Paper Towns by John Green is not only a fantastically written book but an interesting and unique novel that I deeply enjoyed exploring. Within the walls of this book were many metaphors, 

I was very excited to get my hands on this book after reading Greens’ novel The Fault In Our Stars. Although I had already seen previews of the movie, I absolutely had to read the book before watching the movie; it’s always been a preference of mine to read the book first. And this book did not disappoint my high expectations.

The protagonist of the book, Quentin Jacobsen (also known as ‘Q’), narrates this story. His boring childhood life is suddenly turned around as soon as Margo Roth Spiegelman moves into the house next door. To him, Margo is mysterious and adventurous, which always gives him a sense of being on edge. 

Although one day, Margo and Q discover a dead body, which results in them fearing to see one another. This causes them to drift apart.

As time passes, the two main characters are now in high school and are not as close as they were when they were children. They have hardly spoken since the appearance of the body. That is until Margo sneaks through Q’s window one night. Margo invites Q to accompany her in a plan to seek revenge on an individual who had given her trouble. 

After that night, Q wakes up to find that Margo has disappeared. The plot then follows Q and his friends on their adventurous journey to find Margo with the designated clues she left behind. 

I find that the plot is intriguing, as each clue gets the friends closer and closer to finding where Margo has run away. It provides a compelling desire to keep turning the pages to find out what’s next. 

The novel also clearly balances the comedic/diary-like standpoint of the protagonist with the mystery components of our plot well. 

Green divided his novel into three parts: The Stings, The Grass, and The Vessel, which was my favorite part. The titles of each part represent a metaphor within the book. Not only does each section focus on the metaphor uniquely, but it also sets the mood and atmosphere in which this book was written in. 

The Strings section is about ongoing change, referring to the strings inside a person. Thus, the person Q and Margo found in the park. His strings were broken. The Grass is about connectivity and how each person’s lives are attached to one another in some way. The metaphor behind this symbolizes how we all grow under the same “root system” and are endlessly connected. The Vessel is a deeper metaphor for life and our surroundings. As Margo sees herself as a “paper-girl”, meaning she was a different person around different people. They perceived her how they wanted to, and that’s exactly what she wanted. So, Margo’s “vessel” was her paper-girl personality. Her vessel protected her from the outside world. 

Not only were the sectioned metaphors my favorite, but the remarkable hidden conversation about identity as well. This book focuses a lot on the character Margo, and everyone’s different perspectives and opinions about her. Eventually, they each recognize that she is just like them. 

Overall, I think Green did an outstanding job writing this novel. From his way of balancing the metaphors to providing realistic discussions between astonishing characters, along with some funny additives in there as well. Q is a really understandable character and easy to relate to. Margo gives the book mysterious qualities, whilst also providing the importance of love, family, and change.