Looking for Alaska

Summary: Miles Halter, or “Pudge”, (a boy obsessed with last words) wants to leave his boring minor life in Florida in search of the "Great Perhaps", and he decides that the great perhaps is in the private school Culver Creek in Alabama. He arrives at Culver Creek to meet Chip, or “the Colonel”, his genius roommate who enjoys drinking, smoking, hating the Weekday Warriors, playing video games, and pranking. The Colonel then introduces Miles to the amazing, mysterious (albeit strange), but beautiful Alaska Young. There is an immediate attraction between the two and Miles’s feelings towards her grow through the first half of the book. Miles quickly settles into Culver Creek life with the Colonel, Alaska, and Takumi as he partakes in a more outgoing lifestyle than his back in Florida. Then one night, when everything is finally looking up for Miles, his whole world is turned upside down. Alaska dies. She dies after he and the Colonel allow her to leave campus completely drunk (.24 BAC) and she goes straight and fast into a cop car. Miles can hardly live with the grief and guilt, so in an attempt to make sense of Alaska’s final hours, Miles and the Colonel decide to try to figure out what happened to Alaska. Was it suicide? Or truly an accident?

Review: Well I actually read this book for my summer reading homework. This was my choice book, the other one I had to read was 1984 by George Orwell. Anywho...I’ve been meaning to pick up a John Green novel forever (since I discovered him on youtube in the famous vlogbrothers), and I’m so happy I did. Green is a superior writer. He knows how to draw in readers without even trying to. His characters are fun, compelling, and real. The dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny at some points, but at others filled with depth and intellect. Everyone’s character growth is believable and watching as Miles grew was quite amazing. This book is just filled with real issues for many real teenagers. Looking for Alaska has such a real authentic voice and it is such an amazing debut novel for John Green. All Young Adults should read it.

Basically it was awesome, and when I went back to read Nobody’s Prize which I put on hiatus for summer reading...Nobody’s Prize looked and sounded extremely lacking. Everyone should read Looking for Alaska and make sure to savor Green’s unique
writing.

Rating: 5/5 there is a reason it won the Printz award.

Reviews from the Pros:

"Miles's narration is alive with sweet, self-deprecating humor...like Phineas in John Knowles's A Separate Peace, Green draws Alaska...lovingly, in self-loathing darkness as well as energetic light." –SLJ, starred review

"Miles is a witty narrator...he’s also an articulate spokesperson for the legions of teens searching for life meaning."-BCCB, starred review

"Compelling...What sets this novel apart is the brilliant, insightful, suffering but enduring voice of Miles Halter."-Chicago Tribune

Winner of the Michael L. Printz award
Los Angeles times book prize finalist
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults top 10
An ALA quick pick
A Booklist editors’ choice
A Kirkus best book of the year
An SLJ Best Book of the Year