Paper Towns

By: John Green

Reviewed by Arnav Amin

Fall 2016

REVIEW: Paper Towns by John Green

THE STORY:

When Quentin, the main character, discovers that the love of his life, Margo Roth Spiegelman, needs his help for a crusade of revenge that she has had planned, he follows her through all throughout their home city of Orlando. They stay up till about dawn, traveling through the city and pranking everyone from their school bully, to her ex-boyfriend, to her best friends, and even go to Sea World. But later that morning, Margo is found to be missing and Q feels that she meant for

him to find her because he discovered some clues that he knows that she left for him. Q is eventually lead to an abandoned mini mall that Margo may have visited very often. Q believes that Margo has committed suicide and wants him to find her body. Q also finds a map of the U.S. When Q discovers that the mysterious holes in the wall line up to a certain place on the map, and he sees a suspicious comment on an Omnictionary chat room that relates to the same place on the map, comment, he skips graduation day with his friends and sets off on a long journey to find Margo. At the end of the story, both Q and Margo realize that they don’t need to be who everyone wants them to be or act. Since they have graduated and have become adults, they can do whatever they want and choose any direction in life. Margo chooses to leave home and most likely travel to new places and meet new people. She will not be a paper girl in a paper town like she was before she left Orlando. (270)

MY OPINION:

The novel had many strengths, some of them being that the novel was very deep and provided a new perspective about society and how it makes you think some specific things so that you can be in it. Some of those things don't matter, and the person should decide that for themselves. Also, if the person needs to run away to do that, then they can, but that will have certain consequences. Some weaknesses were that the novel didn't have a lasting impact on the reader and the actions of Margo were hard to relate to and understand. The author used good word choice by choosing words at an average reading level and some words that were above average. The author is a famous one, and has written A Fault in Our Stars, so I had high expectations for him. If I could go back in time, I would choose this book again because it is a good story with a deep plot and a lasting resolution, with some interesting moments in the middle of it all. I would not recommend this for younger readers because it has some inappropriate language and a high school setting, so it would be hard for younger readers to relate to the story. (209)

STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:

FIRST SECTION

1. Why does Margo sneak into Quentin's house?

1a. She sneaks into his house because she needs his car and she needs him to be a getaway man. (pg)

2. Why does Margo want to but catfish, Vaseline, and veet?

2a. She needs those materials to get revenge on people that she does not like. (pg)

3. Why is a building in Florida called the asparagus?

3a. It is called the asparagus because it is greens, tall, and it looks like an asparagus. (pg)

4. Why does Gus let Margo into the SunTrust building?

4a. He let's her into the building because the two knew each other from back when they were in high school. (pg)

5. Why does Margo call the city a paper town?

5a. Margo calls the city a paper town because she feels that everything was meant to fall apart and all the people were paper thin because they did not care about anything that mattered.  (pg)

reverence(pg. 14)

depilated(pg. 62)

aneurysm(pg. 86)

adolescence(pg. 86)

malfeasance(pg. 96)

MIDDLE SECTION

6. Why does the sheriff use symbolism to describe Margo running away?

6a. He uses it so that Quentin will understand what he is saying.

7.Why is Woody Guthrie's picture taped to Margo’s window.

7a. The picture is taped there because Margo wants Q to find the message that she has hidden in his doorknob.  

8. What is in Margo’s secret message.

8a. There is a map to the abandoned mini mall in Margo’s message.

9. Is Margo dead and her body in a pseudovision?

9a. No, she has left the city get away from the paper town.

10. Why to Q’s friends skip school to talk about Margo,

10a. They wanted to explain properly and play video games.

empathetic (101)

narcissist (106)

immerse (124)

pseudovision (164)

perpetual (193)

                               

LAST SECTION

11. Is Margo passing through Paper towns and aiming to come back on graduation day to surprise everyone?

11a. No, she has gone away and never intends to come back.

12. Why does Q not take the bus?

12a. Q does not wait to take the bus because he understands that leaving is too easy and comfortable, and he wants to be alone in his thoughts about Margo.

13. Why does Q want to drive the minivan instead of the others?

13a. He feels that it is his mission and that he should take responsibility for what he is doing.

14. Where and why has Margo disappeared?

14a. She has been hiding in Agloe, New York, so that she can get away from the paper towns and become a real person. d

15. Why does Margo feel that she is a paper girl?

15a. She thinks that she is a paper girl because she cares about useless things like clothes and popularity.

aneurysm (210)

perpetual (229)

virginity (243)

halcyon (274)

intoxication (295)