Book Review: Paper Towns by John Green

This last weekend I read Paper Towns by John Green. It was an interesting book and just thought I'd share my thoughts on it.

The story follows a boy named Quentin as he goes through the last little bit of his Senior year in High School. The thing is, his next door neighbor, and friend, decides to change up his life a bit. In the process though, there is one main topic and that's what I'm going to focus on. (don't want to give any spoilers) ;)

The topic that he uses is told to Quentin early in the story, but it stays in his thoughts always.

It's the idea of "paper towns". There are a couple different definitions of them:
     - Subdivisions that were never finished (also called psuedovisions).
     - Fictional towns that are placed on maps as copyright traps.

In these towns are the "paper" people. These are the people we see only as what we think they are, the way our "story" writes them. Green explains this also like looking in a mirror. It is only when we finally can make the person a window more than a mirror that we see who they really are. It is then that we can really understand them.

The other thing I found interesting was the idea of a feeling, the feeling of leaving your "paper town". When Quentin feels this, he gets a better understanding of why Margo did what she did. I think I know the feeling too. Though it's a little different, I get this sort of feeling whenever I go on vacation. It's that reluctance to return home because this new place feels so much  better. The thing is, it isn't until that big moment when we finally leave home to LIVE somewhere else that we get the full strength of it.

The thing is, all of this could be part of why I feel the way I shared last week, because I'm tired of living my little paper life. I want it to become real... but time just moves too slow for it to happen.



Rating: 5 out of 5
Even though there was quite of bit of language, it was still an amazing story, and that is all that really matters. Green is one of the few authors that I can pick up their book and not be able to put it down.


      Cameron
~ The Lost One ~