Paper Towns

So this is the last of John Green's books that I hadn't read. And it, like the others, boils down to much the same plot. Boy meets Girl, Girl affects Boy's life in a profound way, Boy loses Girl and has to deal with the changes she's wrought AND her absence. On one hand, I feel like Green needs to branch out and find a new plot, on the other hand, he writes this plot so well. And even within this plot he writes such different books. The Fault in Our Stars was slightly different, in that Girl lost Boy and had to deal with it. Unlike Looking For Alaska, in Paper Towns Girl didn't die, but Boy still lost her nonetheless. In Will Grayson, Will Grayson, the plot was changed to “Boy meets Boy, Boy changes Boy's world, Boy loses Boy and has to deal with the loss and the changes.” But in all fourbooks the protagonist winds up dealing with something John Green has mentioned repeatedly in his vlogbrothers videos: imagining people complexly.

What does that mean?

It means not making preconceived notions of what people are or how they think. That woman who was rude to you yesterday, she's a bitch, right? Instead of just deciding “well she's rude and mean” imagine her complexly. Maybe she has a migraine, maybe she overslept and her entire morning was a cascade of failure. Maybe she has a sick kid and an out-of-work husband at home and they're struggling to make ends meet on her minimum wage income. Imagine her complexly and you'll realize that she has problems of her own, and maybe what you interpreted as a rude, mean-spirited remark was simply a tired tone of voice from a stressed-out woman. Maybe she was rude, maybe she looked at you as simply someone in her way because she didn't imagine you complexly. Imagining people complexly is another way of saying “treat people like PEOPLE and not just bit players in your own little drama.” That can be a hard task when not everyone is doing it.

In Paper Towns, Margo Roth Spiegelman is an enigma, even to the boy who's been her neighbor for sixteen years and from whose perspective the book is written. She's been a different person to every person in high school, letting no one see the real Margo until she runs away and leaves a trail of clues for Quentin, her neighbor, to find. Quentin's had a crush on her since he was ten, but it's only in following her clues that he begins to see Margo as Margo, and not as the idea of Margo he had constructed.

It's an important lesson, and maybe the reason it shows up in all of John Green's books is because it is so incredibly important and yet so rare to find and so difficult to do. John talks about the concept in a speech he gave at the Alan Conference but the important part is here, I think:

“Let me tell you what is, in my opinion, the central problem of human existence: I am stuck in my body, in my consciousness, seeing out of my eyes. I am the only me I ever get to be, and so I am the only person I can imagine endlessly complexly. That's not the problem, actually. The problem is you. You are so busy taking in your own wondrousness that you can't be bothered to acknowledge mine.When I was a kid, I believed in an embarrassingly total way that I was the only human being in the world and that all the other people, including my brother and parents and everybody, was in fact an alien, and that the aliens had created the entire world to do a series of controlled experiments on how a human child—me—would respond to various forms of trial and tribulation. And when I wasn't around, they would take off their human costumes—the aliens had very advanced costuming technology, naturally—and they would do alien stuff. You know, go to the alien zoo and watch the alien local news and whatever else. I really believed this.And obviously, on some level, this indicated the kind of massively narcissistic worldview that would later require decades of therapy to adjust. But in a way, I was right. I am the only person whose existence I can directly attest to. By the way, when I've talked about this in the past I've seen people nodding, like they also believed in their childhoods that they were the only real person in the world, and I would imagine that right now, some such people are probably feeling the comfort we feel when we learn that our delusions are shared, that we are not alone even in our darkest corners.... I will acknowledge that you are all likely to be people. The probability that I am the only person in the world is extremely small—it is that number that infinitely approaches zero but isn't zero. And yet. On some level, I have to take it on faith that you are as complex as I am, that your pain and joy and grief are as real and as meaningful as my own.”

The entire speech is very much worth reading. John Green is extremely eloquent (as good writers must be!) and his perspectives on things are usually worth reading.

“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”

It was such a roller coaster ride reading this book. So full packed with emotions which takes the readers on a journey of their own. Truly amazing. I rarely give 5/5 star to a novel, but this one really deserves it!

Adventurous, intelligent, surprising, witty, cleaver and thought provoking. John Green has a way of making the completely believable characters. I like the novel's idea of taking a girl, Margo, who strives to be rebellious but has to plan all the details out. Q is also a great character following the clues and learning the effects she has on him but still needing to search her out. One of my favorite character's happen to be a side character, Radar. He was funny, well adjusted, and the voice of reason. Some of the best parts of the book was the journeys and Q's circle of friends.

I really enjoyed this one. It was probably my least favorite of John Green's collection, but that is only because it has so much to live up to with the other ones! I really love the points he was making about human nature and our flawed imaginings. It was witty and fun. Some of the thoughts have stuck with me, days later and the themes keep popping up in my own life. That is to say, it illuminated these themes in my life, a sure sign of a terrific read.
I fully recommend it to fans of YA contemporary and mystery.

The road trip in the final chapter is very funny. The rest of the book is classic John Green, and reminded me so much of An Abundance of Catherines that I figured I knew how it would end for our hero, except it totally didn't.
Still, the sameness of these books really makes me want to take a break from reading them.

Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Luego de terminar el libro, tuve varios inicios para la reseña, solo que cada vez que me decidía por una, quería profundizarla más adelante y sentía que iba a sonar repetitiva. ¿Me gustó el libro? Se podría decir que sí, no lo amé de principio a fin PERO...

Tengo una relación extraña con los libros de John Green, a penas terminé de leer ‘Bajo la Misma Estrella', sentí que había encontrado mi siguiente mina de oro. Entonces, leí ‘Buscando a Alaska' y comencé a pensar que quizá el autor era del tipo one hit wonder, porque leyendo las sinopsis de sus siguientes libros, no sentí que aportará nada diferente de lo que ya había leído en Alaska. Terminando ahora Ciudades de Papel, sigo sintiendo que sus historias van por un mismo camino: Chico idealiza chica, chico no consigue nada con chica, chica desaparece, chico se obsesiona con chica. Eso por ponerlo de una manera delicada.

Ciudades de Papel no fue un libro fácil de leer para mí, 1) porque tiene capítulos y párrafos que sinceramente hubiera obviado totalmente y 2) porque soy Margo Roth Spielgerman.

Según BuzzFeed al menos.

Una de las razones, muy superficiales, de leer Paper Towns era eso, en el test de BuzzFeed (soy ADICTA a los tests), los comentarios decían cosas como “Margo es la mejor” “Margo es tan compleja” “Tienes una suerte que te tocó Margo” y parecidos. De verdad quería saber si teníamos algún tipo de parecido.

Lo irónico de esta idealización por parte de muchos lectores hacía Margo, es la misma cosa que Margo detesta, toda esta gente de papel que la hizo sentirse cómoda siendo una chica de papel. Y sí, tenemos un montón en común, las dos somos de irnos sin despedirnos, hemos quizá creado una imagen entre nuestras personas cercanas que no es, sino la versión de nosotras que nos gustaría ser. Hemos lastimado personas que queremos por el cansancio de pretender, la parte de pretender a veces sin querer, ser o sentir algo. Incluso la relación con su familia es un poco parecida a la mía (no al extremo del libro), los padres son personas también y tienen un límite. No soy creyente ni apoyo eso del amor incondicional.

Tengo sentimientos ambivalentes con ella, me veo en ella cuando no estuve/estoy en mis mejores momentos pero a la vez admiro su capacidad de poder escapar.

No pude disfrutar el libro a un 100%, como dije más arriba hay muchísimas cosas que hubiera suprimido, tiene un inicio demasiado largo (Margo se me hace tan presuntuosa), el cuerpo de la lectura es muy repetitiva y frustrante muchas veces y es recién el final donde puedo agarrarle cariño a la lectura.

No hablo de los otros personajes porque el libro es básicamente la obsesión de Quentin con Margo, no digo que los personajes secundarios no son interesantes o divertidos, pero no aparecen tanto como me hubiera gustado.

Al terminar el libro no me reconcilié con los libros de John Green, sigo creyendo lo mismo pero no voy a negar que resalte muchas frases y me reí unas cuantas veces.

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First read: This book is fantastic.

Reread 2015:
I've been in a reading slump for about a month, so when I picked this book up, I had a hard time reading it. And it's not that it was bad or anything like that at all, but this was reread for me, which I did because the movie is coming out soon, and because I was in a reading slump it was just hard to read. I didn't want to, which was and odd feeling. But I could just tell that I was craving a new story, something that wasn't a reread and so I decided to just “get it over with”. I'm so happy that I did because it was amazing once again. I didn't love it as much as the first time, but it was still amazing. I still love Quentin Jacobsen. I am still in love with Ben Starling. I still absolutely adore this story.

I wasn't surprised to find that I couldn't put this book down, since this is exactly what it was like reading The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska. However, I was pretty surprised by the actual plot, and I loved almost every bit of it.

Through his search for Margo, Q not only learns more about her, but he also inadvertently learns a lot about himself and I think it gives him a better look at the world. He reevaluates his friendships and realizes that there's more to people than the eye can see.

Margo, on the other hand, seems a little lost and confused despite the fact that she seems to have it all planned out from childhood. To Q, she was a mystery that he had tried to solve but she didn't want to be discovered. I found her to be a little pretentious at times, but she also has these marvelous plans and pranks, which were rather exciting to read.

I particularly loved the third part of the book; the actual journey. Q and his friends, new and old, each had talents that fit perfectly with the roles needed on the road trip. They're a hilarious bunch, and I wish there was more of their adventures to read.

The actual plot was amazing, but the ending seemed too simple and quite frankly, a little boring compared to the whole novel. I think I would've given it 5/5 if it weren't for the ending, but all in all, it's a great read.

3.5**
This book follows the perspective of a senior named Q, who has been in love with the mysterious Margo Roth Spiegelman. After a night of adventure, she disappears and Q feels it's his job to find her.
I'll start by saying I liked almost every character except Margot. She really had no character development and for the life of me I can't figure out why everyone likes her. I liked Q's character development for the most part but I hated how he retracted back into his old self every time there was something related to Margot. The ending was something of a let down because I pretty much expected it. Overall I really loved the whole adventure and the writing. I especially liked how it focuses not only about the future but about the friendships.

i really enjoyed John Greens looking for Alaska, his writing style is enjoyable and I love reading from a male perspective but I didn't like the character Margo and it made the end of the book kind of not very enjoyable. I love Q overall isn't a bad character, but near the end I find him to be quite selfish, though he does end up redeeming himself a little in the end. it was okay for a one time read but definitely won't be reading again

I had high hopes for this book after reading The Fault In Our Stars for the first time a few months ago. Honestly, I didn't really enjoy it. Q's journey to different pseudovisions and constant quoting of Whitman made the book drag on. The characters were mostly two dimensional and all of them, even the Quentin as a protagonist, had minimal character development. For me, the only highlight of the book would be the occasionally humorous adolescent banter between Quentin and his clique but other than that, I didn't really enjoy this book. 3/5 wouldn't recommend.

ACTUAL RATING: 4.4 Stars

Okay before I review this book, I might want to explain why it took me almost a month to finish this book. As you guys can see, I started reading this book waaay back in April 3. I had to abandon this book for a while because I started to get bored and the story didn't compel that much to me. I found the story almost similar to the Pretty Little Liars series. But my best friend kept insisting me to read it again. People from the internet were raving about it after the movie adaptation was announced. I started getting very curious so I had to find out what this book has to really offer.

Paper Towns (is the 3rd book by the amazing John Green I've read by the way) is a contemporary mystery novel about the disappearance of Margo Roth Spiegelman, who is the childhood friend and life-long crush of our main character Quentin. Margo Roth Spiegelman is gorgeous and belongs to the cool-kids in Q's school. One night, for they are just neighbors, Margo decided to seek help from Q to take revenge on the people who have wronged both of them. The next day, she disappeared. Q and his pals went on a search for Margo, often with the help of the clues that were left by Margo by means of poems, posters, and such stuff. They found her in a barn somewhere in Agloe, New York. But Margo wasn't even happy to see the gang. It was then revealed that she's planning to leave for New York and Q was saddened by this news because he won't be seeing her that much anymore. Nevertheless, he will be visiting her during holidays and vacations.

I kinda expected that they'll become the ultimate lovers in the end. But, everything doesn't always end in happy endings. The ending seemed too ambiguous (for me atleast). I don't know Margo's purpose in leaving for NYC. So shout out to John Green to make a sequel maybe????

As always, Green left me in the edge of my seat after every page. It's hilarious, witty, swoon-worthy, and kinda nerdy in some ways (duhhh it's John Green). I recommend this to everyone, most especially for teens as well as adults. It's really quick and will never let you stop flipping the pages v(¯∇¯)

I loved certain parts of this and there were decent characterization. Also I laughed at many points.

Draw backs: what school has their senior class start reading Moby Dick in May?! Way to shoe horn in a way for you to make allusions and it kind of broke the suspension of disbelief for me.
There we too many times John Green described the act of peeing.
how is it that the omnicitionary blurb for what a paper town does not show up earlier? Q searched for that phrase but only said that he found it buried in a realestate forum. Either Q is really bad at using the Internet, or plot convenience, either way it weakens the story for me.
Pro-tip: if the only shirt available has a confederate flag on it, turn that shit inside out (although I didn't mind that part)

This is my first John green novel and I can expect more to come.

Paper towns is just an amazing book. Great characters, with believable sidekicks and world. His writing style is so refreshing and I love his use of punctuations in this book as well. The comic relief in the book was absolutely amazing as well and made me laugh so much. Their was also a lot of thinking and thought provoking ideas through out the book like the example of what a paper town is and paper people. Green has a real talent here.

I felt very satisfied with the ending and was much better than I was expecting to be. It had me guessing all the way til the last part. I was worried the middle was going to drag but found it fun and enjoyable all the way through. Definitely give this book a try! Its a one sitting book and will change you!

Whew! At first I was nervous about this book because it seemed like Margo was a cliche Manic Pixie Dream Girl, but, without going into details, that trope was subverted. Thank God!

I liked the ongoing mystery, I liked the characters, and I liked the obsession with Wikipedia (highly relatable). A fun, well-constructed coming-of-age novel.

I loved this book. I should know by now what to expect from a John Green book, but I was surprised at how smart and deep and thought provoking it was. He's a master at bringing a motif or symbol all the way through the book, and as a reader it's so fun and rewarding to follow them.

I wish I read this when I was younger, it would have made me rethink some of my relationships and expectations of others and myself. So good. Will reread. Now I'll have to check out some Whitman and Woody Guthrie.