Audiobook Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Publisher:  Dutton Juvenile/Brilliance Audio

Publication Date: October 16th, 2008

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night - dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge - he follows her. Margo's always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she's always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they're for Q. Printz Medalist John Green returns with the trademark brilliant wit and heart-stopping emotional honesty that have inspired a new generation of readers.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

This is one of my favorite John Green books.  I read it a few years ago, and I thought it was really great.  The characters were multi-dimensional and had a lot of depth.  By the end of the book, I felt like I was a part of their group- like I knew them.  Of course, that is how I always feel after reading anything by John Green.  He is a master at capturing the human spirit and translating it to the page, and I haven't come across anyone who does it as well.  As for the story, it's got John Green all over it.  Love, adventure, hilarity, and the plight of the any-teenager...

I recently read the audio of John Green's latest book, The Fault in Our Stars, and enjoyed it immensely.  It made me want to go and listen to the audio versions of all of his books, so here I am...  Because John's books are so human and dialogue heavy, they make for great audiobooks if read by the right voice.  My first of his audios was Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  I was blown away.  I liked the book, I LOVED the audio.  The same was true with Paper Towns.  What was a great coming-of-age story, became an epic tale of friendship and devotion.  As with many audiobooks, listening to someone else read it just brings it to life in a way that reading it silently to yourself can't.  The narrator, Dan John Miller, does that beautifully in this case.  Paper Towns became a new book for me.  Q was that much more real, and Ben and Radar became even more beloved than they already were. Q's complicated feelings for Margo became almost tangible, and I understood more about her.  I really didn't care much for her when I read the book, but she grew on me to the point of mild affection while listening to the audio.  The ending was still the ending, and although I expected this time around, I still felt that same sense of satisfaction.  If you've read and loved this book like I did, you should definitely give the audio a go.  You won't be sorry that you did!

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Grade Level Recommendation:  I think the bulk of John Green's books are HS and up because they ARE high school.  This one had some teen drinking, language, and some talk of sex, as well as some dumb, and sometimes dangerous pranks, but in the end, it isn't the content that makes me put it at 9th grade and up (ages 14+), it's the fact that no MS age kid would ever GET it.