Paper Towns by
John Green is a beautifully written, and intriguing story. It is about a
teenage girl named Margo Roth Spiegelman, who is a mystery to many – she has
run away from home multiple times, skipped school, and gotten in trouble with
her parents a lot – and Quentin Jacobsen, or Q, who has known Margo since they
were about nine-years-old. One night, Margo comes to Q’s window in a mask,
asking him to go on an adventure with him. A few days later, Margo goes
missing, leaving clues for Q and his friends Ben and Radar, and Margo’s best
friend Lacey.
Throughout the
novel, you can see how different people view Margo Roth Spiegelman. Most people
who don’t know her just think of her as a beautiful, popular, mysterious girl.
However Q and Lacey know her better than that; or at least they think they do.
Q has been in love
with Margo for as long as he can remember.
He thinks she’s beautiful, and knows she’s daring and adventurous.
However, parts of her remained a mystery to him; such as how she planned such brilliant
escape plans and perfectly planned clues. Or why she carried a black diary with
her that he only found out about on the search for her. He even wondered if the
Margo he knew was even the real “Margo”, because sometimes she was a mystery, constructing
perfectly executed plans for revenge, and other times she was an insecure
teenager, who talked about “paper towns and paper people”, and who would maybe
never tell people her deepest secrets. Also, at one point in the novel, Q
wonders if he loves Margo, or the idea of Margo; the idea of a beautiful, adventurous,
exciting, mysterious, girl, or the actual Margo Roth Spiegelman.
Lacey’s views of
Margo change through the book. Margo is her best friend, who she will defend to
death, and who she cares about deeply. But on the other hand, she sees her as a
closed off person, with many deep secrets and thoughts that she would possibly
never know about. She knows that she is fun, adventurous and daring, but like
Q, she didn’t know all of Margo. However, unlike Q, Lacey was not oblivious to
the secrets Margo held inside.
I noticed this book was written by John Green, and I was automatically interested because of the Fault in Our Stars. I always wondered why the book was titled paper towns, and the fact that "paper towns and paper people" which are full of secrets and mysteries basically describes what you wrote, which is that Margo is beautiful and intelligent, yet mysterious and witty. Many people, including her best friends, think they know her, but there are things only she knows about. I really loved your post and I like how you went deeper into the text without giving too much away.
ReplyDeleteI really do like how you elaborate on the idea of paper towns and people. I like that idea that Margo had with her black journal. I think it was almost like she made a whole imaginary town who would keep her secrets, who would always be there. I did this a lot as a child. I had my own imaginary places where I would be happy and exactly where I wanted to be and I find that very interesting that Margo (assuming that she is a teenager) did this when she was older. But now that i think about being a child and a teenager are very similar so just like I had an imaginary place in my mind she had one doing the same thing that it would do for me as a child. You have really interesting me in the book Kara. Really great blog post!
ReplyDeleteI really liked this blog post! I'm a big fan of John Green so this seems like a great book to read. I really like how you give a summary throughout the post so the reader isn't lost. This book kind of reminds me of 13 Reasons Why because after the main character she leaves clues to help people figure out why she did what she did. I love the whole idea of "paper towns and paper people" because in a way it's really mysterious and you have to figure out how to make it yours. Overall good job, I really want to read this book now just based on your post! Do you think that in reality people don't always really know a person they only know them as "popular" or "pretty"
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