Friday, September 26, 2014
Narrator of Paper Towns
For his novel Paper Towns, John Green has made the narrator the main character: Quentin Jacobson. Quentin seems to be like many fictional high school students: not very involved, has a group of friends but still doesn't really fit in, and still can't seem to win over the girl of his dreams. All of his reactions so far seem very believable: afraid when he and his friend discovered a dead body at a young age, distaste for prom and the boyfriend of his love interest, and surprise when his love interest reaches out to him again through a window after years of silence between them. Quentin only has a limited perspective, so I have yet to discover that actual reasoning behind Margo Roth Spiegelman's decision to reconnect with Quentin and this will add a great deal of suspense as the adventures between them promised on the jacket of the book occur. So far, Quentin's perspective has made me hate his high school as much as he does. I have no interest in being around the bullies or the cool kids or watching Margo talk to her boyfriend who is obviously not as good for her as Quentin. Also, I can't wait to find out what Margo has to say to him after all this time because I don't understand why the close bond between them Quentin described has just fallen between the cracks. Even though the narrator has insisted that prom is the last thing we want (he wants), I'm not going to lie...I really want him to end up going to prom with her. With that, Quentin's being the narrator has established that high school is bad, but Margo Roth Spiegelman is the bright spot in that hell hole and now I'm left to wonder what effect she is going to have on him in the end.
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This book is on my list. I bought it last year and had to take a John Green break. How does Green pull you in like that -- make you feel like you don't want to be with these people at this high school anymore yet keep you turning the pages. How does he manipulate you? That might be a question you want to figure out as a writer.
ReplyDeleteFrom the analysis that you have given of this book it seems as if it is a very relatable story to our lives now, since we too are upperclassmen in highschool and so is the main character. Even though it seems like the plot of the story is very predictable and similar to most other fictional stories about high school, I still believe that it is a timeless topic that will never stop being relatable to anyone who has been in high school; because even if it is not the reader's personal experience they might want to imagine what it would be like if they were a totally different person in high school. I know that in your blog you talked about the different social groups such at the bullies and cool kids ,but it left me wondering what specific group the main character would fall into; dose the author say if he was in any specific club?; if he didn't fit in with the jocks or the cool kids etc., where exactly did he fit? The whole idea of unrequited love between friend is a topic that is also entwined in the book series that I am reading for my independent reading blog which is the hunger games series. Your comment on how you thought that the author made the reactions of the character believable made me think that I just might want to read this book myself. I happen to love romatic high school dramas but hate when the author tries to weave actions into the story that are unrealistic, it really takes away from the story as a whole and you can no longer connect to it because it is no longer a believable story to you.
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