Pages

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Quick Pick: Paper Towns, by John Green

    Paper Towns book review, John Green
  • Opening line: "The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle."
  • Reason I picked up the book: I read and loved The Fault in Our Stars by the same author (which premieres in theaters soon) and heard that Paper Towns will be a movie soon as well, with one of the same cast members (Nat Wolff) from TFIOS.
  • And what's this book about?
  • 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.
  • Favorite paragraph: 
"Here's what's not beautiful about it: from here, you can't see the rust or the cracked paint or whatever, but you can tell what the place really is. You can see how fake it all is. It's not even hard enough to be made out of plastic. It's a paper town. I mean look at it, Q: look at all those cul-de-sacs, those streets that turn in on themselves, all the houses that were built to fall apart. All those paper people living in their paper houses, burning the future to stay warm. All the paper kids drinking beer some bum bought for them at the paper convenience store. Everyone demented with the mania of owning things. All the things paper-thin and paper-frail. And all the people, too. I've lived here for eighteen years and I have never in my life come across anyone who cares about anything that matters.
"I'll try to not take that personally," I said.
  • Recommended for: fans of Young Adult books or adventure stories. Or anyone who is a fan of fiction, really - it was a fantastic book.
  • Something to know: John Green will be a producer on the movie version of Paper Towns.
  • What I would have changed: That's a hard question with this book. I may have changed the ending a little bit, but overall it did fit the novel and its themes.
  • Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

18 comments:

  1. Ah I love young adult books! This sounds really interesting, Thanks for the recommendation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've read this plus 2 others of his books now, I think (TFIOS and Looking for Alaska or something like that) and they were all fantastic. He's written a few more so I'm definitely checking them out soon.

      Delete
  2. How do you read all of these books? I am jealous. I need to dust off my Nook. LOL!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, I work full-time and also go to movie screenings (for my other blog, yesnofilms.com) but I usually eat lunch at my desk at work and then take 30-45 minutes to go read :). I try to read at home too when I have time.

      Delete
  3. I love the opening line :)
    I work full time too, but forgot the last time read anything :(

    ReplyDelete
  4. I had no idea there were two more books being made into movies coming out! I had not heard of either of these books but they sound pretty great so they're definitely going on my to-read list :)

    Hopefully before I get to see the movies!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hmmm, is this a romance or more of a friends tale? It seems to walk that line I like from YA novels, I'll have to give it a chance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would actually say it's more of an adventure tale! There's a little bit of romance but also a lot of friendship, too.

      Delete
  6. YA books are really taking the forefront lately. I should look into more perhaps.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have yet to jump on the John Green fan club wagon, but I've been meaning to read the Fault In Our Stars. - Katy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TFIOS was a great, albeit sad, story. Try to check it out before the movie comes out :) it's in theaters on June 6.

      Delete
  8. I really loved The Fault In Our Stars. One of my students is reading Paper Towns right now and I keep wanting to borrow it from her!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should! Let me know if you get to read it.

      Delete
  9. There will be a movie? I like this book but not that much. :) My fave by JG is Will Grayson, loved that one so much :D
    Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, they're making it into a movie! With Nat Wolff (who is also in TFIOS) as the male lead.

      Delete
  10. I also bought Paper Towns because I loved TFiOS, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a good follow-up to TFIOS, reading-wise. :)

      Delete