« Cybils nominations announced. | Main | Things I never thought I'd hear my husband say, #982. »

20 October 2008

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Gustavo

I really wanted to buy that book, but living in Brazil sucks really hard. First of all, it would cost me all of my savings, because in this shit of a country books are about as expensive as jewels - though they do not look so great in a woman's neck.

Oh, I think there's only a first of all, at last. But, well, it is a good reason, isn't it?

I'm also waiting for his other two novels to come by mail, for I've ordered them on a local library, but it also takes forever to bring ANYTHING to Brazil - so they told me it's only coming in two more days, five weeks later.

Well, that's it. I just wanted to say how lucky you are, seriously.

Diana

I keep wanting to pick it up, but I was afraid it would remind me too much of As Simple as Snow, which kind of annoyed and intrigued me at the same time. Now that I've read your review, I'm still worried.

reader and writer

I'm only halfway through, but does Margo seem to be the exact same person as Alaska to anyone else? They've both got that bubbly, ultra-confident, and yet somehow cryptic personality. I'm reading the name Margo, but thinking Alaska.

It doesn't matter, really. I'm loving the book to death anyway. But (and this might be because I haven't finished it yet) it doesn't seem that Q needs her, or reaaallly wants her. I feel I don't know him yet because I don't know what he wants, he's just going along for the ride. So far the Q/Margo relationship is running parallel to the Pudge/Alaska circumstances: he didn't have or reach a goal, per se, just experienced this fabulous, difficult girl.

Maybe I'll just shut up and read the rest. The writing, as usual, is nothing but stellar. So kudos for that.

Matt

Thanks for the review - I had SO many similar thoughts after finishing it this weekend. John's definitely gotten a hold of a formula for his main characters. I was comparing it to LFA the entire time as well, which did heighten my nervous feeling about MRS (HA! Margo Roth Speigelman is initialed MRS) until they **SPOILZ** found her. I may be alone, but I found the "Looking for Clues" part a little tedious. Once they hit the road, it was - literally - off to the races and the pages turned themselves. I am an absolute fan of John Green and this is spectacular - I guess I was expecting P Towns to achieve beyond what was already a very high bar. In my mind, this is great, but no greater than LFA.

Jessi

My first thought when reading your review was, "Huh, that sounds like As Simple As Snow." And then I saw Diana's comment above. Have you read ASAS? Because I really enjoyed it, and this DOES sound awfully similar...

OolooKitty

I also loved "As Simple as Snow", and will have to check this one out as well. It sounds quite intriguing.

jmfausti

I found myself not wanting Margo to be dead, but worried that the other alternatives could be just as bad. Not finding would just be ridiculous because 3/4 of the book is spent looking for her and finding her could just be anticlimactic, unless it was done in a spectacular way. I was silly to worry, though, because Green worked it out really well. I really need to post about this one, I read it over a month ago. I'm glad someone is on top of things in the old blogiverse.

Leila

To anyone worried about the similarites to As Simple As Snow: I've read that one, too. And I see your concern -- but Paper Towns has a very different tone and I, personally, liked it much more. So you may still want to give it a try!

Matt: Yes! The roadtrip section was a real page-turner -- I need to read it again soon because I zoomed so quickly through that bit (the countdown stressed me out!) that I'm sure I missed stuff.

Katiedid

*Mild Spoilers*

Did anyone else also notice other little Brotherhood 2-isms, such as the "Best Wishes" that Q tacked onto the end of his email to Margo's ex? There was one more in the very first chapter but I can't reference my book as I've loaned it to a friend.

Gwen

i read Looking For Alaska very recently (for whatever reason, despite loving An Abundance of Katherines, I kept putting off LFA). I do see the similarities between Alaska and Margo, but I think Margo is more complicated -- there's no Tragic Secret driving her, for one, and her relationships with her classmates were fairly ordinary, whereas Alaska reminded me more of Stargirl in a Very Special Unique Snowflake kind of way. In general, Paper Towns just felt like it could happen in the world I grew up in, which made me feel much more connected to its characters and what happened to them than I did with LFA (which I still loved).

Leila

Yeah, I did think Margo was much more of a Real Person than Alaska and the more I think about it, that PT is much a stronger book than LfA. The Alaska/Stargirl comparison is a fair one.

paper towns fan

I am reading it now, though slowly since its an online read. I think I shall go purchase the actual book.

The comments to this entry are closed.

GA

Blog powered by Typepad