I often tell people that I fell in love with my husband in our senior AP English class. We had a teacher who loved to have us read our papers aloud. While mine were fairly uninspired, I could have listened to my husband read his for hours. Not only were they insightful and eloquently composed, he was completely confident that his interpretations were the only correct ones. He had a certain bravado that few at 17 or 18 have yet mastered. Reading a John Green novel makes me think back to those high school days and how audacious teenagers can be. Whether you're a nerd or the new guy in school or just completely average, a John Green novel suggests that all young adults can be intrepid given an appropriate opportunity. This is certainly the case with the protagonist of Paper Towns. Quentin, also known as Q, Jacobsen generally travels the road of the straight and narrow. He works hard in school, is a loyal friend and freakishly well-adjusted given that both his parents are therapists. Only Margaret Roth Spiegelman knows how to crack his upstanding citizen facade. Margaret is Q's the girl-next-door, but is really anything but. Needing an associate and a car for a series of necessary revenge pranks, Margaret taps Q. to become her accomplice. After the all night revenge campaign, Q. wakes up the next morning to find that Margaret has disappeared. She's done this before and all assume she'll just show back up in a few days. She doesn't, but Quentin discovers that she has left some clues as to her whereabouts, and it's up to him to find her. As the quest becomes more convoluted, Q. ponders whether he really knows Margaret at all:
" That was perfect, I thought: you listen to people so that you can imagine them, and you hear all the terrible and wonderful things people do to themselves and to one another, but in the end the listening exposes you even more than it exposes the people you're trying to listen to."
Searching for Margaret isn't really about searching for Margaret. It's about searching for Q's idea of Margaret and how can she possibly live up to that? Still, Quentin's journey for Margaret does require him to be bold and daring in a way unknown to him. It allows him to live life before "the allure of a life rightly lived - college and job and husband and babies and all that bullshit" takes over. It's a gift from Q's girl-next-door much like this novel is a gift to all who read it.
For its similar beautiful and comedic qualities, I suggest you read Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron.
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