I lied. Here's some more ado. I have recently been watching an excessive amount of vlogbrothers videos, a vlogger series that John Green and his brother Hank do together. If you have not yet seen them then go watch them. They're good. And I have provided you a cleverly hidden link to their youtube channel in the third sentence of this paragraph. Anyway, having established that I am reading this book upon becoming familiar with John Green in a new media setting, we can begin our step by step journey through Paper Towns.
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The book begins with a prologue that introduces the characters of Quentin, our first-person narrator and protagonist, and Margo, the "miracle" that lives next door to Quentin, or Q as he is referred to in the novel and will be referred to in this blog. After sharing his philosophy that everyone gets one miracle, one incredibly unlikely event that happens to them, Q remarks that living next to Margo is his miracle. This sets up the whole tone of the story, allowing us readers to understand that the events of this novel will be fantastical. And that tone is even further set up through the nine year old Q and Margo happening upon a dead body. As for this section of the story I found myself engaged quite effectively, however I was unsure as to the believability of John Green's provided narration of a nine-year old boy. I found myself thinking, "Really John? A nine year old thinking about the 'circumstances of his [the dead body's] demise?' That's a little advanced. Doncha think?" Then I felt stupid because it was obviously a story being told by Q as an older human being. Upon realizing this, I became aware of how absolutely fantastically John was able to create the mind of a teenage boy and welcome his readers into it. There are thoughts of sex and selfishness and development and concern. It is quite well done.
The first chapter after the prologue is concerned primarily with establishing the setting in which Q lives. We get a sense of his friends, all of whom are independently developed characters and rely in no ways on archetypes, and his school. He and Margo are no longer really friends. He's a band geek, and she's one of the hot popular kids. If I had one complaint at all with the novel thus far, it would be that Green made all of the teenagers witty. Which, though it makes for more interesting reading, is not the most realistic portrayal of teenagers in my experience. Usually they're a little slow and kinda dumb. No offense teenagers who are reading this. You'll get better, I promise. But hey, maybe teenagers are different in New York and Indianapolis.
Chapter 2 introduces us to what appears to be the main plot, but I will wager a guess is going to actually lead into a much more convoluted plot. Margo shows up at Q's house one night dressed in black and wearing black face paint. She requests his help in completing a mysterious 11 part plan since she needs a car and Q has access to one. At this point in the novel, we have not yet been introduced to Q's family, with the notable exception of him contemplating when his parents granted him mostly unlimited access to the family van, which I imagine will serve some thematic purpose concerning authority; though I am basing this entirely on conjecture and have no idea yet since the parents haven't been introduced.
A quick analysis and review of the first three chapters:
Q is highly representative of the nerd collective. He is a virgin who tends to stay where he is comfortable: in the band room. However, the nerd is being whisked off by the interesting hot chick on an adventure unlike anything he's experienced. What is in store for him is yet to be seen, but we can expect it to be the most exciting adventure he has ever encountered, with the exception of his stumbling upon the dead body. Despite this appearing to be a get-out-of-your-comfort-zone-and-enjoy-what-life-has-to-offer anti-introverted nerd story, anyone who is familiar with the vlogbrothers at all knows that John himself is an introverted nerd. So what twists will come to reveal what John Green has to say about life as a teenager is something I look forward to (sorry for ending in a preposition but I've been going back and correcting myself all day and I'd rather stop).
If you choose to read this book, which so far I would definitely recommend, it might help to familiarize yourself with nerdfighteria (the vlogbrother's online community), as the book reading experience is greatly enriched by being able to catch references to the stuff John says in his vlog as well as to a number of things John likely included just because he likes. Paper Towns has so far made me feel really smart since I get so many of Green's allusions. If you watch the videos, you'll get that feeling too.
I am going to end each segment of this series with my favorite quote from that section. Here is this one's:
"In every room, save Radar's, their home was awash in black Santadom-plaster and plastic and marble and clay and wood and resin and cloth. In total, Radar's parents owned more than twelve hundred black Santas of various sorts. As a plaque beside their front door proclaimed, Radar's house was an officially registered Santa Landmark according to the Society for Christmas."
