Looking for Alaska by John Green

Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Series: Stand Alone 
Source: Personal Copy
Format: Paperback 
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Synopsis (from B&N):
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.

Who can predict that some final words could give a huge impact in one person’s life? “I go to seek a Great Perhaps” were the last words said by François Rabelais. This single sentence appears to inspire a young man, Miles “Pudge” Halter, to move few steps forward, leaving behind his old life and enrol to a boarding school in searching for his own brand of “Great Perhaps”. At the Culver Creek, he finds some close friends: The Colonel, his roommate, Lara Buterskaya, a shy Romanian, Takumi, a crazy Japanese and last but not least, Alaska, the girl who he begins to love silently.

Written in two parts, the “Before” and the “After”, with one pivotal event, Looking for Alaska chronicles the journey made by Pudge and his friends as they face the ups, the downs and the inevitable in the rough route that they call “life”. What is this “Great Perhaps”? And will the event that occurs manage to make Pudge able to understand and to grasp the real meaning of the “Great Perhaps” better in the end?

Judging by his excellent writing and the way he swiftly tackles the intricate subject in this book, no one would believes that Looking for Alaska is actually the first work by John Green. Written in such realistic manner, Green makes it easier for readers to relate to the characters that he creates in his book and further understand such trials that they have to go through. This relatabilty, along with bunch of interesting, real characters and crisp storylines make this book an incredibly great read.

Miles, in my opinion, is one of the most ordinary protagonists out there. He seems clueless about almost everything on his first day at Culver Creek and it looks like his bunch of “colourful” friends are the ones that start shaping and introduce him to the real world. I wouldn’t say that all the things that they teach him are good things, but nonetheless, they help him to spread his wings and gets himself out of his own cocoon. Another character that I find very interesting is Alaska herself. She is really brilliant but also incredibly torn at the same time. These factors make her somewhat unpredictable and Mile’s description on Alaska in the book sure tells a lot: “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.

For such a thin book, Looking for Alaska certainly is fat with messages that relate to valuable aspects in life. It is a book about love, friendship, loyalty, regrets, grief and route to maturity. Dashes of last words used by the author, peppers with some religion references help enhancing the storyline all together. This book indeed comes with some great messages but it all depends on the readers on how they want to perceive it. An incredible read that I would recommend to all.

Favourite Quote: It's not life or death, the labyrinth. Suffering. Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. That's the problem. Bolivar was talking about the pain, not about the living or dying. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering? - Alaska Young

21 comments:

  1. Provide us with fat messages? That is totally cool to know. And I never know this is actually his first book published. I'll look out for a copy of this soon ;p

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  2. I loved this too. Can't wait to read more of John Green's books.

    Awesome review!

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  3. I am so glad that I read your review of this book. I picked it up, wanting to read something by John Green, and couldn't get into it. But, I am going to give it another try based on your review. Thank you!

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  4. wonderful review. I have not read Green yet but based on this review and some I have read on Paper Town, I need to correct this fact very soon.

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  5. great!!! i love the part that you said "fat with message..". thanks for sharing. =b

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  6. I loved this book. One of my all time favorites and I'm glad you enjoyed it! Fantastic review. :)

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  7. I'm so glad you loved this book! I read this book on a friend's suggestion last year, without having any idea what it was about, and it quickly made John Green one of my favourite authors. If you haven't already, you definitely need to read his other books :)

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  8. Awesome review! I read this book a couple of years ago and loved it. You should read the rest of Green's books if you haven't already. They are all amazing!

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  9. I hear so many wonderful things about John Green. I need to start reading him!

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  10. Sounds like a book with interesting characters. Nice to read about a book you enjoyed.

    Here from the CEP.

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  11. Great review---books that make you think are good to have sometimes. Sometimes I need mindless escapism, but that can get old after a while.

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  12. This book is one of those "WOW" ones. The characters in it rock, but I especially enjoyed how normal Miles was too.

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  13. I've had this on my TBR pile for ages. It looks like I need to move it up to the top and get busy reading. Thanks for a really thorough, great review. :)
    Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover

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  14. Awesome review! I read this book a few years back and wasn't really able to appreciate it. When I revisited it this summer, it really struck a cord in me. Great review, your opinion was really justified and reasoned well =)

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  15. I really want to read this book. Thanks for the review.
    Hey, I just became your 200th follower!

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  16. i agree- this book may be short, but it can go on for miles in terms of the messages and wisdom it carries in its hundred-or-so pages. it's spectacularly written with a brilliant protagonist and a charming set of characters, and it deserves every bit of the A+ you gave it!

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  17. Great review. I havent read a book by John Green, but I just won a book at a blog called An Abundance of katherines. So that one will be my first book to read written by Green. I think I will look this one up at the library. :P

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  18. I see John Green everywhere and have yet to read one of his books *hangs head* I'll make sure I get right to it and this will be at the top of the list! Thanks for the great review!

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  19. I've never read anything by this author but I have Paper Towns on TBR pile. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything bad about his books.

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  20. This was a wonderful read, and totally unexpected on my part. I haven't always connected well with male MCs, but this surpassed my expectations. Thanks for the review.

    Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog (From CEP)

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