Paper Towns by John Green

Synopsis:
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life--dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge--he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues--and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.

Printz medalist John Green returns with the brilliant wit and searing emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.

My Review:
It’s official. John Green is one of my favorite authors of all time! Talk about a guy that can tell a story with such humor and depth that you are left wondering what just happened to you between reading the first page and finishing the book. I was afraid I would not like “Paper Towns” as much as “Looking for Alaska” but this book did not disappoint. I laughed so hard that tears almost rolled down my face. I actually listened to this book on CD which I highly recommend if you are into audio listening. The narrator did an amazing job with bringing the story and characters to life and he sounded exactly the way I would imagine the characters to sound.

What is wild is Green set this story in Orlando, FL which is another place I happen to know very well so I loved Q and Margo’s adventures up and down I-4 and all around the city. I also love Green’s view of the world in his books through the characters he creates and his take on love, friendship, and loss. He brilliantly addresses the issue of putting people we love on a pedestal and glorifying them in such a manner that there is no way the real person can possibly fulfill those expectations. Reality and fantasy come head to head as Q discovers that maybe Margo is not this vision that he imagined but just a normal and ordinary person like himself. How we chose to deal with and survive life’s disappointments says a lot about who we are which is something I took away from “Paper Towns.” I learn something every time I read his books about the nature of human beings and how complicated life can be. All in all a great read!