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bbrien 's review for:
Paper Towns
by John Green
I'm going to stream of conscious this review, as there are many different things I am thinking, but I'm unsure just where I want to go with the review. I'll also decide at the end of the review whether to give it 3 or 4 stars, as on the one hand I liked it, but some of the things I've been thinking since I finished it about an hour ago are disturbing. Not disturbing in a bad way, but in a I don't really know what to think way.
Margo Roth Spiegelman is larger than life at the beginning of the book. She is a caricature of the quirky, popular, put on a pedestal, unobtainable girl to Quentin. The book is about how Quentin finds Margo, and in so doing, finds himself. Through most of the book, she is mentioned using all three of her names, like a title of a painting to be hung on a wall and admired but to never have a real relationship with. One of the things that disturbs me about the book is how unreal Margo is. Although it is addressed in the book - "Margo was not a miracle. She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl." A girl is real, not something only to be admired or even despised; she is herself, whatever your opinion of her is.
Quentin's friends almost remind me a little of the Freudian Superego (Radar) and Id (Ben) to Quentin's ego. Radar talks Quentin down when he is angry with Ben; Ben plays the drunken crazy man who follows his urges. I don't like Freud, but he had a huge impact on psychology, no matter what I think of him. Finding a parallel to his thoughts in a book where one of the characters is a psychologist doesn't take much doing.
The city of Orlando features in this book. I live in Orlando now, for the second time in my life. I previously lived her for 7.5 years (from 2003 to 2010) and came back a year ago for good. I love the city, I love the parks, I love everything except the parts I hate. But it is just a city; there is good and bad wherever you go. I don't find it any more fake than Atlanta or Boston. I didn't grow up here, though, and I cannot ever know what that would be like. I enjoyed the teenage post millennial view of the city.
I'm a sucker for a coming of age story. One of the first books I remember reading is Tom Sawyer, and the young man finding himself in the world is a trope I enjoy, which is what made me want to read this book. The title appealed to me also, as did the literal and figurative drive to find the "treasure". I liked the ending - would have been upset with any other, really - so I guess I'll give this a 4.
Margo Roth Spiegelman is larger than life at the beginning of the book. She is a caricature of the quirky, popular, put on a pedestal, unobtainable girl to Quentin. The book is about how Quentin finds Margo, and in so doing, finds himself. Through most of the book, she is mentioned using all three of her names, like a title of a painting to be hung on a wall and admired but to never have a real relationship with. One of the things that disturbs me about the book is how unreal Margo is. Although it is addressed in the book - "Margo was not a miracle. She was not an adventure. She was not a fine and precious thing. She was a girl." A girl is real, not something only to be admired or even despised; she is herself, whatever your opinion of her is.
Quentin's friends almost remind me a little of the Freudian Superego (Radar) and Id (Ben) to Quentin's ego. Radar talks Quentin down when he is angry with Ben; Ben plays the drunken crazy man who follows his urges. I don't like Freud, but he had a huge impact on psychology, no matter what I think of him. Finding a parallel to his thoughts in a book where one of the characters is a psychologist doesn't take much doing.
The city of Orlando features in this book. I live in Orlando now, for the second time in my life. I previously lived her for 7.5 years (from 2003 to 2010) and came back a year ago for good. I love the city, I love the parks, I love everything except the parts I hate. But it is just a city; there is good and bad wherever you go. I don't find it any more fake than Atlanta or Boston. I didn't grow up here, though, and I cannot ever know what that would be like. I enjoyed the teenage post millennial view of the city.
I'm a sucker for a coming of age story. One of the first books I remember reading is Tom Sawyer, and the young man finding himself in the world is a trope I enjoy, which is what made me want to read this book. The title appealed to me also, as did the literal and figurative drive to find the "treasure". I liked the ending - would have been upset with any other, really - so I guess I'll give this a 4.