Can I be honest? I didn’t really want to read Paper Towns for this month’s installment of Between the Lines. I mean the movie just came out and the previews didn’t look that intriguing. But I was wrong. Once I got into the book, I couldn’t wait to see how it turned out. Without further ado, here are the questions for this month’s book.
1. Why do you think Margo picks Q as her accomplice on her campaign of revenge?
When they are in Agloe, New York, Margo reveals that Quentin had always been a super hero of sorts to her due to her fantasy of a save-the-day Q in her childhood story. She picked Q because she “like that idea of maybe being able to create in [Q] at least an echo of the kick-ass hero of [her] little-kid story” (p. 292). And Q end up being exactly that.
2. Do you think Margo wants to be found? Do you think Margo wants to be found by Q?
I think it’s a little of both. Margo says specifically that she didn’t want to be found, but I think everything in her wanted to be found. She left the clues even though she tried covering them up. I think she very much was ready to leave everything behind – the people, the places – but the night she pulled her pranks she realized that everyone is not two-dimensional as she once thought and it changed her perspective. She admits to waiting in Osprey for two nights with the hope Q would find the clues quickly and find her, but then once she left Orlando she didn’t want to be found by anyone including Q.
3.Why do you think Q makes the decision he does at the end of the book? Do you agree with his decision to turn down Margo’s invitation?
I definitely agree with Q’s decision. He finally realized that what he wants for a future – college, job, marriage and kids – is not necessarily what Margo considers important. He believes in the future, and Margo believes “forever is composed of nows”. If they remained together, they would eventually move apart because their desires of the future is not the same.
4. Do you think that Margo meant to give her friends a false impression of her true self?
Everyone hides a part of themselves whether it is intentional or not. Margo admits that she cultivated the impression of a “paper girl” because everyone loves the idea of that. She admits that it’s kind great to be that idea that everyone likes, but she admits that she could never be herself. She left for Agloe so she could become her impression of real – or her true self for maybe the first time in her life.
Have you read Paper Towns? What were your thoughts?
