Paper Towns by John Green

Paper Towns by John Green is a satisfyingly unrealistic story, describing the journey of a graduating senior following the clues to find a girl he thinks he knows better than he actually does. The title in its self, a metaphor and recurring theme for the entire book, drew me in immediately. “Paper towns” are made up towns placed on maps, to prevent copying a company’s map; if the map design is stolen, the original company can identify because their imaginary town, or paper town, is on the map. When Quentin, a social outcast, sets out to find his neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman, a dizzying, rebellious and popular girl, who has mysteriously disappeared (and not for the first time), he recalls the one night she took him on an adventure. He remembers she said that Florida, where they live, is all just a paper town—it looks beautiful, yet plastic from far away, but so full of flaws and destructible when you take a closer look. This term, paper towns, has multiple meanings, creating confusion in the search for Margo. The book leaves the reader awakening to realism—you can’t always have what you want. The only aspect of this book that was disappointing was John Green’s characters were identical to those in his other book, Looking for Alaska, just with a different setting and plot line.