one quite knows what they are getting into when they leave. They only know they might not be the same when they come back.
“Paper Towns” breathes it’s own unique iridescence only possible from Green, yet at the same time, seems to be more in-tune with his popular novel “Looking for Alaska.”
The two stories compare brilliantly, both featuring boys ready to grasp everything out of life—beautiful girls, even lovelier mysteries, and the same feeling of opening eyes throughout the novel.
Green never ceases to take everyday occurrences and turn them into something that brings the reader to an introspective, soul moving experience.
“Paper Towns”, while filled with thought-provoking questions and statements, leaves the reader wanting a bit more for all the effort that was put into the undertaking by the characters.
“It’s a different story after about 80 pages, when it becomes a young adult mystery of incredibly low stakes.
But its got one of the best road trip narratives I’ve ever read,” stated student Mark Thayer.
While the ending is understandable, if not a little surprising, it does not deliver quite as well as Green’s later works.
“I love any story with a good road trip in it, and this one is no exception, but the end kind of pissed me off,” stated student Aimee Cornelison.
Whether the reader agrees with Green and his ending for Margo, Q, and their favorite misfits or not, one thing is for certain: the book is worth a read.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll fall in love with the adventure and the mystery surrounding a paper town.
The movie adaptation, directed by Jake Schreier, while Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber are penned to write the screenplay, is scheduled to be released June 5 of this year.
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