Monday, October 20, 2008

Paper Towns




This is a teen book. I picked it up on a whim, and I am oh so glad I did.
It takes place in Florida, with a guy named Quentin as it's main character. Quentin is in love with his childhood friend and neighbor, Margo. They have grown apart though, now that theyre in high school.

Then one day, Margo knocks on Q's window late one night dressed up as a ninja and asks to borrow his car, and asks if he can drive it. Hesitatingly, he agrees. (Q doesn't like to get in trouble, Margo does) :) But he is in love with her, so what is he gonna do?! Of course he is going to say yes. They spend the ENTIRE night getting revenge on all of Margo's friends who aren't really her friends, she realizes. And then, just like that, she disappears the next morning.

Q is distraught and can think of nothing but trying to find her. In his search he comes to find that he never really knew Margo at all. And this is my favorite part. He stumbles on her music collection and finds out that she loves stuff like Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie and Billy Bragg. Walt Whitmans Leaves of Grass also plays a really important part in Q's search for Margo.

This one was very well written. It was extraordinarily dark at times, and also very humorous (Q's friends are a riot). There were times when i was reading it late at night and I had to put it down because it was getting a little too dark for me...but I loved it a lot a lot a lot.