Book vs. Movie: Paper Towns
By Ben Gruchow
August 10, 2015
Juxtaposing these two rather major issues is the fact that the movie version of Paper Towns is ultimately quite a bit more agreeable in its implications than the book is; the story is not good in either form, but jettisoning most of the book’s middle means that we are spared much of the rather disagreeable portrait of, as my initial notes after reading the book put it, “one teenager’s descent into singleminded obsession, which he callously passes off as simple idealization." I remember feeling progressively uneasy as the book’s mystery plot unfolded - not because of its tension, but because of the type of mindset it would require for an 18-year-old to plan it, and for a 17-year-old to pursue it to the exclusion of all else in life.
And make no mistake, the middle of this book is dedicated to the search for Margo and the assemblage of seemingly random clues. You get the feeling that a nuke could have gone off in the book’s universe and the character wouldn’t have commented on it because it didn’t involve Margo. It’s a somewhat-accurate depiction of an infatuated teenager, but basic accuracy doesn’t automatically equate to a story well-told.
Another point in the movie’s favor is what happens to the speech: in the book, the characters talk like nightmares the characters from Juno have about themselves. The movie tamps down on this quite a bit, and the dialogue sounds generally more natural and believable. Some of this may be down to skilled work by the cast in selling difficult lines, instead of the lines themselves, but it’s there and it’s a factor. Ultimately, these cast members doing the work that they do leads to a significant bump in the movie’s enjoyment and entertainment, and you don’t get an equivalent bump from anything in the book.
Book vs. movie winner: Movie.
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