Paper Towns
(John Green)
Today we will talk
about a book named Paper Towns. First, we will do a introduction, and then, we
will do a book summary.
Introduction:
-
John
Michael Green was born on August 24, 1977 in Indianapolis. John Green is a
recent popular name in the American young adult fiction. He is also an avid
video blogger who has published numerous educational videos online. The
Fault in Our Stars is considered to be his outstanding by far along with
other notables.
-
Paper
Towns was published on October 16, 2008 by Dutton Books. John Green gained
inspiration for this book, through his experience and knowledge of "paper
towns", during a road trip through South Dakota. It debuted at number five
on the New York Times bestseller list for children's books. A film adaptation
was released on August 24, 2015.
Plot Summary
-
Paper
Towns is the story of a boy named Quentin Jacobsen and the adventure he is
drawn into by his childhood friend and secret love Margo. As children, Quentin
and Margo discovered a dead man's body; an event that binds them in ways they
don’t realize. However, as they grow up, they grow apart.
-
Quentin's
good friends, Radar and Ben Starling are nerds. In contrast, Margo is the most
popular girl in school who has an incredible reputation. The plot takes off in
Chapter 3 when Margo gets into Quentin's bedroom and asks him to help her
execute an plan, which largely involves taking revenge on her ex-boyfriend.
Throughout the night, Quentin gets very happy and his love for Margo is
reenergized.
-
In the
second part of the book, Margo completely disappears and Quentin wonders if he
will see her again. However, Margo has left him a series of clues as to her
whereabouts, and that’s what the second part is, piecing together Margo's
clues. Quentin pursues Margo with the help of his friends, but all the while,
high school comes to an end. Quentin follows a string of false leads, which
makes him increasingly reflective and leads him to gradually accept that he has
made Margo into a magical non-person, a "paper girl", and that he
loves someone who may not exist. He eventually decides that the only way to find
Margo is to understand who she is. Throughout the second part, Margo use the
sentence “paper towns” in her clues, and Quentin figures out that a paper town
is a false city on a map that cartographers once used to detect copycats. She
had gone to a paper town called Algoe, in New York.
-
The third
part begins with the night of graduation when Quentin grabs his friends to
leave on an intense, twenty-one hour road trip from Orlando to upstate Agloe.
Quentin, Radar, Ben, and Ben's new girlfriend Lacey, must catch Margo the day
before she leaves Agloe forever. When they reach Agloe, they find Margo in an
old barn, writing. After fighting furiously about Margo's apparent selfishness
for leaving, Ben, Radar, and Lacey storm out. Quentin and Margo realized that
they love each other. However, they both realize with regret that their love
was based in falsehood, in being a "paper boy" and a "paper
girl." Margo left in order to release everyone from the effects of her
false, public personality. They admit their romantic affections for one another
but realize that her relation will never work out, so they give up.
Note:
We have a small point
to make about the concept "Paper Towns":
The concept of
"paper towns" is mentioned several times. John Green has seen and
heard of many "paper towns". However, his first experience with a
"paper town" happened during his junior year of college, while on a
road trip.
Conclusion:
If our presentation
you raised your curiosity, we advise you to read this book and we promise that
you will not regret!
Work done by:
-Daniela Silva nº12
-Ana Paula nº5
11ºA
