Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Looking for Alaska by John Green Book Review

Looking for Alaska by John Green
(Speak, Paperback)

Rating:

Miles has always led a fairly boring life. Then he decides to seek out The Great Perhaps by attending an elite private school. There skinny Miles gets the nickname "Pudge", befriends the Colonel, impresses everyone with his knowledge of famous last words, and falls for the clever, elusive prankster, Alaska Young. Alaska, with all her mysteriousness and unpredictability, offers her friendship to Miles and spices up his otherwise drab existence.

Alaska is the type of person that you want to befriend even though you know she's dangerous. Miles is desperately in love with Alaska almost from their first interaction and his obsession sets the tone for the novel. Maybe obsession is a harsh word, but really I mean to say that Miles is so completely focused on Alaska that he doesn’t quite see that she is suffering. Alaska is an elusive creature and Miles only sees her beauty. One of my favorite lines from the book is a scene where Alaska has fallen asleep on Miles’ lap and he wants to lay down beside her.
“But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.” (page88)
Alaska completely changes the way Miles sees the world, she challenges him to be different and to stretch his limits. When tragedy strikes, Miles is no longer sure he wants to be different. The first half of the novel is innocence and looking-before-leaping. The second half is growing up and making sense of a seemingly senseless world.

Looking for Alaska is why I like teen novels. Miles’ voice is real and he has a way of thinking about the world that is accessible. John Green doesn’t dumb down this novel and I enjoyed that it can be read on several different levels. When reading it, I folded over no less than 10 pages and marked up countless passages because I loved the words so much. In trying to write this review, I could only come up with superlatives. This book has it all: drama, humor, and great discussion topics.

Fans of Looking for Alaska may also like Gossip of the Starlings by Nina de Gramont and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.

15 comments:

  1. I haven't read this book yet and have had guesses/assumptions about the "twist" With your recommendations of Gossip of Starlings and Thirteen Reasons Why I think I may be correct... I gotta read it very soon! It sounds like a great book.

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  2. Very awesome interview, Em. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would have, and as much as others have read, I'm thinking I should read it again.

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  3. I've been wanting to read this ever since I finished his book An Abundance of Katherine's.

    -Mollie

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  4. Love this book. Sooo good.

    But that new cover is ick.

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  5. This is one of my fave books. I'm a huge John Green fan. I agree that the original cover is far better.

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  6. Sounds fantastic, Em. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

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  7. So, hey, there's this award going around, and I passed it on to you. :) Enjoy!

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  8. John Green is absolutely incredible! It's strange, though. I didn't really love Looking for Alaska but Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines amazed me.

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  9. Great review. I really liked this book.

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  10. I want to read this book sooner rather than later!

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  11. Only a couple of more weeks until Paper Towns comes out. Amazing, right? John Green is genius.

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  12. i dont know what the above comments are talking about this book was amazing and i love the cover. its what caught my eye. I thought Looking for Alaska is a gripping story and i loved it the whole time. Although, it did take a little while to get into once i did was like WOW. I've had this on my bookshelf for a little while but didnt actually start it until i read your review(: thanks!

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  13. This book is in my "To Buy" list. After reading the synopsis, I was interested to read it.

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  14. I'd like to read this. I've heard Paper Towns is good as well.

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