I haven't read another John Green book since The Fault in Our Stars became popular. And from what I've seen, most of his books are just cheesy love stories. (Which I don't have much problem with, but it gets boring when you read too many)
But when I saw the trailer for this book's movie maybe a year ago, I was suddenly interested. I had also requested it, but in my busy school schedule, I had no time to read it. Now, I finally got the time!
The cover-
Quentin has always admired the beautiful Margo Roth Spiegleman from afar. But she always seemed out of his league with her popular friends and her popular boyfriend. Soon he gave up chasing after her and accepted his fate as a lonely nerd.
One night, she crawls into his bedroom window, asking for him and his car, saying that she will give him the adventure of a lifetime taking revenge on the people that have done her wrong. What ensues is beautiful chaos as they wreck havoc throughout their small town while still trying to stay anonymous. Their escapades include waxing a singular eyebrow off of most annoying person at their school while he is sleeping (Now the real question comes the next morning- Should I wax the other one off or draw the waxed one on?), "breaking into" SeaWorld and crazily running around Walmart at 2 AM, trying to find every item on a really strange (but incredibly well thought out) shopping list.
By day, they go their separate ways, until Quentin hears that Margo has gone missing. He takes it upon himself to find her, wherever she may be hiding. All around him are the clues, but he needs the courage and the heart to piece them together and find his true love and best friend.
"If people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane" (By far my favorite quote from this book...)
My thoughts-
A recurring motif throughout the book is the idea of how fake and "paper-thin" modern society is. It seems to be all that Margo complains about. Even though she was living the "perfect life", she often mentions that everything she was trying to maintain was ultimately not worth it in the long run. Quentin actually has a hard time accepting this at first because as far as he is concerned, Margo has the social life that he spent most of his life dreaming of. What problems could she possibly have with her lifestyle?
Margo makes one analogy between the modern lifestyle and the thinness of paper that is rather significant to her whole argument. She says, "All those paper people- living in their paper houses, burning furniture to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them from the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper frail. And all the people, too. I've lived here for eighteen years, and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters."
I love the connection between the metaphorical "Paper Towns" that symbolize modern materialism and the actual "Paper Towns" that exist on maps. "Paper Towns" are a type of "signature" that a cartographer would put on their map in the form of a fictional city. Such a city does not actually exist, but serves as a sort of copyright if their work is ever reproduced.
The "Paper Town" featured in this book is called Agloe, NY, a city created by Otto G. Lindberg and Ernest Alpers. It actually has become a town, with the erection of the Agloe General Store and soon other small shops around it.
I take back what I said in the beginning of this post about this book being a cheesy love story. Indeed it is, but it also presents a subtle argument about materialism. I absolutely loved the sarcasm and humor that was the majority of the jokes. It reminded me of the way I talk with my friends and the kind of jokes that we make. I kind of wanted to be with the characters, living through their experiences and enjoying every moment with them.
Age Rating: 14+ (I think that's like the only rating I ever give to books...)
The love story content is pretty tame and it's really not an issue. There's a lot of general teenage angst and salt, but if you are (or have) a teenager, it's also not an issue. Other than that, the book is not too provocative as far as YA novels can go (Believe me, I've seen some pretty weird things that qualify as YA...).
Other than that, enjoy yourselves! It's stress time at school and who knows when I'll actually have enough sleep to sacrifice for another book... :)
But when I saw the trailer for this book's movie maybe a year ago, I was suddenly interested. I had also requested it, but in my busy school schedule, I had no time to read it. Now, I finally got the time!
The cover-
Quentin has always admired the beautiful Margo Roth Spiegleman from afar. But she always seemed out of his league with her popular friends and her popular boyfriend. Soon he gave up chasing after her and accepted his fate as a lonely nerd.
One night, she crawls into his bedroom window, asking for him and his car, saying that she will give him the adventure of a lifetime taking revenge on the people that have done her wrong. What ensues is beautiful chaos as they wreck havoc throughout their small town while still trying to stay anonymous. Their escapades include waxing a singular eyebrow off of most annoying person at their school while he is sleeping (Now the real question comes the next morning- Should I wax the other one off or draw the waxed one on?), "breaking into" SeaWorld and crazily running around Walmart at 2 AM, trying to find every item on a really strange (but incredibly well thought out) shopping list.
By day, they go their separate ways, until Quentin hears that Margo has gone missing. He takes it upon himself to find her, wherever she may be hiding. All around him are the clues, but he needs the courage and the heart to piece them together and find his true love and best friend.
"If people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricane" (By far my favorite quote from this book...)
My thoughts-
A recurring motif throughout the book is the idea of how fake and "paper-thin" modern society is. It seems to be all that Margo complains about. Even though she was living the "perfect life", she often mentions that everything she was trying to maintain was ultimately not worth it in the long run. Quentin actually has a hard time accepting this at first because as far as he is concerned, Margo has the social life that he spent most of his life dreaming of. What problems could she possibly have with her lifestyle?
Margo makes one analogy between the modern lifestyle and the thinness of paper that is rather significant to her whole argument. She says, "All those paper people- living in their paper houses, burning furniture to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them from the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper frail. And all the people, too. I've lived here for eighteen years, and I have never once in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters."
I love the connection between the metaphorical "Paper Towns" that symbolize modern materialism and the actual "Paper Towns" that exist on maps. "Paper Towns" are a type of "signature" that a cartographer would put on their map in the form of a fictional city. Such a city does not actually exist, but serves as a sort of copyright if their work is ever reproduced.
The "Paper Town" featured in this book is called Agloe, NY, a city created by Otto G. Lindberg and Ernest Alpers. It actually has become a town, with the erection of the Agloe General Store and soon other small shops around it.
I take back what I said in the beginning of this post about this book being a cheesy love story. Indeed it is, but it also presents a subtle argument about materialism. I absolutely loved the sarcasm and humor that was the majority of the jokes. It reminded me of the way I talk with my friends and the kind of jokes that we make. I kind of wanted to be with the characters, living through their experiences and enjoying every moment with them.
Age Rating: 14+ (I think that's like the only rating I ever give to books...)
The love story content is pretty tame and it's really not an issue. There's a lot of general teenage angst and salt, but if you are (or have) a teenager, it's also not an issue. Other than that, the book is not too provocative as far as YA novels can go (Believe me, I've seen some pretty weird things that qualify as YA...).
Other than that, enjoy yourselves! It's stress time at school and who knows when I'll actually have enough sleep to sacrifice for another book... :)
