Young 'uns see that reality can fall short

TO hear Quentin Jacobson tell it, Margo Roth Spiegelman is the living embodiment of the perfect female: a miracle and a mystery, merely "the most gorgeous creature God had ever created". Quentin, the teenage narrator of Paper Towns, has had a massive crush on Margo ever since she and her family moved in across the street from him. In almost every other respect though, they have nothing in common. He leads an unremarkable existence while her life has been "a series of epic adventures".

Paper Towns is a coming-of-age tale directed by Jake Schreier and written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber; it is based on the novel by John Green, who was also the author of last year's coming-of-age blockbuster The Fault in Our Stars, about two cancer-stricken teens who find love among the (emotional) ruins. This season's theme: how to reach your potential by breaking out of your comfort zone and grabbing life by the scruff o…