Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green

AR Reading Level: 5.4
On the library stacks: YA Fiction
Awards: Booklist Editors' Choice; Edgar Award/Honor Book; Kirkus Editors Choice; SLJ Best Book

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So here's the deal with me and John Green. I loved An Abundance of Katherines. But I hated Looking for Alaska so much that I stopped reading it halfway through. John Green's fans are very loyal (and many also apparently have a lot of time on their hands). As a result, I still get personally attacked on Goodreads for my comments about Looking for Alaska.

I love John Green's exploration of human nature. In this book he does a great job fleshing out how we perceive others what we allow others to see of ourselves.  Here's two great quotes:

"It is easy to forget how full the world is of people, full to bursting, and each of them imaginable and consistently misimagined."

"When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out."

And he's dang funny. The section of the book from the graduation present through the road trip had me laughing so hard my husband had to leave the room so he could concentrate on his own book. But Green is crass and irreverent in a way that just doesn't work for me.

My other problem with this book is that I couldn't stand the elusive Margo Roth Spiegleman. And since the book is about Quentin's quest to find her when she goes missing right before high school graduation, I had a hard time staying emotionally invested in the story.

I'm so conflicted about this book. Maybe nothing was going to seem all that great after reading Jane Eyre. But I guess overall I sorta liked it.

Also reviewed by: Bart's Bookshelf ~ eclectic/eccentric ~ Teen Lit Review ~ Tiny Little Reading Room ~ Reviews by Lola ~ Regular Rumination ~ Dreadlock Girl ~ Piling on the Books ~ Reba Reads Books ~ Reviews of Young Adult Literature ~ Book Addiction ~ things mean a lot ~ Capricious Reader ~ Book Nut ~ Ms. Yingling Reads ~ The Bluestocking Society ~ It's All About Books ~ Bending Bookshelf ~ Becky's Book Reviews ~ Your link here?

Source: BookMooch