false I'm loving this impromptu, highly structured, minivan road trip. 0 2009-07-02T19:55:50-07:00 968531 261 2009-07-02T19:55:50-07:00 Is it too early to say I kind of hate Margo Roth Spiegelman? 0 2009-07-01T18:11:44-07:00 963404 69 2009-07-01T18:11:44-07:00 3 1 false false Thu Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 20 16:51:17 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 03 14:34:26 -0700 2009
I had a hard time with this book; I liked some parts, disliked others, and was generally uncomfortable most of the time; this was my first John Green book and I didn't trust him to give this the ending it needed. He did, which redeemed the book for me in some ways, but still left the problem of Margo Roth Spiegelman.

Things I liked: The writing is good. There's a hint of nerd power, which I always love. The road trip was awesome. Quentin's friends were pretty cool. I wanted more Radar and less Ben, but Ben toned down the chauvinist rhetoric a lot after he got a date to prom, and I liked Lacey. I thought I liked the narrator, Quentin, but...

Things I disliked: Quentin's obsession with Margo Roth Spiegelman drove me nuts. I was not on his side with this and I think I was supposed to be? I don't know. I wanted the opposite of what he wanted. I saw Margo as destructive and selfish, and I really wanted him to shut up about her and go find a nice girl who wouldn't make him break into SeaWorld. I am officially old now.

So that's my book report on Paper Towns.

Three stars for nerd power and good writing. I'd consider reading something else by Green, but only if it doesn't include a Margo Roth Spiegelman analogue. I'm probably out of luck on that, huh?]]>