This book review lacks a clever title

By Sage S

Paper Towns is an eventful and motivating young adult book, which may augment the reader's drive to take chances on the things most important to them and to trust their instincts. This John Green novel is narrated in first person by a young teenage boy named Quentin Jacobson, who is a senior in high school, going through the motions of his own social needs and dilemmas. When his lifelong, beautiful and rebellious neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman, runs away, Quentin and his friends embark on several investigations, using vague clues that are thought to lead to Margo's whereabouts. With barely any leads other than the two teenagers history as neighbors and a few highlighted texts from a book, Quentin analyzes and explores every possible truth about her disappearance in hopes that his persistence and leadership might show her that he is qualified enough to be with her. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone over the age of twenty-five, for the literary devices used in this novel might seem rather unimportant to a person who has already experienced and come to terms with the purpose of their high school life.

The most intriguing part of this novel was seeing such a steep progression occur within this teenager who was originally rather boring and impartial to most of the things almost every other high schooler mulls over everyday. Quentin is an all around good person, and most of his life revolved around doing exactly what was expected of him, even if it meant he never had any "cool" stories to tell. It almost feels rewarding to be along for the ride of a teenager who didn't miss his window of opportunity in high school to break a few rules for the sake of some fun memories and the right to finally be able to feel as if he wasn't just living anymore. One night of excitement, thrill, and retrospection with Margo Spiegelman was enough for him to realize that nothing good would ever come out of playing it safe when it came to the things he should be giving his best shot at. Witnessing the Quentin's change of heart makes for quite an enriching example of teen adolescence and the struggle to define the role one must choose to play in this world.

I would recommend this book to a pretty small window of people, for I don't believe this story will capture the interest of anybody younger than twelve or older than twenty-five. I found the concept of Paper Towns to be cute and easily relatable, although all of the ventures Quentin, almost obsessively, goes through in order to try and find Margo can seem rather redundant at times. If you are looking for a book that is easy to get into pretty quickly that includes interesting characters and a traditional plot, then this might be the YA novel for you.