Book Review : Paper Towns by John Green

Book Review : Paper Towns by John Green

Book Synopsis:

Paper Towns is the third young adult novel by John Green known for his famous YA novels “The Fault In Our Stars” and “Looking For Alaska”.

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows.

After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew. 

Review:

"Tonight, darling, we are going to right a lot of wrongs. And we are going to wrong some rights. The first shall be last; the last shall be first; the meek shall do some earth-inheriting. But before we can radically reshape the world, we need to shop." 

The first 80% of this book followed John Green’s usual (and usually successful) recipe: a smart, well-read and generally well-balanced boy ( “Both my parents are therapists, which means I am really goddamned well adjusted.” ) becomes obsessed with a beautiful, chaotic and self-destructive girl and, through his infatuation, learns about himself, life and adulthood. 

Quentin Jacobsen has been in love with his next door neighbor Margo Roth Spiegelman for as long as he can remember. Margo is everything: she is the most popular girl in school, she is smart, she is funny, she is restless. She has also been ignoring Q ever since they were old enough to have friends outside their neighborhood. Then, one night shortly before their graduation, Margo shows up at Quentin’s window and invites him along for a night or “righting some wrongs and wronging some rights”, after which she disappears, leaving only a few vague clues for Quentin to find. Instead of focusing on his finals and his upcoming graduation, Q becomes obsessed with finding Margo dead or alive (although dead seems more likely by the minute) and while searching, he learns the difference between Margo the dream and Margo the girl. 

There are many wonderful things I could say about this book, but above all, I appreciated that Green kept pointing out how extraordinarily self-centered each and every character was. I would love to say that this was limited to teens, as one expects teens to be completely egocentric, but it started with Margo’s parents and spread to everyone else involved.  This book was definitely a fun read and had some really good characters and witty comebacks.

Quotes That Made Me Think:

-Isn't it also that on some fundamental level we find it difficult to understand that other people are human beings in the same way that we are? We idealize them as gods or dismiss them as animals.

-What a treacherous thing to believe that a person is more than a person.

-I'm starting to realize that people lack good mirrors. It's so hard for anyone to show us how we look, and so hard for us to show anyone how we feel.

-As much as life can suck, it always beats the alternative.

-“That's always seemed so ridiculous to me, that people want to be around someone because they're pretty. It's like picking your breakfeast cereals based on color instead of taste.”

Rating :

There is something about Green’s humor that just sits well with me.

I’ll rate this book: 

***1/2 

Movie Lovers Treat:

“Paper Towns” is being made into a movie by the team of “The Fault In Our Stars” and Natt Wolf has been casted as Quentin who is going to appear in TFIOS as Isaac.

Reviewed by Fouzia Umer

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Book Review : Looking For Alaska (John Green)

Book Review : Looking For Alaska (John Green)

“First friend, First girl, Last Words”

Plot:

Looking for Alaska is another brilliant novel by known to the world author John Green.

It’s a High school tale of wallflower Miles Halter who took left his hometown Florida to attend Culver Creek Preparatory High School in Alabama. He has resourceful parents but he insists on joining this school to find a new path to life and possibilities.

Soon after arriving at Culver Creek, Miles meets his roommate, Chip "The Colonel" Martin. The Colonel soon provides Miles with his very own nickname: "Pudge," ironic as Miles is tall and slender. Miles is later introduced to the Colonel’s friend, Alaska Young. Alaska is described as an attractive yet emotionally unstable girl. Besides Alaska, the Colonel also introduces him to Takumi, a student of Japanese descent. Alaska tells Pudge about Simon Bolivar's last words, which were "Damn it. How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" Miles asks her what the labyrinth is and she tells him that's the mystery. After they joke about Alaska having a boyfriend and Pudge being single they make a deal: if Miles figures out what the labyrinth is then Alaska will get him laid.

Culver Creek is divided in two groups of students:

1.Weekday Warriors: The Rich Ones

2.The Ordinary Ones: Including Alaska and Friends.

Pranks are played by both sides on eachother. Alaska the prank-master is ahead all with The Colonel by her side.

After being a victim of a ruthless prank by Weekday Warriors Pudge becomes part of the game. He instantly falls for Alaska but keeps it to himself because she already has a committed relationship. He finds her truly fascinating with her presence overpowers his own self. While studying the religions, Pudge tries to find out the answer to the Labyrinth but every time he can’t satisfy the need of that question.

As Lara Buterskaya, a Romanian girl, enters their group Pudge feels attracted towards her and with the positive feedback finds his first girl.

In continuation of all the high school drama story takes turn and a very sad Alaska gives away her life in a car accident right after making out with Pudge on night. This event shakes each and every student of Culver Creek but destroys Pudge and The Colonel.

They both blame themselves for letting drunk Alaska leave the campus and try to solve the mystery of her suicide.

They find out the only way it could have happened was if she tried to squeeze through the truck and a police cruiser or if she did it on purpose, committing suicide. This causes them to wonder if they really are to blame or not. If she did commit suicide, then the Colonel believes she was selfish in making them help her. The Colonel insists on questioning Jake, her boyfriend, but Pudge refuses to, still clinging to the hope that Alaska wanted to be with him. They argue, the Colonel saying Pudge only loved the 'fun' side of Alaska, not all of her. Afterward, they make up, with Pudge realizing it's true and the Colonel confessing he's just angry and looking for someone to blame. They've been ignoring Takumi and Lara for a long time and apologize to them too (though Lara and Pudge don't seem to get back together). As a way of celebrating Alaska's life they plan the last prank. On Speaker Day the junior and senior classes are supposed to choose someone—a lawyer or small politician—to come speak to them. All of the junior class—Weekday Warriors, Pudge's friends, and everyone else—help with the prank. They convince the Eagle to let a friend of Pudge's dad to come speak of how sex is perceived by adolescents. In reality they hire a male stripper. When the man starts to give his speech Takumi starts the music. The man shouts “This one's for Alaska Young!” and strips in front of everyone. 

The whole school finds it hilarious, even the Eagle who doesn't punish them. Pudge finds Alaska's copy of The General in his Labyrinth with the labyrinth quote underlined. In the margin was written 'straight and fast'. Later they remember what date Alaska's mom had died and realize Alaska died the morning after. They figure one of two things happened. Alaska remembered the anniversary of her mother's death and came to the room sobbing that she had to go, referring to her mother's grave. But it was already after midnight, the next day. She was drunk and angry at herself. When she saw the truck and the police cruiser she was either drunk enough that she thought she could pass through or she was so angry with herself that she committed suicide, taking the 'straight and fast' way out. The last day of school Takumi confesses in a note that he was the last person to see Alaska alive, he let her go too. Pudge realizes that this doesn't matter, their letting her go doesn't matter as much anymore. He forgives Alaska for going and knows that she forgives him for letting her go. He'll always love her, present tense.

“Thomas Edison's last words were 'It's very beautiful over there'. I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful.”

Review:

“What you must understand about me is that I’m a deeply unhappy person.”

Looking for Alaska is all you ever expect from John Green. Intense mysteries of life in words of a teen. That is the beauty of this novel. A boy who’s addicted with the last words and goes to seek a Greater Perhaps and finds the love of his life instead.

“If people were Rain,

I was Drizzle and she was a Hurricane”

Alaska is a character one will remember for the rest of his life. Intelligence with deep Emotions. She carries a complex personality but a true heart.

“Y'all smoke to enjoy it. I smoke to die.” 

The story clings to mind with many of its special factors, an unusual plot and even more unusual characters.

This is a story about finding the ones that you love and then letting them go. It’s about that one person which comes into your life to unveil the World and the mysteries of Great Perhaps.

“For she had embodied the Great Perhaps--she had proved to me that it was worth it to leave behind my minor life for grander maybes, and now she was gone and with her my faith in perhaps.” 

Overall this book is the one to read 

&

I will rate this awesome John Green Treat With

****

Reviewed By: Adina Farid

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