Paper Towns - John Green

Quentin has lived his entire life next to Margo Roth Spieglemen, and have been secretly in love with her. One night Margo shows up at his window begging him to help her sneak out of her parents house and help her with her plans for that night. For some reason Quentin agrees and what ensues is a revelation about Margo and ultimately himself.

The next day after Quentin and Margo’s secret night escapades. Quentin imagines that this is the renewal of his friendship with Margo, and perhaps even more. However, Margo doesn’t show up that day, and later Quentin discovers that Margo has run away from home again.   Margo had always left clues before, by chance the Quentin discovers a poster on her blind that faces his room. As Quentin tries to investigate the poster he realizes the clues lead him through a few discoveries about Margo he never new.

“…And I could picture her again: she unravels the carpet halfway each night so her hip isn’t against the bare concrete as she lies on her side. She crawls beneath the blanket uses the rest of the carpet as a pillow, and sleeps. But why here? How is this better than home? And if it’s so great why leave? These are the things I cannot imagine, and I realize that I cannot imagine them because I didn’t know Margo. I knew how she smelled, and I knew how she acted in front of me, and I knew how she acted in front of others, and I knew she liked Mountain Dew and adventure and dramatic gestures, and I knew she was funny and smart and just generally more than the rest of us. But I didn’t know what brought her here, or what kept her here, or what made her leave. I didn’t know why she owned thousands of records but never told anyone she even liked music. I didn’t know what she did at night with the shades down, with the door locked, in the sealed privacy of her room…”

Once Quentin solves all the clues he realizes he has two days to meet Margo before she moves on again. So after graduation, all his friends help in driving non stop so he can meet her once more.

I really enjoyed this book for many reasons, but I guess the reason I liked it most was the not knowing of how it would turn out, as well as the process Quentin goes through realizing he never really new Margo. Something that makes me remember that there is a lot more to people than the small pieces we see everyday in our interactions with them.