Looking for Alaska

by John Green

[clementine]

I don't know how to rate this book.

I have such a weird relationship with it, honestly. I first read it in April 2011, and liked it less than I thought I would based on all the hype. But then it stuck with me. I couldn't get it out of my head. I kept thinking about it. So I decided that I loved it, and it was magnificent, etc.

Reading it again, it's less good than it was the first time. I think this is in large part because I read John Green's books mostly in order, and there is a lot of clear improvement with his writing. When I read LFA for the first time, I didn't have his later books to compare it to. Now, though, having read all of his books, I liked it less.

I mean, I still think it's really fabulous YA that does a great job of not talking down to the reader, grappling with some complex issues, and presenting flawed, realistic characters. I don't even know what my exact issue was with it this time around, nor could I pinpoint it the first time. I suppose part of it is that the plot is fairly formulaic; there's the whole boy-meets-girl, boy-thinks-girl-is-the-most-incredible-human-ever structure thing going on. While Green does play around with it, obviously trying to explore the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype (although somewhat unsuccessfully, I think; Paper Towns does a better job of that), and throwing us a curveball at the end, the plot is really nothing special.

One of the other issues I picked up on this time around was Alaska herself. I think the way Green wrote her is incredibly interesting, as she is never given her own voice and is shrouded in mystery. This makes it harder to connect to her on an emotional level, but it adds a really neat layer to the book: you only see Alaska through Pudge's (absolutely unreliable) narration. I really like that aspect, but at the same time it was hard for me to connect with her this time. I liked her the first time, but this time I realized how barebones her character really is. I have no doubt that it was intentional, but it did make it hard to really care about her fate. The exploration of her death is well-done, so it's not like the success of the book hinges on liking/caring about her as a character, but I would have liked more of her. Not even necessarily more that would make me LIKE her, just more than would make me KNOW her. Although, of course, that goes against what Green was intending to do by making Miles hold her up as his MPDG who he never bothers to understand.

I don't know, I definitely was not as involved/invested in the book this time around, and had a totally different experience reading it. But I still think that the prose is fantastic, the characters are well-rounded, believable, and human, and John Green is a really intelligent writer who subtly plays around with a variety of themes. I do like the book a lot - I just am not in love with it. Which is weird, because I thought it was my favourite John Green book, but now I'm not so sure! I guess I'll have to re-read his other books, although right now I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series for the billionth time, so WHO EVEN KNOWS, MAN?