Paper Towns by John Green
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
Who is the real Margo?
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew...
MY OPINION: ****
So I'm too lazy to write a review (I have homework and a busy day tomorrow) so I'm going to paste an essay I wrote for this book--considering that I read this book for English, my essay is one of those analyzing ones.
Quentin Jacobsen, our protagonist, is a teenage boy who is used to living on the safe side of life. He rarely ever does anything out of line and his goal is to get into Duke. When Margo, his next-door neighbor and love of his life, slides into his bedroom through the window late at night, he’s faced with choices that could derail his life.
Quentin mainly feels anxiety as he decides between following Margo or saying no. Quentin feels anxious because he’s afraid of the consequences. He asks Margo, “Any felonies?” and when she mentions breaking and entering, he firmly answers “No, I won’t help…” (Page 26). He instead chooses to think about school the next day and Margo responds with, “There’s school tomorrow and the day after that… It’s a school night… That’s why we’ve gotta get going [to] be back by morning…” and even that reassurance, Quentin answers with an uncertain “I don’t know…” (Page 28).
At this point in the book, Quentin is faced with two choices that he could take. He could either go with Margo and risk what he thinks is important—his school and college—or he could stay home and be safe, though he would risk his own pride and would miss out on “all the fun” that Margo has promised.
Ultimately, Quentin decides to go with Margo. He listens to her and he realizes that she’s right: it would be fun and at his point in his life, he isn’t living. He’s just focused on how she said that “College… School… Career… House… Money… It’s all so boring…” and that he should learn to live a little (Page 33).
Quentin leaves the house with Margo late at night and proceeds to experience a wild adventure full of revenge, malice, fun, and catfish. Even through it all, though, Quentin’s anxiety grows. He says, “I don’t even remember the last time I got excited about something like that. The adrenaline in the throat and the lungs expanding… In through the nose, out through the mouth…” to which Margo responds to with “All your little anxieties… It’s just so… childish…” (Page 44). He also is worried about his actions having consequences. He states, “Well, first off, we will get caught… It’s illegal…” and Margo retorts “You can’t just shut up and calm down and stop being so… terrified of every little adventure…” (Page 69). Quentin proceeds to blow up at Margo but then he realizes that she is right.
Because Quentin decided to go with Margo, he feels braver and more fun and he even starts to come out of his shell. He decides to embark on a mysterious adventure to find Margo which he states he wouldn’t have done if he hadn’t already lived. His choices also affected his friends who are a little bemused by his new persona but are with him by his side when he leaves.
I would recommend this book to mystery readers!
Main Character: Q
Sidekick(s): Ben, Radar, Lacey, Margo, etc
Villain(s): Paper towns, misunderstanding, disappearing, outcasts, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life
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