When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night - dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they're for Q.
The Review:
I've never read anything like this; such a poignant story that speaks of life in a different way. The ending is completely the opposite of what I had in mind but I wouldn't want it any other way. I feel sorry for Q, what he and Margo could have been, but he (and I should, too) needs to accept what is.
This is one of those books that evoke strong emotions in the reader, which will surely last for days, or at least for me. A couple of days passed but I still have this sympathy for Quentin and Margo whenever I think of this book. Most especially for Margo... It broke my heart when she described herself as a "paper girl", that she went to a paper town because she felt like she belong there---like she said, a paper town for a paper girl. She thought that if she went to a paper town that became an actual landmark, maybe a paper girl like her can also become real. I am so saddened that she thinks of herself that way, it was like she hated herself for pretending to be the perfect Margo everyone knew and loved most of her life; that she had to go away just to find her real self, all alone in an abandoned building, living all by herself. I know it sounds twisted---and I'm sure Margo is a bit disturbed to be able to do that---but it really got to me. Maybe it is the primary reason why I feel so sorry for her, because she went away and lived like that; because she wanted to live life the way she always wanted to, without ever worrying of what others would think of her.
I wasn't meaning to cry (or even tear up) at the ending---because it was the kind that is heartbreaking but you have to understand why it all happened in the first place, and not blame the author for it---but this quote did me:
"I stand in this parking lot, realizing that I've never been this far from home, and here is this girl I love and cannot follow. I hope this is the hero's errand, because not following her is the hardest thing I've ever done."ANNNNND this:
"I feel her hands on my back. And it is dark as I kiss her, but I have my eyes open and so does Margo. She is close enough to me that I can see her. [...] After we kiss, our foreheads touch as we stare at each other. Yes, I can see her almost perfectly in this cracked darkness."I am inclined to say that John Green is such a brilliant author, and Paper Towns is a truly amazing read.
