Paper Towns by John Green

I know I am late on the John Green craze, in fact I haven't read more than 2 of his books so I felt it would be good to read some more of his books. Especially because I loved The Fault in Our Stars so much. I am obsessed with his YouTube channel and I find him to be very inspiring.

First of all, I need to point out that I was incredibly excited and pleased that John Green used Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman to supplement his book. Much of the analysis given were things that I had concluded when we studied him in my high school english class. Even though I agreed with what Quentine (the protagonist) thought of the poems, it felt as though Green was shoving that analysis down the readers throat. While I realize that it might be difficult to come to that conclusion if you haven't been exposed to Walt Whitman, it was a bit overpowering. 

Quentine, through his idolization and destruction of that idolization of his friend Margo, comes to an understanding of where he stands and would like to stand in life. At first I was afraid that Margo was going to transform herself in to a manic pixie dream girl, existing only for the male character to find his way to enlightenment. While many of the missions they plan for themselves are a little unrealistic, at least for me because I'm not that brave; Margo is an extremely independent, strong willed character. Easily someone to look up to. 

I loved the first half of the book. Strengthening old friendships, takings risks and pushing yourself to the limit. However, the second half disappointed me. Quentine a smart young man, basically obsesses over   a girl who ignored him for many years. It becomes a chase of cat and mouse. It was entertaining and well written, but I would have preferred that John Green not make Quentine so obsessive. It brings down the character that he tried so hard to build up. Character development is awesome, but the obsession that brought on that development is unhealthy and there was probably a different way to bring that on. But John Green is so good at what he does that it seems like Q was exactly the person he was meant to be. Many mixed feelings about that. 

The ending was a bit anti-climatic  for my taste, though I couldn't picture any other ending that would suit each character like this one did. I found myself jealous of Q's newfound friendships and I can only wish to find a group of friends who are willing to do random, road trips like they did. 

I would recommend this book as it was really good overall. I would give it a 7/10.  10/10s are reserved for Harry Potter :). Have you read Paper Towns? Tell me what you think of it below, I would love to have a conversation with you about it. During the next few days I will be reading Looking for Alaska (review coming soon), because school is starting  and I need to get my yearly binge reading session in.

Hope you guys are having a wonderful week,

Cielo