"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." (Miles Halter)
I'm nearing the end of my teenage years and I don't remember being as philosophical as the characters in this book.
John Green is a hit-or-miss author for me. I love Paper Towns and I dislike An Abundance of Katherines. John Green has an intellectual writing style and he embraces nerdiness and quirkiness, but his characters are extremely similar.
The teenagers in Looking for Alaska are extremely intelligent and quirky. There's Miles, who memorises famous peoples last words, Colonel, who knows the names of countries and their capitals and Alaska, who has a life library of books that she wants to read. However, their quirkiness, philosophical musings and pretentiousness makes me feel detached. I wasn't interested in the characters and I didn't feel anything for them. Even when Alaska died, I didn't feel like I was run over by a truck and I couldn't empathize with Miles, Colonel's, Takumi's and Lara's grief. I'm also not a fan of the maniac pixie dream girl trope and Alaska is the literal definition of a maniac pixie dream girl.
I read this book for John Green's writing style and hilarious pranks, but I didn't connect with the characters.
"Sometimes you lose a battle. But mischief always wins the war." (Alaska Young)