Tuesday 29 November 2016

Paper Towns by John Green

Book Title: Paper Towns
Author: John Green
Genre: Young Adult
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Source: Library
Goodreads, Amazon UK

Goodreads Summary:
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs 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 the girl he thought he knew...
What did I think? Whilst I'm not the biggest John Green fan, I do think his novels are good at conveying the emotions and turmoils we all face (or faced once upon a time) as teenagers. However, he often follows a basic formula and his characters are similar across all of his books. Basically it boils down to: if you like John Green, you will enjoy Paper Towns, but if you don't, don't bother with this one either, it is just more of the same.

While reading some of his other books I often had the impression the message and theme Green is trying to convey leads to characters that are entirely too clever and too deep to feel real. Not so in Paper Towns. These teenagers feel like they're living real lives and their dialogue flows nicely. Add to that good pacing and tight prose and you get a very enjoyable and light read.

I really liked reading about Quentin. I wasn't a fan of Margo Roth Spielgelman. I've known people like her and I'd rather not have them in my life. However, her character is very believable and I loved how Quentin tries his best to find her.

If you're looking for a fun YA read with authentic characters definitely give this one a try.

8 comments:

  1. I can't say I have read any of his books although I keep hearing about it a lot on Twitter. Him and Nicholas Sparks (even HP). I am yet to read all of these books, I hope I can give them a try in 2017. What do you recommend as a first read for John Green?

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    1. If you don't mind tragic stories, his most beloved is (probably) The Fault in Our Stars - Girl with cancer, knows she'll die soon, but gets to experience her first love nonetheless. I really enjoyed that one, but it suffers from very intellectual and philosophical teenagers.
      If you'd like something more uplifting go with Paper Towns. I think it's short enough to give you a sense of what John Green is about without shredding your heart.
      I loved Looking for Alaska but it's also a tragic story and I think The Fault in Our Stars is better.

      I still haven't read anything by Nicholas Sparks. I might have to change that, actually.

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  2. Truthfully I haven't read much contemporary YA (need to remedy that soon) and I'm particularly afraid of tragic endings! I don't mind things bittersweet but downright tragic endings kill me! I've heard his books are a lot like Nicholas Sparks. I've only read The Last Song by Sparks and loved it despite the bittersweet ending..Maybe I'll give John Green a try though I don't think The Fault in our stars is my kind of book. Paper Towns seems like something I could read though :) Great review!

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    1. Paper Towns is the least tragic out of the 3 I think. But yes, he tries to go for soul-crushing. I haven't read anything by Sparks yet, always sounded too sappy.

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  3. I read PT a while back and really didn't like it. I also read The Fault in Our Stars and didn't enjoy that either. I guess Green and I just don't get on, lol ;)
    Great review, though :)

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    1. Yeah, I've got my issues with him as well. I can totally see how he's not for some people. Thank you :)

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  4. I've read one of his books and found it okay, but I don't read a lot of YA. However good that you connected with one of the characters.

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    1. It's the most important thing in a book isn't it, to be able to connect at least with one of the characters.

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