Paper Towns

First, I was so taken with the idea of Paper Towns as fake towns created by mapmakers to protect their work. How cool that the author tied this in with Margo's idea of Orlando as a paper town, i.e. touristy and fake and Margo's own issues as girl too caught up in materialism, a paper doll. The coming of age novel is starting to resonate with me now as I watch my own teenagers try to figure it all out. This book goes into some pretty heavy stuff but provides some lighthearted characters to break it up, Ben and Radar. I thought, oh they are just another bunch of stereotypes themselves but when I discussed this book with my husband, who also read it, he described having high school friends similar to both Ben and Radar and some even more extreme in their craziness. My favorite line from Radar "...you know your problem, Quentin? You keep expecting people not to be themselves. I mean, I could hate you for being massively unpunctual and for never being interested in anything other then Margo Roth Speigelman, and for, like never asking me about how its going with my girlfriend--but I don't give a shit, man because you're you. My parents have a shit ton of black Santas, but that's okay, They're them..." What a comment on tolerance for others. I had to remember that the author is male and so is the main protagonist. I kept thinking that some of the things Q did were a little over the top. His night with Margo, riding around looking at pseudovisions, exploring an empty shopping center and the road trip to Agloe. So, again, I discussed this with my husband and he had so many road trip stories, some with arrests involved (never him), that it made me realize, I had a relatively tame high school life. In high school, the world is yours for the taking, but sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you want to take. High school is also a time of worrying about where you fit in and making assumptions about people based on outward appearances without really knowing the person. This book did a wonderful job of looking at the perception we have of others versus who each person really is. Q gets to know the real Margo, Ben gets to know the real Lacey and Radar teaches us that we need to accept people for who they are, in spite of their shortcomings. I noticed throughout the book Q always refers to Margo as "Margo Roth Spiegelman." It reminded me of several of my early crushes from afar in middle and high school and how I remember the full name of each crush but never knew the person. Q struggles with who Margo Roth Speigelman really is throughout the book. A good thinking person's book!