March Madness: Paper Towns Part 1

All right, continuing from yesterday.

The school setting is constantly interrupted by voyeurism of Margo... which doesn't seems to be in the same league as Quentin but he goes on peering in to her life... it's creepy is what I'm trying to say.

There's Ben with weird background and the token black guy Radar and the black Santa and whatever. The whole paragraph is interrupted with stories of Margo, just a neighbor and what seems to be a nice, if quirky, girl and epitomizing her. This voyeurism needs to stop, Quentin. You're a... weird person.

There's also lot of metaphors and non-metaphors that actually continues in the next book... qualities of ever-changing reality and sort... but I don't have the time or energy for that. Besides, this feels like a Norman Mailer novel with the weird hip lingo and a very stereotypical bully. Also, Quentin is a creep.

I really like Ben and Radar's characterization. And I feel like I'm watching How I Met Your Mother, as in all the characters are great except for the protagonist.  Then the main arc happens.

First of all, why? Second of all, huh? Third of all, I give up... It comes out of nowhere and I know it's supposed to be but there's nothing there...

So Margo needs help and... taking people as blurred shapes as to dehumanizing them trick. (As famously done by Heart of Darkness)

Overall, Margo tries her best to be Manci Pixie Dream Girl and Quentin is somehow incontestably in love with her although there's no real reason to be in love with her and whatever, this was intended.

3 whole catfish, wrapped separately, veet. big tub of vaseline, mountain dew six-pack, dozen tulips, bottle of water, tissues, blue spray paint... (this is for reference)

"Generally, the closer people get to me the less hot they find me." Foreshadowing.

Overall, the plan is silly and perhaps something is more for show than her true self... or another, I don't know. Narrator is unreliable and it feels like Margo is... I can't say. It just feels like Margo is doing this without any good reason and probably need to see a therapist or something. (But not Quentin's parents. That'll be weird.)

Then there's the SunTrust Building/SeaWorld sequence. First time I felt like this was designed to slow down and let us know about Margo, but I was surprised or interested at how little reflection there were. Margo never really reflect on anything. Just fluffs of "Winger speech" if you will. Overall, you get the sense of... senselessness. Why did Margo do this? Why do Margo do anything? You get the glimpse of thinking it's fun and she want to find something before we move on... to Part Two.