Paper Towns

So I just finished reading “Paper Towns” by John Green, I own four other John Green books and although I was late to read the story I was still excited and heard lots of comments from people I know who have read it.

**If you have not read it, please hurry to go read it and then come back because there will be spoilers.**

Okay, honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this book. It took me on a journey and I loved trying to figure out the clues along with the characters, but Margo…I have conflicted feelings about her. First, we start off with Quentin and Margo as kids and they find this dead body, they discover this and Quentin already knows this is not his thing. But Margo can’t let this go, she’s really interested and wants to know what happened to this guy. Then we go to them as Seniors in high school. Only a few weeks left until graduation, Margo goes to Quentin’s bedroom window and convinces him to go on this crazy adventure. They break into fellow students houses, place dead fish in cars and closets, even used Veet to wipe off an eyebrow. Next they break into Seaworld, she knew they would get caught but wanted to go anyway.

Margo is unusual, fearless, she’s a bit of a bad ass, but she needs help. This is why I’m so confused on my feelings for her. Margo runs away, a lot. She likes to go on adventures just because she can, leaving clues for her family and if they can figure it out they’ll find her. Like a stuffed Minnie Mouse on her bed to tell them she was at Disney World. Letters in her soup to tell them she is in Mississippi. She runs away and comes back. But this time after her adventure with Quentin she leaves again, weeks have gone by with no call or any sign of return. She left clues trying to say she will be okay, she wasn’t expecting anyone to come find her.

After weeks of trying to find her, it’s their graduation day, Quentin and his friends race to New York to find her. When they do Margo becomes angry. She wasn’t wanting to be found, she never planned on going back to New Orleans. She didn’t care about graduation, she was done. Was it selfish? You can decide, people were worried and some believed she was dead but what was going on in her head where she felt like she always needed to leave?