Paper Towns
“The town was paper, but the memories were not.”
I adore reading. I’ve been reading books by choice since well..since I could read. I was the kind of kid that got excited for new novels at Christmas and my birthday. But lately I’ve been in a slump, and haven’t been reading much, unable to focus and just easily distracted so instead I’ve been spending way too much time with Netflix. Even while it was going on, it bugged me, but in proper procrastination fashion not enough as I let it go on for probably a year. So I’ve decided that the only way to get back into the habit, and remember how much I love it is to just make it a daily habit. I chose a light easy read that was already on my bookshelf from one of my many Amazon book hauls. It’s Paper Towns by John Green (Yes, the Fault in Our Stars Author). It’s 302 pages, debuted at #5 on the New York Times Best Selling List, and won the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery. Well, I binge-read this in three nights, so it clearly was an easy read.
Margo Roth Spiegelman was not your quintessential popular prom queen in high school. She was the most popular but it was because she was revered for being a badass who had multiple self made adventures under her belt that would make any adult jealous for their wasted youth. Q is her neighbour and typical nerd who has been in love with her from next door all his life. They haven’t been friends for a long time but when she climbs through his window and takes him on the adventure of his life, to disappear the next morning, he’s even more obsessed. (I’m still torn as to whether to include this much, but it’s in all the reviews, the back cover, and the movie trailer so I guess it’s not a real spoiler? I hope not anyways.)
We follow Q as he searches for his lady love, in a journey of self-discovery, and realisation that he knows nothing about the reality of the person he’s adored from his window all these years. Now, if the book had not taken this turn, I would have probably been seriously vexed because yes I believe in true love, etc (obviously…fairytalekindagirl and all), but it needs to be based on the real person…the real, jaded, imperfect person. It’s only true when you can accept that the other person is not what you initially thought, but a complex, and scarred, but still worth it because they make you better and you make each other better. Well..to me anyways.
“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”
Usually when reading books, there are multiple quotes I find it necessary to highlight, save, share, because the beauty in the words forces you to admire and appreciate them. This book had a few quotes that really tugged at some heartstrings…
“Maybe all the strings inside him broke”
This right here is reality for every single person at least once in life. Life can be brutal, and we all have those moments where we do feel like our final string has broken, and it cripples us. Hopefully, we are able to find the strength from loved ones, or within ourselves to tie those broken strings together, and trudge forward to another day. But it’s always worth remembering that we all go through these moments, and you never know who just had their last string broken, so always strive to be extra kind…Extra human.
“You know your problem, Quentin? You keep expecting people not to be themselves.”
Wowza…I read that as “Sasha stop expecting people to be a version of you. They are who they are..and that’s okay. Stop throwing a hissy fit about it.” That hit me in the feels because this is something I’ve become much better at, but it’s still a work in progress. Surround yourself with amazing, worthy people but remember that these people are human and not psychic, so they will never fulfill all your needs, but it doesn’t mean that they’re bad people or don’t care.
All in all, I enjoyed this book..I also looked at the movie (yes, there’s a movie), and I remembered why I have a rule that as much as possible, read the book before the movie. You can appreciate the movie so much better having been acquainted with the details of the book, but once you know what is going to happen in the book, what’s the lure of reading? This is not always the case, but personally this is how I feel. The movie was okay, but I pick the book version.
This fairytalekindagirl is off to find the next adventure on my bookshelf…
Have you read the book? Have you watched the movie? Let me know what you thought, and what stood out to you! :)
NEW WORD ALERT:
OBFUSCATION: Confusing; Perplexing; obscuring the intended meaning; Muddling (love this word..reminds me of Muggles…Potterhead alert!).
