Green, J. (2008). Paper towns. New York: Dutton Books.
As
children, neighbors Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman discover a dead
body in the local park, and their friendship is never the same. Quentin spends the next nine years watching
and loving the mysterious Margo from afar.
One Wednesday night near the end of their senior year, Margo reappears
in Q’s life, recruiting him to join her on an all night prank adventure. The next morning as Q begins to wonder what
comes next for their relationship, Margo disappears. This isn’t the first time that Margo has
taken off for a few days on an adventure, but when Q discovers a trail of clues
she leaves behind, he is certain that he is meant to follow the clues and find
her.
Reader’s
familiar with Green’s Looking for Alaska
will find something familiar in this novel.
A reserved, slightly nerdy teenage boy who’s hopelessly entranced by a
charming, free-spirited girl will likely remind readers of Miles and Alaska,
and there are definite similarities in the dynamics between the two sets of
characters. While Miles finds Alaska
fascinating because her attitudes and behaviors are so dissimilar from anything
he’s known prior to meeting her, Q grows up next door to Margo and shares in
some of those early experiences that shape her, but she still presents a puzzle
to Q as her boldness and adventurous spirit are so different from his natural
reserve. Margo’s character is larger than
life, and readers may believe Q’s early descriptions of her exploits to be exaggerated,
but as the story unfolds, it seems her gift for scheming and thrill-seeking are
true. The other characters in the story
especially Q’s two best friends Ben and Radar provide humor and a dose of logic
and practicality when Q becomes increasingly absorbed with Margo’s
disappearance. Just as authentically
drawn are Q’s parents, therapists who love and support Q but also often see him
as they want him to be rather than as he truly is. This cast of believable characters also seems to
emphasize Margo’s dramatic personality.
The mystery
of Margo’s disappearance is compelling and readers will follow Q’s emotional
journey through highs and lows as he follows the clues and searches for
her. Although Q never loses sight of
finding out what has happened to Margo, along the way he is just as interested
in what the clues tell him about the kind of person that Margo is. As he searches for her, he comes closer and
closer to understanding the person behind the façade she presents to the
world. The mystery story is part of a
larger search for identity. Margo and Q
use several different metaphors throughout the book to describe the inner life
that represents true personhood, none of which ever completely seem to fit, but
by the end of the book, Q is satisfied by what he is able to learn and
understand about Margo as well as himself.
While readers may be hoping for a happier conclusion, the resolution of the
story fits with the overall tone of the book and provides the answers that those
drawn to the mystery of the story will require.
Literary allusions
are peppered throughout the novel with the most focus on Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass,”
which serves as one of Margo’s clues, but fans of the classics will also appreciate
the references to the poetry of T.S. Eliot and Emily Dickinson as well as Moby Dick. Connecting his characters and readers to other
literary works is something that Green is able to do in such a way that communicates
a clear appreciation and brings a sense of significance of classic literature to
his contemporary work.
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