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mini_margaritta's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book. I thought it was entertaining enough in the first half to want to know the end result. Although I struggled a little bit in the second half with it keeping my attention as much. The mystery part wasn't as engaging and I often skimmed or skipped parts and didn't feel left out at all. The first half had more suspense and action the second half was a lot about what the narrator was thinking and processing. Plus although the ending was very realistic it was also very anti-climatic in my opinion. Overall I enjoyed it, it makes me think we all need a Margo Roth Spiegelman in our life from time to time.
ryanmombo's review against another edition
3.0
Not too bad
Amazing book, well written. Hated it to the point where I couldn't sleep the night i read it at all.
Amazing book, well written. Hated it to the point where I couldn't sleep the night i read it at all.
shailydc's review against another edition
1.0
Margo is a crappy, selfish character and I hated reading about good people (Quentin and crew) wasting their time on her drama.
ellee_v's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
fawnee0214's review against another edition
4.0
Quirky. I liked the juxtaposition of the two main characters' personalities. Actually had a happy (if ambiguous) ending, unlike some other books by Green....
sunburn_reads's review against another edition
4.25
Not really fond of John Green books but I really loved this one when I read it😭
jojobrown's review against another edition
3.0
For whatever reason, I have mixed feelings about John Green's novels. Because on the one hand, they aren't the most fantabulous books I've ever read in my whole life (contrary to popular opinion of those in my age group) and yet they still fascinate me enough to read an entire 300 page book in two days. In fact, this book was so fascinating to me that I couldn't even will myself to put it down to go to bed at 2am, because I just HAD to finish those last 50 pages and know what happened.
This book is a story about a boy named Quentin who is boring, to say the least. Or at least, his life is. Straight and narrow, full of routine, and Quentin likes it that way thank-you-very-much. Until one night there is a tap on his window from none other than the mysterious, eccentric girl-next-door, Margo. Margo is nothing like the straight-and-narrow. She makes it so her life darts from one dramatic adventure to the next, creating magnificent and often unbelievable stories for everyone to whisper about at their lockers when she finally returns. Margo is the silent queen of Jefferson High, and simultaneously the love of Quentin's young life.
So when she raps on his window that one night and asks him to come wreak mayhem on those who've just done her wrong, how could he not accept (anxious and panicked as he was)?
After a long night of exhilarating, revengeful antics, Quentin feels connected to Margo and wonders why she chose him. He doesn't get to ask the next morning, because Margo has disappeared. But this is not another one of her short escapades. This time, Q fears, is for good.
It is up to Q, the wild personalities of his band-geek friends, and some other unexpected friends to decipher the clues Margo has left him as to where she has fled, which makes for the craziest end to their high school career ever.
I enjoyed the book mostly because it was such an intricate weaving of information and mystery. There was momentum and Q's obsession with finding Margo was so captivating to the reader. On top of that, the characters move through a shift when they begin to realize that nobody – not even Margo Roth Spiegelman – can be this idealized version of a person. People are just people, with feelings and problems and a feeling of emptiness when night has settled, and the moon is the only one they trust enough to listen.
The characters are round, and developing, and there's so much complexity within them. As it should be. That's why I couldn't put this book down. Just like Q, I had to know. But not just about Margo. I had to know about him too. I had to finish it, so I could know what they both said to the moon.
This book is a story about a boy named Quentin who is boring, to say the least. Or at least, his life is. Straight and narrow, full of routine, and Quentin likes it that way thank-you-very-much. Until one night there is a tap on his window from none other than the mysterious, eccentric girl-next-door, Margo. Margo is nothing like the straight-and-narrow. She makes it so her life darts from one dramatic adventure to the next, creating magnificent and often unbelievable stories for everyone to whisper about at their lockers when she finally returns. Margo is the silent queen of Jefferson High, and simultaneously the love of Quentin's young life.
So when she raps on his window that one night and asks him to come wreak mayhem on those who've just done her wrong, how could he not accept (anxious and panicked as he was)?
After a long night of exhilarating, revengeful antics, Quentin feels connected to Margo and wonders why she chose him. He doesn't get to ask the next morning, because Margo has disappeared. But this is not another one of her short escapades. This time, Q fears, is for good.
It is up to Q, the wild personalities of his band-geek friends, and some other unexpected friends to decipher the clues Margo has left him as to where she has fled, which makes for the craziest end to their high school career ever.
I enjoyed the book mostly because it was such an intricate weaving of information and mystery. There was momentum and Q's obsession with finding Margo was so captivating to the reader. On top of that, the characters move through a shift when they begin to realize that nobody – not even Margo Roth Spiegelman – can be this idealized version of a person. People are just people, with feelings and problems and a feeling of emptiness when night has settled, and the moon is the only one they trust enough to listen.
The characters are round, and developing, and there's so much complexity within them. As it should be. That's why I couldn't put this book down. Just like Q, I had to know. But not just about Margo. I had to know about him too. I had to finish it, so I could know what they both said to the moon.
pepe_pepe's review against another edition
4.0
So I've heard about this for some time, but wasn't overly eager to get my hands on another John Green book, due to too much hype, and not because I didn't like The Fault in Our Stars, because I did. Lots of my friends liked this, and I did too.
I tried reading Looking for Alaska, didn't get very far and then decided to give Paper Towns a try. The synopsis seemed rather boring and uninteresting, which was a bit of a turn-off. But after a few chapters, I was drawn in. One of my favourite bits was when Q and Margo go off on that one night to play pranks on their classmates.
Almost the rest of the time, Q is just looking for Margo and trying to find and decipher clues that Margo 'left' for him. This part didn't exactly drag but wasn't super fun to read. It was necessary to the story though, it gave it a sort of build-up to the final scene and by then I just really wanted to know what happened at the end. Also, Q learns a lot about himself, Margo and life in general through that whole process.
When Quentin finally finds Margo, there's this whole deluge of explanations. While this benefited the reader wholly, and didn't leave me confused or feeling that it was a bit vague, I wondered whether this could have been done differently, instead of Margo just telling Quentin everything. However, I really liked the ending, it's probably the best ending after the whole story.
The characters are interesting, plot somewhat satisfying but the pacing rather slow. While the story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I really liked how cleverly written and thought out this was, allowing me to give this 4 stars instead of something like 3.5.
I tried reading Looking for Alaska, didn't get very far and then decided to give Paper Towns a try. The synopsis seemed rather boring and uninteresting, which was a bit of a turn-off. But after a few chapters, I was drawn in. One of my favourite bits was when Q and Margo go off on that one night to play pranks on their classmates.
Almost the rest of the time, Q is just looking for Margo and trying to find and decipher clues that Margo 'left' for him. This part didn't exactly drag but wasn't super fun to read. It was necessary to the story though, it gave it a sort of build-up to the final scene and by then I just really wanted to know what happened at the end. Also, Q learns a lot about himself, Margo and life in general through that whole process.
When Quentin finally finds Margo, there's this whole deluge of explanations. While this benefited the reader wholly, and didn't leave me confused or feeling that it was a bit vague, I wondered whether this could have been done differently, instead of Margo just telling Quentin everything. However, I really liked the ending, it's probably the best ending after the whole story.
The characters are interesting, plot somewhat satisfying but the pacing rather slow. While the story wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I really liked how cleverly written and thought out this was, allowing me to give this 4 stars instead of something like 3.5.
makalakm's review against another edition
5.0
So good. I loved it. I cried when I thought John Green was going to kill off the girl, so I was very glad when he didn't. It was funny and witty and just good. I loved the tense shifts, and the last part made me never want to put the book down.
anikafrink13's review against another edition
5.0
In love with this book. The Fault in Our Stars was amazing as well and this book made me officially decide that John Green is my favorite author.
I loved it. The suspense of it, the thought involved, the aspect of questioning everything that Quentin had to do. It was incredible the love story and I don't think it could have played out any better. The beautiful tragedy that they couldn't be together after all the time but the contentment that it happened and they changed and they were these new people with this new connection that really wasn't all that new. The concept of paper towns and paper people is also amazing to me. I think this is a version of how the journey is more important than the destination because of how Quentin completely changed throughout his search for Margo and how his group of friends and the entire foundation that their relationships to each other were based on evolved into something much deeper than they ever thought.
One of my favorite moments was when Quentin showed up at the school for graduation to tell his parents and he thought Lacey, Ben, and Radar were just there to get the beer but he got back to the car and they were still there, refusing to let him go alone. It shows true friendship at its finest. I enjoyed the friendship that played out between Quentin and Lacey as well. They were not supposed to be friend nor were her and Ben supposed to date but it happened in the twist of events in the Margo-less high school hierarchy and they turned out to actually all like each other and enjoy spending time together.
In the middle section during he search for Margo I started to get a little lost and feel a redundancy in the search but I definitely think it was necessary. You have to feel that way to understand how the characters felt. It's the buildup that makes the ending all the more satisfying and understandable.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and I think it takes a certain type of higher thinking to fully "get" the essence of what was trying to be portrayed. You can't just read it you actually have to feel it and think about it which I love in a book. So for that thank you John Green.
I loved it. The suspense of it, the thought involved, the aspect of questioning everything that Quentin had to do. It was incredible the love story and I don't think it could have played out any better. The beautiful tragedy that they couldn't be together after all the time but the contentment that it happened and they changed and they were these new people with this new connection that really wasn't all that new. The concept of paper towns and paper people is also amazing to me. I think this is a version of how the journey is more important than the destination because of how Quentin completely changed throughout his search for Margo and how his group of friends and the entire foundation that their relationships to each other were based on evolved into something much deeper than they ever thought.
One of my favorite moments was when Quentin showed up at the school for graduation to tell his parents and he thought Lacey, Ben, and Radar were just there to get the beer but he got back to the car and they were still there, refusing to let him go alone. It shows true friendship at its finest. I enjoyed the friendship that played out between Quentin and Lacey as well. They were not supposed to be friend nor were her and Ben supposed to date but it happened in the twist of events in the Margo-less high school hierarchy and they turned out to actually all like each other and enjoy spending time together.
In the middle section during he search for Margo I started to get a little lost and feel a redundancy in the search but I definitely think it was necessary. You have to feel that way to understand how the characters felt. It's the buildup that makes the ending all the more satisfying and understandable.
Overall I really enjoyed the book and I think it takes a certain type of higher thinking to fully "get" the essence of what was trying to be portrayed. You can't just read it you actually have to feel it and think about it which I love in a book. So for that thank you John Green.