On Paper Towns.
There is no way I could say everything I want to say about this book here, but I will try. And I’ll try not to give away anything, but if you haven’t read the book, I wouldn’t read this post. I do recommend the book, though.
John Green’s writing was remarkable. I loves his descriptions, which were child-like, but original and true. The characters were all very real, and I think I would’ve liked to meet the in real life. The book took me to an entirely different place.
But more than anything else, I appreciated the ideas. How you can both see people and not see them at once. How we all see other people in a mirror, not through a window. We all see people differently, and it is really hard to become someone else and see things the way they do, if only for a moment. I liked the view on change, and on leaving things. Leaving is painful, but freeing. And you can’t continuously leave things because you only get the rush of it when you are leaving something that has meaning and value to you.
Paper towns, in every sense of the term, do exist. I live in one. A lot of us live in paper towns. We are flat, two-dimensional, foldable people. I hate this place and want to leave it so much… And I think a part of why I like the book is that I can relate to Margo, the main character. I feel like her so often. But maybe this is me seeing the character in a mirror, not through a window. How should I know? All I know is that I felt a connection to this book.
The book made planning things seems so wonderful. Margo said something about how the fun was in planning the adventures, and when you got to actually got to them they weren’t that exciting. It sounds like a sort of tortured bliss. I’m not going to expand on that idea right now because that would require a lot more thinking and writing that I’m not willing to do right now.
Anyway, I do have one criticism of the book. Moleskine, not moleskin. John Green’s editor messed up really badly. REALLY badly. I saw “moleskin” and spent at least 60 seconds spazzing and wondering how the hell such a good book could have such a terrible mistake in it. I also spotted another grammatical error, but whatever. Didn’t Neil Gaiman say something about when you got your first book published, you would go to the bookstore and see your book, then open it up to the one page with a spelling error on it and freak out? It happens to every author.
And finally, this book really made me think about myself, where I stand in this paper town and how I am going to get out. About how we look at people and the way we cope with things. That’s all more stuff that I won’t get into because it will take pages, but…
I recommend this book. I do think people should read it. It may be labeled as young adult fiction, but there is nothing juvenile about it. Yeah, it’s about growing up, in part. But it is also something that many people will be able to relate to. Go read it.
Love love love love love love love. Paper Towns is one of the best books I’ve read. Ever. An Abundance of Katherines is also amazing, but…. man. Paper Towns = <33333333333333
About me
Just.... stuff.
