Looking for Alaska

by John Green

[rakesandrogues]

Loreal recommended this book to me a few months ago when she read it. I’m always wary of contemporary fiction because I have this terrible belief that nothing really exciting happens. But after reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson I vowed to read all of John Green’s books because I enjoyed it so very much. I finally borrowed this book from the library and read it over the weekend.

My first impression of the book was it didn’t look like it was going to be a cheerful story, judging from its cover. Was this the reason why I had held off reading this book for so long? It’s one of those books that I was always aware of but never picked up. But once I started to read, I found myself enjoying it immensely. One of the most memorable first scenes is when Miles says that his dad hates it when he marks up books with a highlighter. He had a good point, I admit, that it would be easier to find quotes, but like his dad, I would hate to mark up my books. However, Looking for Alaska was just that type of book that made me want to grab a highlighter and underline all my favorite lines. Alas, I couldn’t even flag the book since I borrowed it from the library! I loved all the characters in this story. I think they have all affected me tremendously to the point that I feel like I know them. Whenever I come across a biography, I will think of Miles. Whenever I see a room full of books and a bottle of wine, I will think of Alaska. This book had brought back memories of high school that made me think about my past from basketball games (though I never even attended one) to pranks and mischief. My experiences fail to compare to the kids at Culver Creek’s, but I was left thinking mostly of good times. The book is not terribly long, and it was very easy to read. The pages flew by quickly, and before I know it, I was toward the end of the book. I did manage to figure out the big “why” at the end of the story a bit early, but I thought that the ending of Looking for Alaska was perfect. It was just enough to give the readers closure and of course, it ended with brilliant Last Words.