Paper Towns

Paper Towns by John Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finished Paper Towns six weeks ago which means, of course, that the specific thoughts I had formulated about this book have disappeared into thoughts about Christmas and the stack of papers I have yet to grade.

The long and short of it is that while I didn’t love the plot line of Paper Towns, I did love Green’s writing. There were parts that I wanted to read aloud to someone right as I was reading it. It’s one of the most realistic portrayals of high schoolers I’ve read, which actually may be a deterrent for some readers for how inappropriate the content can be. The concepts in the book are powerful and led to great discussion.

The idea that keeps coming to me weeks after finishing comes from a character named Radar talking to the protagonist. He says, “You know your problem, Quentin? You keep expecting people not to be themselves.” I love how simply profound that is.