Book Two: Paper Towns

Yes, I have seemingly read two books in one day. Well, in 24 hours anyway, I did finish both. Paper Towns by John Green was a mesmerizing book. My sister, Titancia, read it first. I admit, the only reason I picked it up was she found it at our last book store closing sale and since she finished it the other day, she gave it to me. Otherwise I would have tossed and turned for several more hours instead of seeing it on my bed stand.

I really liked this book. The writing was excellent and the entire book flowed well. All characters were well written. I especially liked how the "other" side of more than one character was revealed, instead of leaving you to think one character as vapid and insolent, there was reasoning behind it--giving you more understanding. And this stood for all main characters.

Quentin's journey to find Margo is one we can all relate to. We all have that one high school crush that, at the time, we'd go to the ends of the earth to find more about. His just happens to live next door and lead him on in an unintentional way. The clues he follows to find her were complicated, but given the intelligent nature of Q and his friends, it was not surprising the dots were connected. Personally, I do not do well when it comes to geography and directions, but the way it was written made it easy to understand and I did not feel lost as I sometimes do.

Without saying anything because I don't want to give anything away, I'd like to mention that I don't particularly like how the book ends. It ends with the story, and turning the page to discover that was disappointing. The way the last chapter is written, the reader is given an expectation of at least a epilogue to satisfy the questions they are left with. The only way I forgive this is if a second book is written--or I can find a quote from the author saying what happened.

All in all, I highly recommended it. I will be making more of an effort to read his other books now that I know I for sure like his writing style. And yes, it is geared toward high schoolers, and no, I did not like high school, but it does suck you back and make you wonder how school would have been different if you had seen everyone as individual persons instead of groups of cheerleaders, jock, band geeks, and loners. And how it would have been different if you had.