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Megs �'s Reviews > Paper Towns
Paper Towns
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This book truly had me on an emotional roller coaster, and I enjoyed almost every minute of it.
The book was broken into 3 parts, and I honestly felt completely different about each of them.
Part 1:
The first part of this book was brilliant. It was a lovely introduction to the characters, and their life as high school seniors. It has had a flashback which was a fun scene.
The whole part with Q and Margo out at night was amazing. It was suspenseful and quite fun to read about those antics. We really got a sense of how far Q would go to impress this girl, although I never really understood why he liked her so much in the first place. Not that there was anything wrong with Margo, but they went years without talking and still he's obsessed.
Part 2:
The second part of this book just dragged a bit for me. After the first little shocker of the "smelling death" incident it really seemed to slow down a lot. Firstly, I think too much emphasis was put on prom and preparation for something that was really a non-event for the main characters in the end. I just got tired of hearing about prom after so long. Also, finding her just seemed to get monotonous, but that might well be because I'm impatient so don't worry about that!
Part 3:
The final part of the book was love/hate.
*Spoiler contains the ending...*
(view spoiler)
I definitely enjoyed this book, despite the few things I mentioned, and recommend it.
The book was broken into 3 parts, and I honestly felt completely different about each of them.
Part 1:
The first part of this book was brilliant. It was a lovely introduction to the characters, and their life as high school seniors. It has had a flashback which was a fun scene.
The whole part with Q and Margo out at night was amazing. It was suspenseful and quite fun to read about those antics. We really got a sense of how far Q would go to impress this girl, although I never really understood why he liked her so much in the first place. Not that there was anything wrong with Margo, but they went years without talking and still he's obsessed.
Part 2:
The second part of this book just dragged a bit for me. After the first little shocker of the "smelling death" incident it really seemed to slow down a lot. Firstly, I think too much emphasis was put on prom and preparation for something that was really a non-event for the main characters in the end. I just got tired of hearing about prom after so long. Also, finding her just seemed to get monotonous, but that might well be because I'm impatient so don't worry about that!
Part 3:
The final part of the book was love/hate.
*Spoiler contains the ending...*
(view spoiler)
I definitely enjoyed this book, despite the few things I mentioned, and recommend it.
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Reading Progress
October 22, 2011
– Shelved
October 22, 2011
– Shelved as:
e-books
December 14, 2011
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Started Reading
Finished Reading
February 7, 2012
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z-2011-reads
February 7, 2012
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✿~ڳ๏ℯմ�
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Feb 07, 2012 11:39AM
Wasn't John Green week in December Meg? :P
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✿~ڳ๏ℯմ� wrote: "Wasn't John Green week in December Meg? :P"Ummm. Not sure. I think so. lol I didn't just read all of these John Green books recently, btw. I read Looking For Alaska in 2007 and this one a few months ago...I just updated the reviews lol. :)
I love your review, Meg!
K.D. wrote: "I love your review, Meg!"Thank you, K.D. :-)
I resisted clicking your spoiler,
I agree. I'm a sucker for tragedy too. I kinda wanted her to be dead, as a message to enjoy life or something. xD
Your opinions about Part 3 are pretty much my thoughts exactly. I was recommending the book to a friend and said, "I just feel like that's not the end. Like where is the last chapter/section?"
I felt exactly the same as you. I devoured part 1. Loved the suspense of part 2, but was getting sick of Margo by this point. Part 3 mixed emotions. Reminds me a little of the movie before Sunrise at the end.
I felt exactly the same as you! My favorite part out of the whole book was part 1 because everything they were doing on their little adventure kept me in suspense and excited for what was going to happen next. The other parts died down a little for me in my opinion, like i didn't like that Q kept thinking that if he found Margo they would get together and live happily after, he needed to realize that wasn't going to happen. Overall the book was beautifully written.
I also read Paper Towns by John Green. I had the same feelings as you when I was reading it. I was hoping at the end that it would be more dramatic or not just that they found her at a desk. I wasn’t hoping she was dead or anything, but I wanted there to be more action. I also enjoyed the first and third sections the best. The second section seemed a little long to me because there wasn’t much going on.
I too was like "hmm that's the end? Well okay..." when I read Paper Towns. It felt unfinished and awkward when they found Margo. It definitely was not what I was expecting. I wanted more of an attention grabber. I agree when you talk about John Green's writing characters and writing style. I enjoyed many of Q's quotes throughout the novel, including: "What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more that a person." I loved how genuine he was.
You described so many of the things I disliked about this book, yet you still liked it. I found the end to be, just as you said, anti-climatic, as well as most of the book. There was emphasis on things like prom, where there shouldn't have been. I feel like there was very little material, and the material that was there was stretched so thin, it became incredibly repetitive and boring. The beginning was well-written, which is good, because if I had known what the rest of the book was like, I wouldn't have read it in the first place. There a few snippets like the night out and the rush after graduation that had me hooked, but there were so many more that made me lose interest. John Green should not have published this book with so little substance.
The thing I love most about this book is the chracters! I agree with what you said about keeping them genuine and true to themselves all the way to the end. While Im a sucker for a happy ending and I cant say I didnt want to see Margo and Q run off together to New York and live extraordinary non-paper lives, I dont blame Green. I understand why they couldnt be together and I respect that. In a way, they didnt need to run off together. Obviously this is just speculation , but im almost 100% that Q never really knew anyone like he knew Margo. It may have taken a few vague clues and almost hitting a cow with their car in the middle of the night, but Margo changed all of their paper lives. Lacey, Ben , even Radar! But especially Q and I loved watching that play out though the book.:)
I can't help but to agree that the 2nd part is monotonous or for me, it was just quite boring. I was quite disappointed as I heard so many good things about it. Just hope that the movie is better than the book.
I agree, Part 2 dragged a bit, and he was so damned obsessed with her even though he hardly knew the girl. I was almost expecting Margo to tragically fall into Q's arms, so thankful he found her, and he would tell her that everything would be okay, but thank god they didn't, she's not the kind of g irl to do that. You're right, it felt slightly awkward and unfinished, and anti climatic, but other than that, the whole car trip part was pretty cool, and I loved the rest of it too!
