Looking for Alaska by John Green

Summary: Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.


Review: I'm going to try to keep this review of Looking for Alaska spoiler-free so forgive my vagueness. Alaska is a very complicated girl, and I adore her. I don't agree with all of her choices (and I'm including the second half of the book), but she was still fantastic. What can I say about Pudge? I need him in my life. Seriously. Takumi, Colonel, and Lara were great characters too. They all had very interesting pasts which make them all very likable. I think Alaska might be my favorite though. I don't like comparing book characters, but I couldn't help comparing her to Margo from Paper Towns. The difference was as Paper Towns went on, I liked Margo less and less. My enjoyment of Alaska's character never changed while I read Looking for Alaska. The story was incredible. A bunch of teens in a boarding school isn't the most unique idea, but John Green is obviously great at what he does. He found a way to tell this story without it being dull and repetitive. I found a bit of the book predictable, but that didn't make it bad. It just gave me more time to reflect on what was going to happen.


I'm thinking that John Green is one of the most fantastic individuals ever. Clearly, I'm late to one of the most amazing parties of all time. Looking for Alaska has to be my favorite John Green book so far. Keep in mind I've only read The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns so there are still a couple books I need to catch up on. Sorry for the short review. There's only so much I can say without spoiling stuff.

5 howls

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