Looking for Alaska

by John Green

[shannonmiz]

In Looking For Alaska, we meet Miles (henceforth known as "Pudge") who goes off to a boarding school to escape his humdrum reality. In doing so, he meets a tight group of friends, including "The Colonel" (Chip, his roommate), Alaska (of course, she is the title after all), Takumi, and Lara. First, I enjoyed the male characters in this story so, so much. They were so different, yet all so clever, so funny, so smart in their own ways. Pudge has an odd obsession with last words, The Colonel is the perfect leader for this bunch, and their conversations always had me either smiling, or in deep thought.

I didn't really read much about this book (quite frankly, I saw "by John Green", and clicked "buy"), so I just kind of assumed that it would be about some dude looking around for some girl named Alaska (which would have practically screamed Paper Towns, so I really should've known better I suppose). Sure, Pudge is "looking", but not in the sense you'd expect. Basically, Alaska is a big mystery to everyone, myself included. To be honest, I didn't really know what to make of her. Yes, I am aware that it was probably the point, but it infuriated me at times. I suppose I do get the draw of Alaska, and why Pudge would be interested, since she was so unique and mystifying.

The friendships in this book were so fleshed out, so amazingly well done. It helps that the characters were all so multifaceted that picturing them interacting was not just easy, it was a joy. I probably could have read two hundred more pages with just the witty banter alone.

The plot... There's a plot twist that I didn't see coming for awhile, but when I did realize what was going to happen.... sigh. We won't be speaking of this further, for obvious reasons. There are a few cliched moments, and a few eye-roll moments, but make no mistake, this is a good book. One I won't likely forget. This book is thought provoking. It will make you laugh, and it will certainly make you cry (and curse John Green for forcing you to buy stock in Kleenex). Ultimately, this is a book that forces you to look at your own feelings on some heavy stuff, but in a way that is so captivating you can't help but keep reading.