[Book Review] Paper Towns by John Green (Spoilers Included!)

from johngreenbooks.com

It gives me a feeling that I'm reading something the author of "Looking for Alaska" would write (which is true). It has similar keypoints (with Margo Roth Spiegelman, Alaska, them being the narrator's ideal girl, their mysterious disappearance around halfway of the book (the first quarter of the book in the case of Margo) and the journey the narrator takes in finding them (which takes up the bulk of the book).)

However, Paper Towns riles me up in a way Looking for Alaska couldn't, which is favorable to the former. Paper Towns makes me move with the narrator, Quentin Jacobsen, as his search for his overly-eccentric, misunderstood dream girl dead ends turn after turn after turn. The writing itself makes me hope with Q as he gets seemingly good leads, and I read faster, unable to contain my excitement to finally - finally - at least have a clue to where Margo was. It also makes my chest constrict whenever Q would realize it's a dead end, and he'd pore over "Leaves of Grass" again, trying to make sense of Walt Whitman's obscure poetry and look for a clue left behind by M.R.S. with her dual highlighters. 

It's not just a search for Margo Roth Spiegelman, though, but it's also a search for truth, in a way. Quentin is looking for Margo because of love and curiosity and worry, but he encounters truth about himself and others along the way. Like that he expects everyone else (Ben and Radar) to be like him (pointed out by Radar). Also that everyone sees everyone else differently ("Ben's Margo, Lacey's Margo, Mrs. Spiegelman's Margo, my Margo"). Another is the obvious overlooking of anyone else's problems (like Gus the SunTrust security guard and Lacey Pemberton overlooking Margo's obsession with staying and scribbling in her little black notebook). Or even how one can only be true to him/herself when alone (Margo owning thousands of vinyl records but never telling anyone she liked music).

Quentin might be a senior but his mindset toward Margo is similar to back when they were children - he'd expect Margo to be something extraordinary like the Margo he'd always dream about and love about and crazed over since they were ten. But the truth is that Margo wouldn't want anyone to think of her as such. If I were Margo, I'd be tired of everyone looking at me like a trophy or someone to be depended upon when in fact I'm also a person, prone to failure and breakdowns. Perhaps that's why she ran away. Perhaps all her little clues and games of running away was a message that "I am done with this world. Leave me be for just a small amount of time while I break down. Because I know no one is going to help me but myself, so at least let me be alone."

But Margo isn't a problem child. She is not an attention-seeker with all her eccentricity. (Well... maybe just a bit.) But she's really showing a lot of sides of Margo Roth Spiegelman to Quentin because she does not want Quentin to think of Margo Roth Spiegelman one-sidedly. Why'd she choose him? Probably because she doesn't like her current friends (Becca and Jase, for example) and would rather show all of Margo to someone who knew a part of the real her (even if briefly), and that's where Quentin comes in. Quentin is who Margo expected "badassery" to come from, as she admitted in Agloe General Store by the end of the book. She admits that in her story in her little black notebook, Quentin Jacobsen exudes badassery in a way that Story Margo is captivated and Real Margo hopes she could make Real Quentin portray. 

But enough about Margo and Quentin for the moment. Let's talk about the great friendship between Quentin, Ben, and Radar, plus Lacey.

I mean, I could only DREAM of my friends skipping high school graduation for someone who means the world to me. Radar, who threw away his chance to lose his virginity to his girlfriend; Lacey and Ben and Quentin, who threw away high school graduation for their friend. It's a lot to handle, and I must admit, given the same situation, I would not have (pardon my French) the balls to skip high school graduation for a seemingly impossible lead.

All in all, I enjoyed this book much more than Looking for Alaska. Although there are some gaping holes I'd want closed (like how Quentin would pay back Lacey's parents, or how Ben, Radar, and Lacey would explain to their parents, or who the gigantic land whale slash cow belonged to), I think "Ah, screw it. It's a John Green book." And honestly, I couldn't have expected any less.