Paper Towns - Review by Dallie Flower

Paper Towns                                                                                                                                    by John Green                                                                                                                            Review by Dallie Flower

Most people sleep through the night without being disturbed by a wild knock at their second story bedroom window. However, this is not the case for Quentin Jacobsen, a geeky senior in high school just trying to survive till graduation. Quentin is neighbors with one of the most popular girls in school, but she is also one of the craziest troublemakers around. Little does Quentin know Margo (the neighbor) will take him on the adventure of his lifetime.

With mystery and action overflowing the pages, Paper Towns is a homerun success. Between a dead body and a missing girl, catching your breath seems impossible. With each turn of the page you don’t know what’s hiding around the corner, and with each event you’re obligated to continue on reading.

The pure mystery makes me love Paper Towns. Quentin’s enthusiastic search following the clues that were left for him was extremely engaging. He is exceedingly intelligent especially with the help of his bizarre friends. Green mystifying minds makes this book entertaining, suspenseful, and completely worth reading.

Quinton is by far Paper Towns’ most interesting character. His passion for finding the girl of his dreams, and saving her from whatever she has got herself into, is impossible to understand without reading the book. You can’t comprehend the true love of a senior in high school until you are washed over into the pages and forced to swim through the plot because your mind can’t escape the whirlpool of fantastic things going on.  

Another incredible part about Paper Towns is that it is an easy read, but it also challenges your mind into thinking about all of the possibilities that could be the answer to the mystery. You never miss a beat with the book, unless you count your heart skipping because of all the action as missing a beat. Paper Towns is truly the modern day Shakespeare of mystery and deception.

One criticism I have for this book is the ending. I feel like Green played out the wrong parts of the ending, and left some of the other parts unfinished. He could have been leaving it open for another chapter or even another book, but I doubt that. Green slightly stumbled at his ending, but other than that the book is an astounding piece of work.