Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I should start by saying that I don't recommend this book. Tons of language and crass humor. It has innuendo, as well as uendo. (not a real word but you completely know what I'm trying to say, don't you?) The narrator is a teenage boy, need I say more?

Second, I should also tell you that along with the crass humor was also oodles of HILARIOUSNESS that kept me laughing out loud. I have never laughed (out loud) while reading as much as I did while reading Paper Towns. John Green = SUPER funny when he's not being crass.

Third, even though this book was funny, it was also serious. And that was kind of weird. I don't think it blended well.

Fourth, you know how I feel about character growth, it must happen for the novel to be good. Q changed/realized/became. Love that. Lacey changed. I liked that. Ben and Radar were developed through the story. I liked that as well. Margo, nothing. Which was kind of key for the whole book to make sense.

Next for your reading pleasure, I will break down Paper Towns into 4 sections:

1. Introduction to Q's friends/Margo and Q's Ninja adventure: Hilarious and oh so entertaining.
2. Margo's disappears/Looking for Margo: This section of the book was slow for me. Characters did things that didn't make sense to me. Motivations were flimsy at best. (Hey, maybe we should go hang out in abandoned buildings. Hey, maybe walk through never built subdivisions based on nothing more than a hunch. Hey, let's read Walt Whitman 400 more times.) Plus, I had a hard time wanting to look for Margo. I was happy hanging out with Q, Ben, and Radar. I did like the after Prom party and the party at Radar's house. (best quote ever: "Please stop, you're upsetting the black Santas.) I also liked how Q put himself out there: taking on the popular kids and the such.
3. Road Trip: LOVED the road trip. Hilarious. Probably laughed out loud 50 times.
4. Ending: Meh.

Spoilerish: (but you're not going to read it anyway, so who cares?) In end Margo should have realized, like Q learned throughout the novel, that you have work hard to really get to know people, that we see people through our eyes and not through theirs. She should have learned that the problem was not WHERE she was but WHO she was. So the solution is not to run away but to stay and change herself. And possibly get some medication.

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