Paper Towns

Paper Towns is the third young adult novel written by John Green. It was published on October 16, 2008 by Dutton Books. The novel explores the coming of age and search of the protagonist, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen, for Margo Roth Spiegelman, his neighbour and childhood love interest. Along his search, Quentin and his friends, Ben, Radar, and Lacey, discover more about the "real" Margo. Around the release of the film adaptation, the novel was subjected to critical reviews. It has even been challenged in a school district for its sexual content. 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 and was awarded the 2009 Edgar Award for best young adult novel. A film adaptation was released on July 24, 2015.

Plot summary

Paper Towns takes place in and around a fictional subdivision called Jefferson Park, located in suburban Orlando, Florida. The novel focuses on the narrator and protagonist, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen, and his neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman. As young children, Quentin and Margo one day discover the corpse of Robert Joyner, a divorced man who had committed suicide in the park. Following this incident, the novel flashes forward to present-day Quentin and Margo, who are now high school students that have grown apart from each other. However, a month before their high school graduation, Margo shows up at Quentin's bedroom window in the middle of the night. She has devised a revenge mission on a group of people who she feels have hurt her over the course of her high school career. The mission has eleven parts to it. Margo needs someone and more importantly, a car, to help her complete the tasks. So, she convinces Quentin to sneak out and help her seek revenge.

Paper Towns (film)

Paper Towns is a 2015 American mystery comedy-drama film, directed by Jake Schreier, and based on the 2008 novel of the same name by John Green. The film was adapted to screen by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the same team that wrote the first film adaption of one of Green's novels, The Fault in Our Stars. The film stars Nat Wolff and Cara Delevingne and was released on July 24, 2015 in the United States by 20th Century Fox.

Plot

In Orlando, Florida, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen lives next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman, his childhood friend from whom he has since drifted, but still has feelings for. One night, when she climbs through his window and summons him on an all-night road trip of revenge, he cannot help but follow her lead. The next day, however, Margo does not come to school, and after a few days some consider her missing, others just conclude she left to an undisclosed location. Q soon learns that Margo left clues about where she would be going, and concludes she is in a particular paper town in New York state. Q goes there by car with his best friends Ben and Radar, Radar's girlfriend Angela, and one of Margo's best friends, Lacey. They are in a hurry, because they want to be back in time for the prom. On the way Ben gets very happy about the fact that afterwards Lacey will go to the prom with him. Margo does not show up at the assumed spot. Q stays, while the others return with the car. He finds her, but she is not in love with him. She left the clues just to let him know she is safe, not to invite him to follow her. Q returns by bus and Margo stays.