John Green had been on my radar for quite some time and although I had tried to read "The Fault in Our Stars" which was made into a movie, after reading just a couple of chapters of this book, I put it down. I just didn't care about any of the characters. And if I was completely honest, I didn't like any of them either. But I thought I would give Green another shot and found "Paper Towns" at my local library.
The main character, Quentin, is a likeable high school senior as are his friends Ben (well, sort of), Radar, and Lacy. The obsession Quentin feels for Margo Roth Spiegelman is just a bit over the top, but maybe only because it has been so long since I was a high schooler and I forget the strength of the passions we felt at that age. I did feel though that the book was about 100 pages too long. Some of the scenes were too long and I didn't really get that they added anything to the overall story.
Sure, I can understand their concerns for their missing friend but it wasn't as if Margo had never performed the disappearing act before. And when they finally do find her she certainly doesn't seem all that thrilled to see them. But that was because Quentin had imagined that she left him clues so that he would find her. Because he believed she was thinking like he would think and he would want to be found. But Margo, being her own person, was ready to leave home, as they were all soon to do as each was headed off to college.
One of the themes of the book was how we are all individuals with our own thoughts and our own feeling, our own agenda. And as much as we may want someone else to agree with how we think, and understand how we feel, we have to let them go and be who they are - not who we imagine they are and want them to be.
I rate "Paper Towns" 3 out of 5 stars
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