by Shannon Fox
Paper Towns by John Green
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back 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.
This is only my second John Green novel. I read The Fault in Our Stars a couple months ago. After greatly enjoying it, I was more than ready to take on a second Green novel.
This one did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the relationship between Q and Margo. I understood Q, because I was a little bit of a Q in high school. Margo Roth Spiegelman is a great character: she’s adventurous and crazy. She’s even inspired me to have my own Margo-esque adventure. By the time you read this, it will be done and I will hopefully have not been arrested, fined, or otherwise penalized. 🙂
Most of all, I was again blown away by the sheer genius that is John Green. It would be a major spoiler if I told you exactly what a Paper Town is (of course, you could Google it). But it’s so perfectly obscure and clever and interesting that I am astounded. John Green is the perfect example of what writers try and cultivate: observant sponges. In the two novels I’ve read, both feature things that are so obscure they are only happened upon by chance. But of course, literally anything and everything can serve as inspiration. Keep your eyes open to the world around you. Anything can stumble in, if you provide the path.
The ending took me a bit by surprise. I didn’t really see it coming, but in retrospect, if Green had done anything else I would have been disappointed. It’s kind of hard to review this novel since so much of it would be spoilers. But suffice it to say, I loved it. Go read it. Just do it.
Shannon Fox - Author 
I really really really need to read John Green, I think I am missing out big time at the moment hahaha!
I felt that way too…quickly rectifying the situation!
I just added three John Green books to my wishlist on book depository…as soon as I get paid later tonight, I know what I’m doing! 😛
Book depository? What is that? Well I believe there are only four (well four of JG by himself) so you’re off to a great start!
Oh, Book Depository is amazing! It’s an online book shop, a huge one (mind, one which was just bought by Amazon last year, but they’re letting it do it’s own thing still). There’s a UK site and a US site (I use the UK…I guess just because I was born there hahaha). They’re both really cheap (especially for me because the exchange rate works in my favour), and they deliver free to anywhere in the world, no matter how little or much you buy. Amazon is too expensive on the delivery often for me over her in Australia, so Book Depo ends up being the cheaper of all the online book stores. Anyway it’s worth checking out, don’t know if it would be cheaper for you but it’s a pretty amazing site (I’ve bought at least a hundred books from there now, and am about to add several more to that tonight).
Totally comment stalking now, too… You HAVE to shop Book Depository. I adore it. Two words: FREE SHIPPING.
Meanwhile…Your lack of information about Paper Towns in this post has made me extremely curious about it now. Perhaps it will stop being the John Green book I can never remember! 😉