Paper Towns

     I normally eschew Young Adult literature. I find myself thinking of what I was like as a teenager and what my friends were like and what my younger siblings are like and I think that there is no way that I can possibly enjoy something written for those people. Teenagers are immature and annoying and emotionally volatile. Books aimed at that demographic can not possibly have anything to offer me. (A ridiculous overstatement and generalization, I realize. My favorite bookseries is *technically* aimed at young adults, and there are a lot of teenagers I actually like). While that may be true of a large portion of YA fiction, I have been very surprised at the books I have been reading lately. Paper Towns in particular was an incredibly pleasant surprise.
     The message of the book had so much more depth than I am used to expecting from YA literature. The book deals with imagining and its dangers. The problems with imagining someone as somehow more or less than human (when we idolize someone or have a crush on someone, we think they are in some way perfect or flawless, and when we make enemies, they are inhumane monsters). Imagining is damaging for people, but also for ideas and plans we have for our lives. One line from the book that was particularly resonant with me was "“The pleasure isn't in doing the thing, the pleasure is in planning it.” This reminded me of the many ways in which I find myself living in the future instead of the present. I am so excited about grad school and graduating and moving away. However, I spend so much time planning, that eventually, there will be absolutely no way that the reality will live up to my plans (the problem I have with over-hype, as described here). 
     Anyway, Paper Towns is another masterpiece by John Green, and I think I may have liked it even more than The Fault in Our Stars, mostly because the message of the book really hit home with me. There are definitely some parts (and character monologues) that, in my opinion, take away from the book's depth a bit, but I would, without hesitation, recommend this book to anyone who likes to read (young adult or not).