Friday, December 26, 2008

Paper Towns--John Green (book review)

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back 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 of the girl he thought he knew.

Last week I wrote that Black Box restored my faith that I hadn't grown too picky to love a novel, after worrying that my expectations had grown too high. This week, I read John Green for the first time.

Oh, Mr. Green. You've gone and raised the bar for me again. Thanks to you, I can't read anything but cookbooks and my new merit badge handbook for grown-up girls for a few days until the glow wears off, because anything that follows this one will make me grumpy with its imperfection.

Paper Towns is funny and thoughtful and adventurous. Quentin, the protagonist, is lovable and funny, if a little mundane (but that's the point). Every last one of the characters is multi-dimensional, delightful and flawed, with a distinctive voice and character arc. The plot is unpredictable. Walt Whitman's Leave of Grass plays a key role, and I loved the scenes where Quentin is trying to figure it out or even read the whole thing. Did I mention it's funny? As in, "Now-what-are-you-laughing-about,-Mom?" funny.

John Green can be found online at Sparks Fly Up. He's published two other novels, which I'll be reading as soon as I can get my hands on them.

The soundtrack: Margo circles the track Walt Whitman's Niece on a Billy Bragg album as a clue for Quentin, but I think the lyrics of California Stars, from the same album, make a better fit for the story.


Further reading: Paper Towns was also reviewed by Nymeth.

11 comments:

  1. Oooooh! I got a copy in the mail yesterday from a lovely blogger! :)

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  2. this is basically exactly what i've heard elsewhere about this book. guess i better get a copy and check out what this magic is!

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  3. Alea, I think you'll love it!

    Moonrat, yeah, I'd heard grand things about it--which always makes me a little leery. In this case, though, it met my expectations, and more.

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  4. But have you read John Green's "An Abundance of Katherines"? I've just finished it and it is similarly fantastic!

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  5. Melanie, I'm so glad to hear that! This is the first Green I've read but I'll definitey be reading 'An Abundance of Katherines' and 'Looking for Alaska.' ::Happy sigh:: Nothing beats finding a new author to love. :-)

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  6. Hi! You expressed interest in my World Citizenship Challenge, so I just wanted to let you know the World Citizen blog is up and running. :)

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  7. Well, after that review, I consider this a must read.

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  8. "An Abundance of Katherines" is my family's favorite John Green book, which we are hoping to discuss this summer for the Homeschool Book Group for Teens. We also voted for him to be Multnomah County Library's next guest teen author - don't know who has been chosen yet. Finally, if you haven't heard of YA for Obama, he has a good article there (http://yaforobama.ning.com/).

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  9. No, I didn't know about YA for Obama. Wow! Looks like a lot of articles I need to read, by some of my favorite authors. Be sure to let me know if you hear that John Green is coming to Portland for any reason, Stephanie, I would go see him in a heartbeat!

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  10. Wow! I really want to read this book! Great review.

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  11. Glad to hear you enjoyed this! I've read Green's other 2 books and completely loved them.

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