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September 14th: Paper Towns, Part 2

2007-09-14 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · comedy performance

John reads a condensed second half of the first chapter of Paper Towns: Margo investigates the dead man's suicide, appears at Quentin's window, and becomes, years later, a mystery to him.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; John will read a cut-for-time second half of the first chapter

  • ★★★ John reads a cut-for-time version of the second half of the first chapter of his new book, Paper Towns. — 00:00:05 · Paper Towns

00:00:12 — Reading: the dead man, Margo's investigation at the window, the strings breaking, Howl and "she became" a mystery

  • ★★ The narrator shrugs off finding the dead man: he did not know him, and people he does not know die all the time. (fiction) — 00:00:05
  • ★★★ That night Margo appears at Quentin's window after investigating: the dead man was Robert Morris, a 36-year-old lawyer who killed himself with a gun during a divorce. (fiction) — 00:01:04 · Margo Roth Spiegelman
  • ★★★ When the divorce seems no reason, since many divorce without killing themselves, Margo suggests that maybe all the strings inside him broke. (fiction) (hedged) — 00:01:34 · Margo Roth Spiegelman
  • ★ The narrator remembers the two of them staring at each other through the window, and says he hid the window screen in his closet the next morning. (fiction) — 00:02:12
  • ★★ In sophomore year the narrator takes a poetry elective because Margo, now high priestess of Winter Park High School, takes it; Howl's words still describe her at his window. (fiction) — 00:02:42 · Margo Roth Spiegelman
  • ★★★ The chapter ends with the narrator thinking that Margo loved mysteries so much she became one. (fiction) — 00:03:45 · Margo Roth Spiegelman

00:03:52 — Sign-off: John looks forward to the rest of Hank's first chapter on Monday

  • ★★ John tells Hank he looks forward to hearing the rest of Hank's first chapter on Monday, after which the videos return to being funny. — 00:03:45

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