Paper Towns
Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs back into his life–dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge–he follows. 
After their all-nighter ends and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues–and they’re for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees of the girl he thought he knew.
Paper Towns debuted at #5 on the New York Times bestseller list and won the 2009 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery. It is taught in many high school and college curricular, often in conjunction with Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which is an important text within the novel.
If you’ve read the book and don’t mind spoilers, you can find much, much more over at the Paper Towns Questions Page.
If you would like to read this book in another language, go to the translations page.
Reviews (Spoiler Alert!)
“Green’s prose is astounding — from hilarious, hyperintellectual trash talk and shtick, to complex philosophizing, to devastating observation and truths. He nails it–exactly how a thing feels, looks, affects–page after page.”
-Johanna Lewis, School Library Journal, starred review
“A suspenseful mystery, a compelling central metaphor, and one of those road trips that every senior hopes he or she will have round out this exploration of the kind of relationship that can’t help but teach us a little bit about ourselves.”
-Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books, starred review
“A powerfully great read.”
-VOYA
“There are echoes of Green’s award-winning Looking for Alaska (2005): a lovely, eccentric girl; a mystery that begs to be solved by clever, quirky teens; and telling quotations (from Leaves of Grass, this time) beautifully integrated into the plot. Yet, if anything, the thematic stakes are higher here, as Green ponders the interconnectedness of imagination and perception, of mirrors and windows, of illusion and reality. That he brings it off is testimony to the fact that he is not only clever and wonderfully witty but also deeply thoughtful and insightful. In addition, he’s a superb stylist, with a voice perfectly matched to his amusing, illuminating material.
–Michael Cart, Booklist, starred review
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dear john, i think i lost my bestfriend of childhood. he disappeared to england, sutton valance or somthing (i’m from germany). but reading paper town gave me hope and showed, that it’s normal to live apart and you one time will meet again, if your friendship was real. thank you, for your hope- giving and wonderful words, john green!!
Hi John,
This is The only Book that I Read and I’d a Feeling to Read it Again! PLEASE Make an Part 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I beg You to Make an continue! It’s worth it. And it would be awesome if you could release it this year :)
As jokes as that would be, it is not possible for Paper Towns 2 if it were a reality to be published this year if he hadn’t started it yet. BTW, READ OTHER BOOKS AS WELL!
Nah he shouldn’t continue. What more could he write about the two? There’s nothing left; everything necessary that has been recorded has been recorded. It’s the end of their journey.
I agree with you, Emily. While it was an absolutely amazing book, I think all that needed to be said has been said. It was a beyond-satisfactory ending.
Well, I kind of agree, too. The character of Q was so appealing that I would also be happy to meet him (and Margo) in the future.
I doubt that John will pick this up again, though. The point of the book was made – and brilliantly for that matter. But after you worked out and understood all the implications on all levels of this book with your brain, you somehow want to get back for your heart tells you to.
Anyhow: lets be happy everyone survived this book.
hey there i was just wondering what compelled you to writhe this book because i have been in a similar situation although i didn’t get to the whole running away part lol
My Dear John,
I absolutely love Paper Towns, and I see me inside Margo.
I want to escape, and I hate this paper life.
So Thank ya, for Have written this Amazing book that expresses all my feelings.
Love You, and you marvellous novels.
With so much love and admiration,
your Italian #1 fan,
Bianca, or better IanTheRedOne.
Hi John,
First off, great book! Living in Orlando I am able to relate to the first half of the story!
Just one question though. When is this book supposed to be taking place? I got confused at some points because some of the places in Orlando didn’t match up to what my original thought of time frame was.
2008
Dear John Green,
I would just like to let you know that “Paper Towns” is my favorite book. Not just because it’s from my favorite author, but because it’s this book that gave me hope – as it didi for some other people. It’s quite a long story, so I wont bore you with details. I just want you to know, that this is a life changing book, my personal thank you, to you John.
Brennan
Dear Mr.Green,
I really hope you read this. You saved my life. I am thirteen year old girl who has been shown a life of paper, all her life. This book showed me that I can be myself, and take the good aspects of Margo Ruth Spiegelman out of this wonderful piece of literature. I would like to personally thank you for this epiphany of mine. I have also read Looking For Alaska and saw the pink wine reference. I loved it. This book has inspired me to show the world that I am me and nobody could change it. I will do things how I want to do things, and nobody can stop me. The reference to The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was also great. I have cut before and I’m ashamed to admit it, I was thinking about killing myself yesterday. I obviously did not. I read Paper Towns today, the whole book. Every. Last. Page. Cover to cover. And that quote from the Bell Jar saved my life.
Sincerely with my Love and Life,
Hazel
You have so much to live for sweet darling.
Try reading The Fault In Our Stars…There’s a Hazel in there as well. :)
Hazel, I was (still kind of am) in the same situation as you. I’m turning 15 in two days, and now I’ve realized through LFA and PT that there’s so much more to live for than this paper life.
Lots of Love and DFTBA
wrba there is a lot more. dftbat :)
I just finished An Abundance of Katherines it was great. I will read that next. I know that now.
its not impossible to describe this book with any words!!!!!!!!!!!its the best!!!!!!!!!!!!
I still remember the first time I ever heard of Paper Towns. It was in the first vlogbrothers video I ever watched about Willy’s substandard tail-rections and the paperback of Paper Towns coming out and “oh, new Nerdfighters don’t get these jokes and old Nerdfighters wonder why I’m still singing when I said I wouldn’t do that anymore, sorry.” I still remember it like it was yesterday.
I also remember exactly where I was and what time it was and how I felt when I finished reading my paperback of Paper Towns. It’s such an amazing, powerful story. As such, it used to be my favorite book. Now TFiOS is.
Agreed. TFiOS made me sob for two minutes straight. It was beautiful.
I was literally laughing and crying at the SAME TIME. It is just an exquisite novel.
Dear Mr. Green,
Thank you.
where’s the clip
WHERE’S THE CLIP?
I LOVED Paper Towns! Margoo was like the Alaska we didn’t get to talk to
i dont know you but i agree :) i read looking for alaska last year in my sophomore year and i was a bit sad we didnt find out more about her but i find margo to be ab it like me, she leaves a mystery :)
Don’t hate me or throw things at me please! I am in to “”Paper Towns” after reading “Waiting for Alaska.” I notice so many similarities in writing style 1.) This numbering system. 2.) The same beautiful un-attainable hero. 3.) The same main dorky kid who doesn’t fit in. 4.) His two best friends…..this time a Japanese I think instead of a black. 5.) Stupid parents 6.) They are studying calc.7.) He’ll do anything to be with the babe. 6.) Jase instead of Jake…..and on and on. I had to put the book down because I just couldn’t take all the similarities. It drove me nuts…..okay…..more nuts. Did anyone else find these similarities to be disturbing. I wouldn’t think an author would write two such similiar books. I am disappointed! Are the rest of his books like this too?
I know what you mean. Nevertheless they are both good stories and enjoyable to read they’re just a little too similer.
I’m reading The Fault in Our Stars at the moment and that is quite different. For one thing it has a female protagonist and while it is about love in a sence it is handled quite differently. Its certainly worth a read.
I really loved Paper Towns. I noticed it in my school library yesterday, and I’d been meaning to read it for a while, so I took it out. I wasn’t able to stop reading it – I finished it this morning in bed! I think it’s so tragic but wonderful, and I love that Q’s narrative was so funny and observant and human. In the last part, I went from thinking Margo was selfish and bratty to understanding that really, she’s Margo and she’s just human, so she’s made a mistake but she’s still gorgeous.
What I found in reading this book, is that something told in 305 pages can hold a lot of meaning; and also that John Green is a fantastic, Printz award-winning author not because he can spell and use grammar correctly and write well in the literary sense – although he can – but because he can craft a beautiful story. Thank you for this fantastic tale, I think it will stay with me for a long time! :)
Dear John,
I have just finished Paper Towns, and I’m really not sure what to say, other than that you are my hero. I don’t say this in the sense that I aim to be just like you, but in the sense that you continue to remind me why it is I believe in things like writing and words and self discovery, continue to remind me that being human is much more important than we seem to think at times. I’m still in that moment of total delirium that comes from finishing a book that has been an emotional, utterly life changing roller coaster. I’ve read The Fault in Our Stars (complete with a J-Scribble encrusted in daftly blinding beauty) and Looking for Alaska, both of which, including Paper Towns, have totally altered me. I think that all books do this to us, and you definitely are no novice in the field of “post novel delirium”, but I hope you understand, Mr. Green, that your words are very very important to me. Thank you for opening my eyes to all of the things I wasn’t seeing, the places I never thought I could go, and the people I never thought to fully look at without being caught in the headlights of an “idea.” Thank you for taking me to the Paper Towns, and believe me, Margo was right when she said I’d never come back. This book will live within me forever, and continue to shape me as I grow and wander, as will all of your other works of pure art. Keep being brilliant, and, I sincerely thank you for just BEING. For shaping me and molding me like the paper girl I’m not ashamed to be. It’s worth it. :) Thanks John. Just thanks.
DFTBA,
Erin Elaine. :)
Dear Mr. Green,
Firstly, as many other have done, I would like to thank you for writing such a beautiful book. The world of books seems to be ‘going to the dogs’. So many books/series I’ve read lately start with an interesting situation and proceed to destroy any hope of a meaningful (or even a vaguely good) story. Your story was true to life, and a book that shows life how it is is a truly great book.
I would also like to thank you for opening my eyes. I really identified with Margo because what she said clicked with the truth I’d been feeling all along. I was, and still am, dissatisfied with a life of “eating chips and watching telly”, and Paper Towns inspired me and empowered me to do something with myself, rather than just sitting around waiting for the future to come to me. Thank you for teaching me how to live.
Without wax,
Saskia
Hey John,
So I realize that you’ll probably never read this. Honestly, I’m ok with that. I’ve always found that it’s best to at least attempt the things you want to do even if they won’t matter to anyone else in the long run–because they still matter to you. Better to just get it all out before it has the chance to fester and turn into a regret. So here goes nothing.
I finished reading Paper towns yesterday, about a day and half after I started it. I completely devoured it and let it devour me; if that makes sense. The plot line was exciting and the characters were great, but what really resonated with me were the concepts you explored.
See, I spend a lot of time thinking. I have these vague, unanswerable questions stored in the back corners of my mind where my mind can turn slowly in infinite circles when not otherwise engaged. These questions change periodically as I do. For the past few months, one of my favorite thought-trails has started with this question: “Do I do the things I do because I want to do them? Or because I want to be the type of person that does them? And if the latter, does that make my choices any less valid?”
When I started reading your book, with all its questions about mirrors and windows, my mind positively spun with the insight you provided to my question. I want to know where the line is between a person, and the idea I have of that person. In your book, the person was someone else, but in my mind, the question is me.
Am I a paper girl? If so, is choosing to become this idealized version of myself make it intrinsically fake?
Or does choosing to become the paper girl make her real?
I’m not sure if I can answer these questions without turning them into a thousand others. I may never come to a conclusion, but I’m not sure if the point of thinking is always to figure things out. Sometimes the point is to explore thinking just for the sake of the journey.
So thank you so much for writing this amazing book. Parts of it made me think of The Great Gatsby, which I’m currently reading for the third time.
“There must have been moment even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his dreams–not through her own fault, but because of the colossal vitality of his illusion. It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.”
–The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
“…there she is, and I am watching her through plexiglass, and she looks like Margo Roth Spiegelman, this girl I have known since I was two–this girl who was an idea that I loved.
And it is only now, when she closes her notebook and places it inside a backpack next to her and then stands up and walks toward us, that I realize that the idea is not only wrong by dangerous. What a treacherous thing it is to believe that a person is more than a person.”
–Paper Towns, by…well, you.
So again. Thank you. This may be the first time I have read Paper Towns, but it will not be the last.
john, Thank you for writing Paper Towns. seriously, Just thank you.
Papertowns was the first John Green book that I read. It got me hooked. This book got me more interested in reading, and trying to find those amazing books. So yup John Green is my favorite author of all time! I recommend his writing to everyone!
I am not a particularly academic person however i do love to learn and read although i really cant. I have a severe learning disability (audio and visual processing and compartmentalization delay) and because of that i just listen to audio books but i listen to anything i can find be it you’re YouTube or selected shorts on free radio. i was given paper towns by my friend on December 17th and i just finished it today. It was a brilliant book i think its the first thing i have actually read in over a year but i enjoyed every second of it. i liked the the idea of cracks and strings in the book it really made me think. i just wanted to thank you for writing the book and tell you how much it meant to me to read something and finish it despite my difference..
My wife, who is a high-school librarian, brought this home for me to skim and give her my take on it (I write for a living with scholarly editing on the side). I was floored; this is sharp writing, good writing driven by heart and perception. Thank you for putting these characters’ story on the page. My tweener daughter isn’t quite ready for this book yet, but I’m laying it aside for her.
Have you ever felt that ninjas are overrated? Cuss me out if you disagree. ;)
Dear John Green,
Thank you for writing such great books! I just finished reading The Fault In Our Stars and loved it, thank god i got my own copy because i’m just going to keep reading it over and over. Thanks agian, can’t wait to read more of your books in the future.
Dear jjohn Green,
This book changed my viewpoint on just about everything in the world. Thank you for that.
I just started reading Paper Towns and I must say that the high shcool that Quentin and Margo go to sounds like the most awesome high school ever! Calculus, Physics, Finite Mathematics, a game design class. That is my dream curriculum!
i finished Reading paper Towns a couple of Weeks ago and, as you May have guessed, I have picked up The random capitalisation used By margo roth Spiegelman. i Totally agree that The rules of Capitalisation are unfair To the words in The middle of the sentance, plus It is quite Fun to do.
I love all of John Green’s books. The thing for me that makes them different than other young adult novels is the likable characters. I felt this with every character in Paper Towns except Margo. She was ungrateful and extreme and stuck up but I suppose she was meant to be. This was an amazing book and I read it in one sitting.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TALENT’S JOHN!
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