Thursday, March 12, 2015

YA New York Times Bestseller: Paper Towns by John Green

Green, J. (2008). Paper towns (p. 305). New York: Dutton Books.


Characters: Margo, Quentin (Q), Ben, Radar, Lacey, Jase, Becca

Themes: Friendship, Love, Revenge, Adventure

Summary:
As children, Margo and Quentin (Q) were great friends, but slowly grew apart. Now they are seniors, a few weeks from graduating. Margo is one of the popular girls, dating a baseball player named Jase. Margo soon finds out that her best friend, Becca, is cheating with her boyfriend. One night, Margo wakes up Q and right all the wrongs. There are eleven problems that need to take care of. Quentin and Margo drive around getting revenge on Jase, Becca, Lacey, Chuck and they even sneak into Sea World. The following day, Margo goes missing and her parents are angry. Q, Radar, Ben and Lacey go on a wild goose chase decipher Margo’s clue and the meaning of Walt Whitman’s Songs of Myself. Quentin thinks that the meaning of paper towns are pseudovision (abandoned subdivisions), so Q starts searching for Margo there. On graduation day, Q figures out what paper towns meanings – Agloe, New York. The crew misses graduation and drives 19 hours to find Margo. They finally find her in a deserted barn. Everyone is upset to say the least. Margo didn’t want to be found and the crew because Margo is rude. Margo tells Q her story, her plan of pranks and her love for him. He leaves Margo at the barn, but promise to stay in touch.

I think the major lesson from this book is things (people) are not always as they seem. For example, Margo seems as if she is a happy, popular teenager. Her life is perfect – great adventures, great friends and a hot boyfriend. In reality, she is a tortured soul, she’s unhappy. Quentin realizes that no one really knew Margo, just her shenanigans. To sum it up, Margo is a “paper girl in a paper town”.   

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