В поисках Аляски

by John Green, Джон Грин

Никому, кроме собственных родителей, не интересный тощий Толстячок Майлз Холтер в романтическом поиске неизвестного, но непременно Великого "Возможно" переезжает а закрытую частную школу, где начинается настоящая жизнь: сигареты и вино, красотка Аляска и пышногрудая Лара, надежные друзья и не перестающие досаждать враги, где в воздухе витают новые идеи и чувства, где страшно жарко, но дышится полной грудью, где за пятки кусает страх — страх наказания за неповиновения правилам — и гонит вперед любовь и жажда счастья...
И с этим счастьем удается соприкоснуться, но соприкоснуться всего лишь на миг, после чего приходится, едва оперившись, выходить во взрослую жизн

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction, Coming Of Age, Teen

282 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award presented by the American Library Association. His second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His next novel, Paper Towns, is a New York Times bestseller and won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best YA Mystery. In January 2012, his most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, was met with wide critical acclaim, unprecedented in Green's career. The praise included rave reviews in Time Magazine and The New York Times, on NPR, and from award-winning author Markus Zusak. The book also topped the New York Times Children's Paperback Bestseller list for several weeks. Green has also coauthored a book with David Levithan called Will Grayson, Will Grayson, published in 2010. The film rights for all his books, with the exception of Will Grayson Will Grayson, have been optioned to major Hollywood Studios.

In 2007, John and his brother Hank were the hosts of a popular internet blog, "Brotherhood 2.0," where they discussed their lives, books and current events every day for a year except for weekends and holidays. They still keep a video blog, now called "The Vlog Brothers," which can be found on the Nerdfighters website, or a direct link here.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

some people are careless, and in an adrenaline-fueled all-caps teen reviewing frenzy, will inadvertently give a major spoiler for this book.

avoid these people, even though ordinarily, they are pretty cool.

this is a really well-written teen fiction book. i mean, it won the printz award, i'm not discovering america here. i think i wanted to emphasize that it definitely reads like a book intended for a teen audience. and i think that me as a teen would have numbered this among my very favorite books. however, as an adult, there are a lot of years between me and the characters in this book, and i have read a lot more books than the average teen, so i am mostly jaded and ruined, but imagine me discovering this at say, 13...

1) a group of smart kids going to boarding school who read all the time and take pleasure in learning and have hundreds of books and quote marquez and rabelais. karen would have loved to have had friends like these.

2) emotionally unstable female lead who is mysterious and changeable who is not afraid of her sexuality but doesn't use it all the time to get what she wants who says tough and dramatic things like Y'all smoke to enjoy it. i smoke to die. (thirteen year old karen loves this line, grown up karen rolls her eyes)

3) drinking and smoking and fornicating that do not lead to bad grades and ruined lives. there are other causes for those things...

4) blow job tips. 'nuff said

5) brief crash course in eastern religions that would have been so exotic to small town karen.

and the structure would have been novel to young karen: countdown leading up to the event then countdown leading away from it. very cool.

so i see why the kids like it. and i liked it, too, but i think it would have been more important and surprising and enchanting to me as a kid - all the first love and first loss type stuff, all the unwritten behavioral codes between the teens and the authority figures, and the slow unravel of a mystery. very cool.

but i have a question. and it is a spoiltastic question, so i am going to put up a barrier of images to protect anyone who has not read it, and wants to. these will be subliminal suggestions that are so subtle you won't even know what is happening...











dude, seriously - why didn't jake go to alaska's funeral?? there is no reason for him not to have and there is absolutely no explanation given. it makes it easier for the author, yeah, to not have to write a confrontation scene between jake and pudge, and to have the mystery unravel more slowly, but it makes zero sense for someone so in love with his girl to not go to her funeral. seriously. dumb. i will accept any private messages about this, to keep the thread spoiler-free, but until john green tells me why, i am going to say "dumb."

come to my blog!

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 1 out of 5]

That's me, realizing I was about to give a big one star to a super popular book on Goodreads.

It didn't stop me. This book was beyond stupid.

Miles is a little nerd boy from Florida, he is going away to boarding school hoping for a new life or maybe his "Great Perhaps". The Great Perhaps comes from a minute reference to some poet. Thrown in to this book to make it all edgy and shit. Fail.



Once he gets there his roommate (the requisite character that is so poor but super smart) befriends him. The Colonel aka Chip takes Miles (now known as Pudge) under his wing and now he has friends!

Including the super special Alaska, she is the beautiful, cool and allusive girl. She is moody and spontaneous. Of course, the boys all love her milkshake..including our Pudge.


That smoking line? It's from the book. *head-desk*

Then another thing..and this was a big one for me. John Green, you have enough dang money that if you are going to write southern characters at least try, TRY!!! to get them halfway right.
You just put every stupid stereotype known into the characters that are southern for this book. You made them all sound stupid.
If they didn't go to this wonderful boarding school that erased their accent they sounded like ignorant hicks.
I hate to tell you honey, but last time I check Florida is also in the south. They have accents too.
You lost a star just for not taking the two seconds to research southern speech. I've lived here my whole life and I have never heard someone speak like you had several characters speaking.


Anyways, for me. This book glorified the whole "oh I'm so dark" "don't you want to be me" shit. FOR ME It glorified suicide even though Alaska technically did not commit suicide.

My southern ass will give this book a big ole "hell to the no."


(I really need that sarcasm font)

For all the little fangirls and trolls that I'm sure I'll being seeing really soon. Here's a message for you.

and bite me.


Book source: Library

[Cristina · Rating 1 out of 5]

WROTE THIS IN 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I am TEN YEARS OLDER.

****

I didn't like this book.

This is not what I expected to be. I hoped to find a book in the style of Stargirl (or something novel) and what did I find? A bunch of teens who try to ease their anxieties in their not-so-original vices and a sudden drama which leads to nonsense talking. All hiding, of course, in a couple of beautiful quotes that wrap all the 'inspiring-sites' on the internet, the reason I got to the book and I bet that you too.

Boring, it was so so boring.

I didn't like the characters. Alaska was unbearable (oh no wait, she was awesome if you were a character too: fantastic girl,beautiful and wonderful and ohmarrymerightnowplease, and she had to be an intelligent woman, so the author made her feminist and an avid reader, to prove she had brains), and there is no need to write about the boys because... booh.

The main character was a cronic linnet, who got lost in his difficulties (mostly, not having a girlfriend, such a big problem you see) and searching The Great Perhaps, thing he forgot to do so easily so...

What a waste of time!

2013 EDIT: almost FOUR years have passed since I read and reviewed Looking for Alaska and I hope nobody expects me to discuss anything related to the book. It's great if you loved the book but I didn't. Maybe at this time of my life I would express myself in a different way but when I wrote this I was convinced of all I said before.

After Looking for Alaska, I read other John Green's books. And I loved some of them, like really did. It's sad that Looking for Alaska didn't work for me but I think it is wonderful that it did for you. Not so many books can inspire that kind of passion :_)

Thanks everybody for your likes and comments and my apologies for not answering them anymore.

2020 EDIT: I read this MORE THAN TEN YEARS AGO (I was about 20, so before sending me to tiktok guess my actual age first, please, I could be your mother by now) and I still get comments saying the same thing over and over again and honestly... I read the comments twice in the last... two or three years. Don’t waste your time being angry at me for not sharing your thoughts about a book because If you are lucky I’ll notice next year and... well, I bet you have better things to do.

And nowadays I ONLY REVIEW IN SPANISH. So don't expect more reviews on crack like this unless you speak or understand Spanish. Thank you very much!

[Sarah ❤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to explain my emotions about this book in a billion of gifs because I love this book too much to put into words <3

So first I was like...

because Pudge was pretty cool.

Then we met the Colonel, and I did this

because the Colonel is awesome! and he got my approval.

Then we met Alaska and I go

because, who knows? She's really not that bad.

Then we really get to know her and I'm like



Then ALL this stuff happens and I don't know what to expect, because now we're at the After part, and I'm excited...


Then BAM!


And I'm like...

Because there is NO WAY that can happen and I'm pretty sure someone is playing a sick, sick joke on me.


Then I realize its not a joke, and the waterworks start flowing...


And I'm like...


And...


Then I finally calm down...


And I'm trying to stay strong and remember it's only a book so I'm like...


Then I can't help myself and go back to ugly crying...


Then FINALLY... acceptance.

or as close as I can get to it!


Then, after all that, I realize... I LOVE THIS BOOK!

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

My assistant Amanda has been a John Green fan for ages, which is one of the reasons I decided to start giving his stuff a read.

I decided to start here because it was one of his first books.

After I finished this book, I went to her and asked, "Are all of John Green's books going to leave me feeling like I've had a hole kicked straight through my guts?"

"Not all of them," she said. "But yeah. Some."

I thought about this for a while, then asked her. "In Name of the Wind, when X happens, did it feel like that when you read it?"

(Except I didn't say X, obviously. I mentioned a particular scene in my first book.)

"Well," Amanda said, "Not really. His scene is more central to his book. But even so, yeah. It was kinda like that."

"Shit," I said. "Sorry about that."

So yeah. Sorry about that.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just want to know what weed addicted brunette broke JOHN GREEN heart in highs school and gave him enough material for a decade’s worth of identical books.

I have really got nothing to say about this book. It’s shitty like all of this other books no doubt about that!!

Speaking of MILES PUDGE HALTER is a misogynistic piece of shit. Throughout the book he objectifies Alaska and cheats on Lara , he belittles Takumi and is just a whining piss baby.

[C&C Library · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow. I must've skipped a bunch of pages or read the Hebrew translation or was having root canal or something because that was one terrible book. All those awards-- WHAT??? Such a clumsy story— every move of the author was heavy-handed and so transparent I felt like I was a fly on John Green's ceiling watching him go "Oh that's good-- oh that's just precious" and fall asleep in his soup again.
Miles—I mean "Pudge,"as he is deemed within minutes of his arrival at his School of Great Perhaps— may be looking for Alaska throughout this story but I sure knew her right away. She's the pretty girl who's even prettier because she's a bit damaged and makes you feel like you have a chance with her because she's a flirt. Yes, she's a hopelessly thin character, as are they all (with the exception of The Colonel). Takumi, for example, who is supposed to be one of the Big Four around whom this story revolves, is completely characterized by his unrealistic rap improvs ("My rhymin' is old school, sort of like the ancient Romans/ The Colonel's beats is sad like Arthur Miller's Willy Loman") and basically disappears from the story until required by the plot to re-emerge with More Information. Lara, Pudge's first girlfriend, is so bland she is given a Russian accent complete with long e's for short i's ("I put the stuff een the gel... and then I deed the same thing een Jeff's room") to prevent her from evaporating off the page and into THEEN ARE. In fact, each character is carefully provided with a shtick, often a savant-like "talent" that would in reality win game shows but is meant to be That Thing That Makes Him Special: The Colonel can remember capitals of countries to the point of extreme autism! Pudge knows the last words of famous people— only he's so doggone quirky that he reads the biography but not the work of the famous person! And our precious Alaska? She keeps stacks and stacks of books in her room that she intends to read (when she's done selling cigarettes to high school kids, I guess), called her life library (or something), but has wrestled with life's Big Questions alongside some very Heavy Thinking Authors, and can recite poetry, of course. Everybody is way too philosophical and literary for their own good, but god forbid the reader is allowed to think. Lest you miss the point, every moment is interpreted for you:

I finally understood that day at the Jury: Alaska wanted to show us we could trust her. Survival at Culver Creek meant loyalty, and she had ignored that. But then she'd shown me the way. She and the Colonel had taken the fall for me to show me how it was done, so I would know what to do when the time came

Ok, then—I guess that's what happened, except that's just not the way high school kids work.
Even word choice reveals fear we won't get it; if an author has to tell you FIVE TIMES in the book that the character "deadpanned" instead of "said" (the Colonel"deadpanned" three times and Pudge, just a little less dry I guess, "deadpanned" twice) then either the dialogue is not written well or the author believes it is not written well. (The former, at least).
So just hanging with these kids leaves one searching for a third dimension, but then the story itself pretty much jumps genres halfway through, from slacker-YA-Holden-mentioned-on-the-back-cover to straight mystery. Why'd she do what she did? Lest I "spoil" this story for you, I won't go into this part, but suffice it to say the above question is left out in the sun to rot while we are forced to look on, sniffing the decay.
The story doesn't work in any genre anyway. I know what the story is supposed to do— make me fall in love with Alaska, feel all warm and cozy when the four friends smoke cigarettes, shoot the breeze, and look out for one another, and care when one of them screams with cosmic agony, but alas. Maybe if I wasn't basically tapped on the shoulder and demanded these reactions I would be better at having them, but lines fall flat and soggy like cigarettes tossed casually into some cliche prep-school lake:

The Colonel let go of my sweater and I reached down and picked up the cigarettes. Not screaming, not through clenched teeth, not with the veins pulsing in my forehead, but calmly. Calmly. I looked down at the Colonel and said, "F— you."

My first Kindle read, too!

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

yup. this is not the right book to read for the first time at 23 years old in 2020. yup

[Federico DN · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Great Perhaps."

Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter is a quirky teenage boy starting Culver Creek Preparatory High School. In short time there he befriends strategist Chip ‘The Colonel’ Martin, gifted Takumi Hikohito and beautiful Alaska Young. The wild and troublesome group quickly grows close and strong in camaraderie; until the fateful day arrives when their lives are forever changed. Sometimes you can see the storm coming, but often tragedy occurs when you least expect it.

Another Green masterpiece alongside “The Fault in Our Stars” , with many quotes and moments to remember by. In “Looking for Alaska” you can find many of the elements that made TFIOS so great; the captivating writing style, the ever memorable characters, the unputdownable pacing, the engrossing plot twists, and so on. The story is divided in two parts, the ‘Before’ and ‘After’. Both parts distinctively unique, emotional and sometimes even funny. And Gosh! I really loved that wild and crazy ending!

However, unlike TFIOS, I couldn’t fully empathize with the characters. I understood them, I accompanied them in their pain and joy, but couldn’t deeply connect with them. The characters are hardly lovable, and most of the time borderline unlikable, if not completely obnoxious. Yet, despite being seriously flawed, you still grow to love them, or at least as part as the story as a whole, whether you like it or not. So very memorable characters, for all the right and wrong reasons.

All in all, discounting a few cons, this was an unique and beautiful story that will most likely stay with me for the rest of my days, or so already has for the past decade. A must read in life, especially if you enjoy Green or anything YA. Highly Recommendable, for the right audience.

*** The TV series (2019) is a fairly faithful adaptation, capturing much of the book’s essence. Charlie Plummer, Kristine Froseth and Denny Love; Pudge, Alaska and The Colonel, respectively, the best of the movie by far. Not a superb acting mind you, but a great casting nonetheless. Loved the artistic cinematography of the whole series and the quirky young adult vibe. The eight episodes reasonably faithful to the work, the last one being my favorite. The ending was exquisite and beautifully depicted. Of course the book was vastly superior in almost every way, like so often happens, but still a great complement to the reading; and always a fantastic experience to see a book you loved come to life. Recommendable.



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PERSONAL NOTE : I think this book is about loss, and not knowing how to deal with the pain. Everyone lost something with Alaska, a love interest, a friend, a partner in crime, a student college. And their friends managed to find a way out of the labyrinth with their "final act", Alaska was freed, and in doing so, so were they.
[2005] [221p] [YA] [Highly Recommendable] ["So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that, if people were rain, I was a drizzle, and she was a hurricane."]
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★★★★★ The Fault in Our Stars
★★★★☆ Looking for Alaska

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”El Gran Tal Vez.”

Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter es un extraño chico adolescente empezando la Preparatoria Mayor Culver Creek. A poco tiempo de llegar se hace amigo de Chip ‘El Coronel’ Martin, el enigmático Takumi Hikohito y la hermosa Alaska Young. El alocado y problemático grupo rápidamente crece fuerte y unido en camaradería; hasta que un fatídico día llega cuando sus vidas dan un terrible vuelco. A veces podés ver venir la tormenta, pero a menudo la tragedia golpea cuando menos lo esperas.

Otra obra maestra de Green junto a “Bajo la Misma Estrella” , con muchas citas y momentos para el recuerdo. En “Buscando a Alaska” se pueden encontrar muchos de los elementos que hicieron a BLME tan grande; el cautivador estilo de escritura, los siempre memorables personajes, el ritmo que no te permite parar, los absorbentes giros de trama, y demás. La historia se divide en dos partes, el ‘Antes’ y ‘Después’. Ambas partes distintivamente únicas, emotivas y a veces hasta graciosas. ¡Y por Dios! ¡Cómo amé ese salvaje y alocado final!

Sin embargo, a diferencia de BLME, no pude empatizar completamente con los personajes. Los comprendí, los acompañé en las buenas y en las malas, pero no pude conectar profundamente con ellos. Los personajes apenas si son queribles, y la mayor parte del tiempo rayando desagradables, si es que no completamente insoportables. Aun así, a pesar de todas sus grandes fallas, uno aprende a quererlos, o al menos como parte de la historia en su conjunto, ya sea que te guste o no. Tan memorables personajes, por buenas y malas razones.

Dentro de todo, descontando algunos contras, esta fue una historia hermosa y única que muy probablemente permanecerá conmigo por el resto de mis días, o así ha sido el caso durante la última década. Un deber para leer en la vida, especialmente si disfrutás de Green o cualquier cosa Joven Adulto. Altamente Recomendable, para la audiencia correcta.

*** La mini serie de TV (2019) es una bastante fiel adaptación, capturando mucha de la esencia del libro. Charlie Plummer, Kristine Froseth y Denny Love; Pudge, Alaska y El Coronel, respectivamente, lo mejor de la película por lejos. No una sobresaliente actuación en absoluto, pero sí un gran elenco. Amé la artística cinematografía de toda la serie y la rara vibra de joven adulto. Los ocho episodios razonablemente fieles a la obra, el último siendo mi favorito. El final fue exquisito y maravillosamente representado. Por supuesto el libro fue superior en casi cualquier forma, como tantas veces pasa, pero igualmente un gran complemento para la lectura; y siempre una hermosa experiencia ver un libro que amaste cobrar vida. Recomendable.



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NOTA PERSONAL : Creo que este libro trata sobre la pérdida, y no saber cómo lidiar con el dolor. Todos perdieron algo en Alaska, un amor, una amiga, una compañera de crimen, una colega estudiante. Y sus amigos encontraron una salida fuera del laberinto con su "acto final", Alaska fue liberada, y a través de ella, ellos también.
[2005] [221p] [Joven Adulto] [Altamente Recomendable] ["Así que regresé a mi habitación y caí sobre la litera inferior, pensando que si las personas fueran lluvia, yo sería llovizna y ella, un huracán."]
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[Michelle, the Bookshelf Stalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Update- 3/10/23

Boy I was passionate 9 years ago. 🤦‍♀️ I still dislike this story but any book that gets me this worked up, deserved better from me. If you can write so well, that I become so invested into the characters, even if I hate those characters, you are a brilliant writer. Officially giving another 2 star for a total of 3 stars.

Update- 4/12/14

This review/rant receives more comments than any other book review I have. I decided to reply to a few of the comments in my review because the people that don't like my review/rant don't like it for pretty much the same reasons. First, please note there are spoilers. However, the spoilers aren't really spoilers since it doesn't affect your enjoyment or lack of enjoyment if you know the big secret. Nevertheless, a helpful few have pointed out that I have spoilers and I didn't mark them. So are you happy now?

Ok, now to another criticism. Many lovely critics bring up the same point- "maybe John Green just wanted to show a flawed character & you just don't grasp the flawed character"...blah,blah,blah, I'm paraphrasing here and kinda combining all the criticism.

All right I'll bite. Yes, Alaska is flawed. That is obvious. Ok? Did Mr. Green show how Alaska was flawed and resolve either her flaws or how others deal with her flaws if she chose not to change her ways? Nope. Still not buying my argument? Ok. Let's say for the sake of argument, Alaska was a puppy abuser. She goes around kicking puppies. Is her puppy kicking dealt with? Do any of the characters say "listen Alaska Darling, you kick one more puppy and I'm kicking your ass"? Ok, maybe that is a bit extreme, how about does Mr. Green have his characters abandon Alaska because she refuses to give up her puppy kicking ways? Nope. I know, you are saying, "listen, you stupid idiot, Alaska didn't abuse puppies, she only abused other's people's kindness, took advantage of people, emotionally manipulated people and was an all around piss poor person that used her own poor past to lash out". Oh, ok, I see what you mean, nope, not a puppy kicker...clearly I'm wrong.

Below is the old rant/review...enjoy

I'm totally going to regret putting this review in and I'll probably change it later but oh...what...the...hell....


Poor Alaska. She screwed up in her past. She blames herself for something that happened when she was a child. It caused her to be moody, withdrawn, angry, and unpredictable. It caused her to drink too much, take unnecessary risks, take advantage of other people’s kindness. One minute Alaska was fun, the life of the party, caring, and everyone’s best friend. The next minute, she was the bitch.
Poor, poor Alaska. Let’s save Alaska.

Give me a break!

Alaska acted the way she did because she could. She used her past as an excuse for her destructive behavior. Alaska’s friends enabled Alaska’s behavior because they didn’t stand up to her. In fact, they had destructive behavior that needed to be addressed as well but since this book is called “Looking for Alaska”, I’m going to focus on Alaska.

Many people had really shitty childhoods. Many people were physically and mentally abused as children. Many people were left to survive on their own as children…hungry, dirty and alone. These people didn’t grow up to use their bad childhood, their own guilt, or their past mistakes to act out, take advantage of other people, or to basically treat people like crap.

I’m not uncaring. Far from it. I have a ton of compassion. I’m too caring. But being a victim does not excuse your behavior. Being a victim does not justify your behavior. You still have to treat people with kindness, compassion, love, and honesty regardless of what struggles you survived. Get help, and then move on.

If someone is treating you wrong, call them on it. Don’t look into their past to try to explain away their behavior. That is BS. It isn’t quirkiness, it isn’t moodiness, it is abuse.

So dear Miles aka Pudge, why are you seeking Alaska’s forgiveness? You did nothing wrong except failing to recognize Alaska’s destructive behavior and failing to get away from it.

If a person is friendly, kind, caring one minute, but then angry, withdrawn the next, THEY have a problem.

If a person is drinking too much, partying to hard, ignoring authority, breaking the rules, THEY have a problem.

If you are trying to figure the above-mentioned person out, if you are trying to solve that person’s problems, figure out why they are the way they are, YOU have a problem.

I’m off my pedestal now.

I’m going to probably change this review once I stop being so irritated but for right now, I’m rolling with it. And if I didn’t “get” the true meaning of the book, well, I’m sorry; I don’t want to “get” it. I don’t care. Alaska sucked as a friend and she was a lousy human being, and she took up too much of my time by reading the book.

[Kai Spellmeier]

“We need never be hopeless because we can never be irreperably broken.”

Again, I know, I'm late. This book is incredibly popular, and it's been waiting patiently in my bookshelf for at least two years now. I've read Paper Towns (which was boring af) and The Fault In Our Stars (which is one of my favourite books). Looking for Alaska was something in between.

Characters:
Miles, the main character, is as interesting and charming as toast. So are his parents, but their lack of character depth is even worse. Chip, his roommate, saved me from falling asleep, and Alaska is a bit of a cliché. She is every toast-boy's fantasy, curvy, but also smart, a bookworm and feminist.

Plot:
Hmm. What's the plot? Boarding school, pranks, bullies, girls with boobs, alcohol and cigarettes. Way too many cigarettes - which really annoys me. Yeah, teens smoke out of stupidity but why write about it, and, in a way, promote it. Not cool. Listen guys, smoking: not cool.

Thoughts:
I don't get the point. I didn't feel emotionally connected to any of the characters and this lack of feelings took away the sympathy and understanding for them. Alaska's death didn't move me. In a way, it seemed pointless. Not because it's not sad, but more because the whole novel left no impression on me. This book sure is overrated, but not bad. The dialogues are okay and the pranks are fun, but I don't feel like this must have been written.

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[Megs ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I ever read by John Green. It was given to me in 2007 when I had no idea who John Green was. I wish this book had been around when I was a teen. I really enjoyed the story, but I think I would have liked it even more if I wasn't already past that point in my life. Even still, I loved this book.

Miles is in search for the great perhaps, and has a fascination with famous last words. He meets Alaska Young who is basically the girl of his dreams. Their journey together at boarding school begins and John takes us on an exciting ride in which you constantly feel there is impending doom lurking ahead.

I'm going to keep this review short, because so much has been said on this book. The writing is as great as I always expect now from JG, and the story unfolds with a great pace that makes you never want to put the book down. You will probably feel some excitement, sadness, and maybe even a little anger reading this book, but I think this book will be memorable. This is an outstanding coming-of-age novel that doesn't resort to a "happily ever after" ending, but the characters each seek closure on their own terms. The characters are well drawn, witty, and full of individual quirks. This book also includes some fun pranks, some great humor, and some shocking turns of events. I loved the "before"/"after" and the whole countdown. I thought that was a really neat tool that helped build suspense.

Looking For Alaska is a book I still love and recommend years later, and occasionally still think about. It remains my favorite JG book, and I would like to personally thank the person who gave me this book for introducing me to this wonderful writer.

Recommend to everyone, really!

[♥︎ Heather ⚔ (New House-Hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

⋆｡°·☁︎ '𝓘𝓯 𝓹𝓮𝓸𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓻𝓪𝓲𝓷, 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓭𝓻𝓲𝔃𝔃𝓵𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝓱𝓾𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓮.' ☂‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ.

This was really freaking good. Damn, Green writes some great characters!

“𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝔀𝓪𝔂 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓫𝔂𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓱 𝓸𝓯 𝓼𝓾𝓯𝓯𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮.”

╰⪼ Real, raw and unfiltered.

The beauty of this story is that it doesn't hide anything. It showcases what young love and growing up really are in a brutal and honest light. How the characters communicate, their relationships with each other, their pasts and the pleasure that comes with being a bad kid shines through the pages.

I might actually prefer this book to The Fault in Our Stars... Idk, the jury is still out on that one lol.

This is a book of grief, friendship, escapes and life. It’s dark, and romantic. Thought provoking, character driven tale of Alaska and Miles. The ending will leave you heartbroken.

You might not sob out buckets like most readers did at the end of The Fault in Our Stars, but you'll get attached to Miles and Alaska, just as they do to each other.

“𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓶𝓪𝓼 𝓔𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓸𝓷’𝓼 𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓭𝓼 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 “𝓘𝓽’𝓼 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓲𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮”. 𝓘 𝓭𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓼, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓘 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮 𝓲𝓽’𝓼 𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝓲𝓽’𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓲𝓯𝓾𝓵”.


୨୧‿‿‿୨ﾠ୧‿‿‿୨୧

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got 23 pages into this stink-bomb of a novel and had to put it down. This is exceedingly rare for me, but it's just that bad.

Our hero, Miles Halter, is a weird, spoiled kid who likes reading the ends of biographies just to get people's last words. He doesn't always even read the whole book, just the ending. Miles thinks this habit makes him deep. Miles is wrong.

We know Miles is shallow from page 3. He's leaving his public school for a fancy boarding school, and only two friends, Marie and Will, show up to bid him adieu. Miles does not appreciate this gesture because Marie and Will are dorks, theater geeks, and they like Jesus Christ Superstar, which Miles has somehow never heard of but already knows he doesn't like. Also, Will is fat. The horror.

Luckily for Miles, he is soon to escape this hellish existence of being forced to socialize with overweight people who don't recoil like demons at the name of Jesus. At his fancy-pants school, he meets Chip "The Colonel" his jerk of a roommate, but Chip's alright because he looks like "a scale model of Adonis" and he smokes.

Then there's Takumi, who's Asian and talks with his mouth full. So far, that is all we know about Takumi, and I have a horrible feeling that that is all we will ever know about Takumi.

And then there's Alaska Young- "the hottest girl in the world" who introduces herself to Miles by gleefully recounting how she got groped by a random, randy boy over the summer. Alaska is like Miles in that she loves to read (a word which here means "parse, but pretend to have read the whole thing") big nonfiction books. Usually girls who like this kind of reading don't boast about their sexual exploits, because they are mature enough not to have any. They also don't drink, smoke, or partake of drugs.

But to paraphrase Gandalf at the edge of Mirkwood, this is the John Green-verse, a world that only appears similar to ours, and we're in for all kinds of fun wherever we go.

Chip gives Miles the nickname "Pudge" because Miles is skinny. Green clearly expects us all to be rolling in the aisles over this one. Green's expectations are way off.

The night before school begins, Miles gets abducted from his room while Chip is out. The boys who take him make him a duct tape mummy and throw him in a pond, an ordeal which he miraculously survives. These three guys tried to murder him, but they were thin and attractive and didn't say anything about Jesus, so we're cool.

I neither know nor care what happens after this point. From what I've heard, Miles and Alaska make out, despite each already having a girlfriend/boyfriend, and Miles receives a sexual favor of the Bill Clinton variety from his girlfriend while Alaska looks on and gives the girl instructions. Then Alaska goes drunk-driving and dies, prompting an existential crisis on the part of her friends, who wonder if the car crash was a purposeful suicide.

They market this book to kids as young as twelve.

John Green is not a particularly good writer, despite what you might have heard. His prose isn't bad, but it's hardly the ambrosial poetry it's been marketed as. The supposedly deep thoughts of the kids are clearly tacked on - it's not natural for Alaska to go from "OMG he honked my boob" (her words, not mine) to "General Bolivar wondered 'How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?'" Every time Miles mentioned his Great Perhaps, I wanted to clobber someone. Nobody on Earth thinks, acts, or talks like this.

Green clearly fancies himself a great sage of adolescence, and his characters worthy to keep the company of the best YA protagonists. What he doesn't realize is that the great characters are great because they're not sold to the reader as perfect; rather, they are shown to be real kids with flaws and virtues. A few examples:

-Huck Finn ( The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ) is a gritty protagonist, but truly gritty, not some pampered rich kid affecting a hard life to evade moral responsibility. Huck is a weather-worn, stained pair of workman's jeans, while Miles Halter and Company are the $425 Nordstrom jeans splattered with fake mud.

-Jo March ( Little Women ), like Green's characters, is a bookworm who yearns for more adventure than her small town can provide. But unlike them, she learns the value of temperance, sacrifice, and humility.

-Anne Shirley ( Anne of Green Gables ) is superficially a lot like a Green character, a precocious reader who loves to show off her big vocabulary and Deep Thoughts. But unlike Green's nihilistic dramatis personae, Anne believes fervently in Goodness - not just in God, while that's big, but in the inherent potential of every human being. She also recognizes her mistakes and learns from them.

-Eustace Clarence Scrubb has a lot of Greenish tics. He collects bugs, and he could probably have a good conversation with Miles and Alaska about famous last words and grain elevators. Eustace looks down on his cousins the Pevensies, whom he perceives as stupid, and he keeps a journal, wherein he is the only smart or sane person in a sea of idiots who enjoy the outdoors and talk about Aslan (Christ Superstar). Eustace basically is a Green hero at the start of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader , but Lewis sees him as he is - utterly insufferable. What a pity no one could turn Miles Halter into a dragon; it might have been a character-building experience.

-Scout Finch ( To Kill a Mockingbird ) is extremely observant and intelligent, but unlike a Green kid, never puts on airs about it. She never even really recognizes how different she is from the children around her. She's nine when the story ends, but she's far more mature than Miles or any of his friends.

- Meg Murray ( A Wrinkle in Time ) is a brainiac who looks and acts like one - a mousy-haired, bespectacled dork with no discernible social life, whose best friend is her (autism spectrum?) little brother. She doesn't degrade the people around her. She just wants to save her family.

(The last two examples are from a movie and a TV show, but they're still light-years ahead of anybody in a Green book).

- Sarah Williams ( Jim Henson's Labyrinth: The Novelization ) fancies herself a genius, who's so much better than her peers that she'd rather do one-person plays in the park than interact with other high school kids. She quickly learns that she's not nearly as grown-up as she thought she was, and that by living mentally in a fantasy world, she almost lost her baby brother and got embroiled in a relationship with a rather unstable man that neither she nor he was ready for. Sarah becomes mature when she admits her immaturity. Green's people don't think they have anything to learn.

- the entire main cast of Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Scripts, Volume 1 are strange, maladjusted, and alienated from the mainstream like Green's kids are - but in realistic ways. Some of them are drug-addled partiers, others are readers and perceivers. The writers of the show understood that a wild girl like Kim Kelly, who boasts of her Maenadish adventures just like Alaska, would not enjoy reading, while a bright kid like Lindsay Weir would try pot and skipping school, but feel the whole time like she was betraying herself. Green just amalgamates incompatible personality traits without a shred of realism.

That's not even getting into the zig-zagging language of the book. Green drops heavy swear words frequently, but thinks the reader needs every bit of real information spelled out for them. At the end of chapter 1, Miles explains to his parents who Francois Rabelais was, despite the fact that his dad owns the book about Rabelais that Miles read. This unnatural dialogue reveals how dumb Green thinks his readers are.

It would have been better for Miles-as-narrator to step away from the scene and explain Rabelais briefly to the reader. Alcott, Montgomery, Lewis, L'Engle or Lee would have just had him say "As Rabelais said on his deathbed..." and leave it to the reader to find out who Rabelais was. Believe it or not, kids, there was a time when novelists knew you were smart enough to use an encyclopedia!

And what of the gratuitous crudity and innuendo in this book? Alaska is utterly objectified. The first time we meet her, she's bragging about getting felt up. To a pair of boys, no less, one of whom she doesn't even know. When she's having a supposedly deep conversation by the pond with Miles, he's more focused on her curves, which he describes over and over again in detail, than in anything she's saying. It's the Male Gaze Run Amok.

I understand that men are easily distracted by the bodies of women, especially women as beautiful as we're told Alaska is. But Miles is so filled with lust for her that it's uncomfortable to read about. If I have to read about men looking at women and being horny, I'll stick with Ovid. He can get disgusting, but he's a far superior writer to Green in any translation, and at least in Ovid many of the women do not seek to be objectified. I'll take Apollo/Daphne over Miles/Alaska any day. Also, Metamorphoses boasts such niceties as symbolism, flashes of genuine humor, and explosions.

All in all, this is a terrible book which somehow won awards and gained its author a huge, worshipful following. He has since rewritten it many times, changing the characters' names and tweaking the subject matter slightly. All his books pretend to be profound when they're really just paeans to narcissism, nihilism, and bad decisions. His fans gobble this stuff up because it makes them feel special and unique without challenging them to change their lives or examine their characters.

Worse, Green's genre can be a slippery slope to other "profound" YA novels such as the potentially harmful Thirteen Reasons Why, which in light of its alarmingly popular Netflix adaptation will soon be getting a review from me.

In short, don't give this man your money, time or brain cells.

[emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

i truly believe that this book dealt more damage to this generation's psyche than a year-plus of pandemic lockdown.

and that is a significant claim from me, because i am in emotional and mental shambles at this point.

the john green-i-est of all john green books.

part of a project i'm doing where i review books i read a long time ago and take it as an excuse to up the degree of john green hate content i've created

[NickReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite from John Green. This reminds me of high school.

[selin · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book fixed something that it didn’t break. we all had that time period where we got lost, needed to be found by ourselves, not by anyone else. but struggling because that dark thoughts towards yourself are so strong that you cannot find a way out from your own suffering, and trying to ignore that pain with all your power. i never found a way to put that dark times into words, however miles’ and alaska’s words have done that for me.

”Before I got here, I thought for a long time that the way out of the labyrinth was to pretend that it did not exist, to build a small, self-sufficient world in a back corner of the endless maze and to pretend that I was not lost, but home. But that only led to a lonely life accompanied only by the last words of the already-dead, so I came here looking for a Great Perhaps, for real friends and a more-than-minor life.”

ignoring a problem, staying away from reckless acts, avoiding conflict at all costs, blaming yourself constantly, trying to heal by yourself quietly; these are all things that comes along with the mistakes you have done, even though your brain knows that you are not guilty, your heart makes you wonder, was it your fault, could you have been a better person, was there a way out, could you do things differently?

the way these topics were examined in this book was incredibly realistic that i felt like someone put a mirror in my thoughts, and reflected into those pages. and i really believe that everyone can find a piece of themselves on these pages, because i don’t believe that there is someone who is alive, and doesn’t blame themselves for something they have done, even people that we believe are bad people.

your past is a lesson, not a life sentence. because of our fear that we will make a mistake again, we choose the safe paths, isolating ourselves from the passion of life, creating a bland but secure one. we should not just exist or survive, we should live and feel alive. i know sometimes it is hard to believe that, but this book shows these facts to you so well that, you got no choice but to listen to it.

“When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.”

i dived into this expecting a quick and enjoyable read, however it turned out to be the one that speaks to my soul so clearly. it presented a voice i that cannot speak, and i really hope that if you haven’t read this one yet, you can understand that you are not the first person who has self-guilt, and you will never be the last.

“It's not life or death, the labyrinth. Suffering. Doing wrong and having wrong things happen to you. That's the problem. Bolivar was talking about the pain, not about the living or dying. How do you get out of the labyrinth of suffering?”

plot of this is that the main character miles ‘pudge’ is getting sick of his boring an plain life and wanting to find his own ’the great perhaps’ by enrolling culver creek boarding school. he meets his people there, colonel, takumi, lara and… alaska. those people are known to pull incredible pranks, living their life passionately by acting like there is no tomorrow, which made the ’before’ part of the book a lot entertaining. however the part where i got so connected with the book was, the part ’after’.

“I wanted to be one of those people who have streaks to maintain, who scorch the ground with their intensity. But for now, at least I knew such people, and they needed me, just like comets need tails.”

miles ‘pudge’: i tend to dislike high schoolers in books, because they are usually written either too unrealistically mature for their age, or the quite opposite, total immature teens. miles was the perfect example of a teenager, he had insecurities, anxious thoughts, confidence, love, desire to get academic validation, and wish to spend time with his friends and his crush. he also had this poetic side that made me smile softly, he described alaska’s half smile as mona lisa’s unique smile, just wanting to sleep with alaska without having no sexual interaction, calling her dorm that he shares with colonel ‘home’.. he was such a beautiful boy with all of his self destructive thoughts, loyalty for his friends, gratitude towards his family and many other things.

“When I look at my room, I see a girl who loves books.”

alaska: she was fucked up so beautifully. you can’t understand her character but in reality you can, you get so mad at her, after a second you want to hug her, you curse at her morals, a few moments later you praise her intelligence. the complexity of her character was incredibly well-written, you can feel her duality of wanting to stay alive, but wanting to just disappear from the world at the same time so clearly. she hates herself, she loves herself; she is loyal, she is unfaithful; she is smart, she is stupid. i really cannot explain her character to you, because she is incredibly unique that i think everyone would describe her differently.

“Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (...) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”

there will always be books that we won’t able to read, friends we won’t able to comfort, songs we won’t able to listen, words we cannot speak, corners of the maze we cannot turn. but we can enjoy the memories we have, and make the most of it by being brave and kind, both to others and to ourselves.

“We are as indestructible as we believe ourselves to be.”

i cried two times while writing this. we are all scared, we are all anxious, we all have suffered, but we all get through it, or getting through it. but we are not just our fears, anxiety or pain, we are also our kindness, dreams and love. none of us will be happy all time, but never suffer all the time either. we will fall apart at the end, but we can leave some kindness and love behind us.

“We are greater than the sum of our parts.”

nov 3: this book was so perfect that, there is no way that i can justify it with a review, but i will try. rtc.

oct 31: am i too late to read this🧍🏻‍♀️

[Kat (Lost in Neverland) · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time hearing about this book;

Friend online gushes on how amazing and fantabulous this book is.

Me: Okay, I'll check it out. Plus it's cool since I was born in Alaska. The book is about Alaska right?

Friend: *laughs*

Me: O__o It's not about Alaska?

Friend: *still laughing*

Me: IT'S NOT ABOUT ALASKA?


The End.

True Story.

[Tricia]

Did not finish.

This book was just too much--too much smoking, drinking, sex, and foul language. As a teenager, I hated it then and I don't want to rehash it now. I didn't care about any of the characters except Miles and I hated how he just went along with everything thrown in his path without a second thought--the smoking, drinking, porn, etc.

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know so many author fans’ favorite book is Fault in our stars! But my all time favorite work of John Green is absolutely this book!

You ask me why? I say: those characters, those brilliant dialogues, that freaking, mind blowing trage… okay I’m shutting my mouth…

This time I’m not gonna be the one who gives detailed spoilers about the story she fell so hard.
I’m also not gonna write pages and pages comments to express how much I loved this book! I did! I do! I will!

So I’m letting my favorite characters make the talk by quoting their remarkable dialogues! Here are they: ( oh, and one more thing: if you didn’t watch the marvelous Hulu adaptation of the book, give it a try: it definitely and adroitly reflected the soul of the book! )

“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive!”

“Thomas Edison's last words were "It's very beautiful over there". I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful.”

“When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.”

“When I look at my room, I see a girl who loves books.” ( I think this line is worth to get tattooed on my wrist)

“I may die young, but at least I'll die smart.” ( another tattoo line for me)

“And then something invisible snapped insider her, and that which had come together commenced to fall apart.”

“Sometimes you lose a battle. But mischief always wins the war.”

Yes, I think I’ll keep rereading this one! It’s already at my all time favorites list!

[jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really wish i had read this when it first came out, because i think john greens writing has become stronger over time, so i didnt quite love this as much as his more recent stuff. but its still classic JG - need i say more?

i know JG is one of those polarising authors - you either hate him or you love him with no in between - but i find his characterisation of teens really fascinating. many claim his characters are pretentious. i mean, how many teenagers do you know literally searching for their great perhaps like pudge? probably none. but i think he does a great job at portraying teenagers how they perceive themselves. i definitely thought i was an intellectual and enlightened human at that age as well, so i get it.

overall, not my favourite book by him, but it still has that quintessential john green touch that i adore.

↠ 3.5 stars

[Fabian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's me acknowledging the power of John Green. & hats off!

No, this one is not as bittersweet as "The Fault in Our Stars", but still, this is unputdownable supreme! Its the type of literature that gets one excited about reading, about reminiscing about adolescence and school. Because everyone has had a childhood, a first love, a stage of rebellion, this type of book strikes inner chords & you swiftly become infected with the virus of nostalgia.

To read one of his novels is to remember that you were once new & naive, too!

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 3 out of 5]

I belong to the generation that enjoyed St. Elmo’s Fire, a 1985 American coming-of-age film that starred the then showbiz newbies, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andre McCarthy and Demi Moore. That was shown here in the Philippines when I was in my first year of working after college and I was able to relate to many of its characters so I watched it twice or thrice. Oh well, I was with my girlfriend then and you know how dark and cold were the theatres during those years when they were not yet inside the malls.

So, now at 47, graying and with joints aching especially during cold mornings, I am just too old to appreciate a story about a bunch of young (college) kids who get into all troubles precisely because they are young. They drink booze, smoke, defy school rules, swear, have free sex and, in their attempt to cover their foolishness, do various kinds of franks towards the school authorities.

I definitely had my share of foolishness when I was at their age. I guess it had something to do with being young – the feeling when you want to assert myself, make a territorial mark between your generation and that of your parent’s or test the extent of their patience (and in so doing test whether they really care or not). Last Sunday, my daughter had an outburst inside the car saying that she did not have a friend at school. My daughter who was very active in school leading the Robotics Team, emceeing school programs, leading the daily prayer as one of the school DJs, being class president for at least two years and playing various kinds of sports during annual intramurals. She said that she felt alone (she is an only child) and she oftentimes ate lunch alone. My wife and I felt sad about her revelations. We thought that she was doing fine as whenever we were in her school, we oftentimes heard many of her fellow students greeting her “hi.” We even joked that she should be the most popular student in school. This was something that I and my wife did not experience when we were in high school as we were low-profile people then and even now in our respective life circles. We advised her to just make the most of what can still be done for the rest of the senior year - probably concentrate with a few friends instead of reaching out to all – as it is just 8 months before graduation. In college, she will probably have a totally new set of friends so she can forge new ties and hope those will be stronger and more lasting. Anyway, friends come and go. Those classmates-friends we had in college tend to stick with us after our school years as we normally land in the same field or industry. Moreover, in the end what really matter are the learnings from each friend we encounter in our lives. Learnings that help us to become better persons as we take our journey in this thing called life.

That’s why I was able to relate to this novel. I could imagine the disappointment Miles “Pudge” Halter felt when nobody but two attended his goodbye party for him. That’s why I could imagine the anxiety he felt facing his own “Great Perhaps” when he made his first step towards the boarding school, Culver Creek. That’s why I felt the pain and suprise when he was thrown off the creek just because he was sharing his room with Chip “The Colonel” Martin. That’s why I understood when Pudge and Chip cried with guilt and sadness with longing and fondness when Alaska Young disappeared from their lives.

This is a novel about being young and what goes with it – emotionally vulnerable, trying to fit in, trying to find one’s place under the sun, trying to face the whole world armed with what little knowledge and strength gained in the first one or two decades of stay on this treacherous yet still beautiful earth.

John Green shows us the generation of today. His characters may not be totally different from the St. Elmo’s buddies I used to relate with. However, this is their time. We had ours. So, let’s step down and give them the stage but keep ourselves at bay to coach if they ask us to. Otherwise, let’s leave them and let them strengthen their wings for them to fly away and fulfill the hearts’ wishes.

Thanks to Dra. Ranee for lending to me her copy of this book!

[Lotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in 2008 when I was 14 and it turned out to be the book that sparked my love for literature.
I've always loved reading, but before that I only read for the sake of entertainment. Looking for Alaska was the first book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, but that simultaneously and more importantly, made me think about greater issues in life for a long time after I had finished reading.
Now that I'm 21, I understand that while this remains to be a highly philosophical book, it's not the "deepest" and most perfect book ever. However, it still means the world to me and I'll always be thankful for John Green for writing it.

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day I’m going to put together an anthology of John Green’s three novels, and it will be titled “Hot Bipolar Girls and the Boys Who Worship Them.”

This is the third John Green book I’ve read so far, and the patterns are starting to appear. (Less so with An Abundance of Katherines, I must admit, but most of the elements are still there so I’m counting it) In every book (An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska) our hero is a slightly awkward but likable young man who has some quirky obsession and quirky friends. He meets a girl, who is your typical Manic Pixie Dream Girl, except on crack. Boy obsesses over Girl, Girl does not give much of a damn. Girl is impulsive and difficult to understand and shows many signs of being mentally unbalanced, but Boy does not care because she is hot. Story continues in this vein for a while, and then Girl does something that causes all hell to break loose, goes totally off the rails, and Boy is left to pick up the pieces and continue worshipping Girl, although not quite in the same way he did before.

John Green certainly has a thing for the Manic Pixie Dream Girl archetype, and the good news is he’s starting to ease up on it – the girls get steadily less crazy and more likable as the books get newer, and since I read the books in the opposite order they were written, it was interesting to watch the escalation. Katherine I is mostly normal, although still a constant source of mystery and worship. Margot Roth Speigleman is Alaska Young on medication. And Alaska Young is...well. I’ve been trying to think of some mythical figure I can compare her to (there’ve got to be a million myths about beautiful women who bring destruction, right?) and the best I can come up with is actually from Peter Pan. Remember the mermaids? They’re beautiful and fascinating and mysterious, and they draw you in with their singing. But the second you get close to them, they grab you and drag you under the water and drown you. Alaska Young is a mermaid. She’s impulsive and fun and sexy and confident, and then as soon as anyone starts feeling comfortable with her, suddenly she becomes sullen or furious or cruel. Miles, the Awkward But Likeable Quirky Boy, doesn’t even try to resist her. He falls, hard, for Alaska and bravely endures her ups and downs, and he suffers for it along with everyone else who was foolish enough to fall in love with her. She stubbornly remains a mystery throughout the book, refusing to explain her actions or moods, and this continues to the moment when she drives off campus, drunk and raging, and ends up driving her car straight into a police car (the siren was on, the lights flashing) that was parked on the highway at an accident site. She is killed instantly, and even after her death Miles and his friends continue to be consumed by her.

The book is divided into two parts – before Alaska’s death, and after. Based on the reviews I’ve read, everyone seems to like the Before better, but I disagree. I like the After, mostly because I couldn’t stand Alaska, but also because I think the writing gets better in the After part. The thing I love about John Green (and the reason this gets five stars, despite my griping) is the way he writes about emotions. That sounds silly, but it’s true – he understands fear and pain and grief better than almost any author I’ve ever read, and it’s always heartbreakingly beautiful when he writes about them. In my review of Paper Towns I quoted a brilliant paragraph he wrote about fear, and in Looking for Alaska it’s grief:

“I am staring at the ground beneath me. I cannot stop thinking that she is dead, and I cannot stop thinking that she cannot possibly be dead. People do not just die. I can’t catch my breath. I feel afraid, like someone has told me they’re going to kick my ass after school and now it’s sixth period and I know full well what’s coming. It is so cold today – literally freezing – and I imagine running to the creek and diving in headfirst, the creek so shallow that my hands scrape against the rocks, and my body slides into the cold water, the shock of the cold giving way to numbness, and I would stay there...”

That’s the stuff I love about this book – the aftermath of the destruction Alaska wreaks. In all the Before sections, it just felt like the characters were stalling for time, waiting for that inevitable disaster to happen. Once it does, I suddenly became completely invested in the book and decided that I needed to give it five stars.

“...one thing I learned from science classes is that energy is never created and never destroyed. And if Alaska took her own life, that is the hope I wish I could have given her. Forgetting her mother, forgetting her friends and herself – those are awful things, but she did not need to fold into herself and self-destruct. Those awful things are survivable, because we are as indestructible as we believe ourselves to be. When adults say ‘Teenagers think they are invincible’ with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We thinks that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.”

Also, for the record: I think she did it on purpose. I don’t think she left campus planning to kill herself, but she saw the police car and decided, on the spur of the moment, to drive straight at it. I think she meant to do it.

UPDATE: Whilst dicking around on tumblr, I found a snippet of a poem by Warsan Shire and I had to post it at the end of this review, because I think it perfectly expresses what Alaska would say if she were allowed to tell this story in her own words, and it also illustrates what John Green fails to understand about his Manic Pixie Dream Girl obsession:

"You want me to be a tragic backdrop so that you can appear to be illuminated, so that people can say ‘Wow, isn’t he so terribly brave to love a girl who is so obviously sad?’ You think I’ll be the dark sky so you can be the star? I’ll swallow you whole."

[Kristalia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final rating: 4.5/5 stars

"Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don't know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are."

Loved it! I couldn't put it down - just like i expected. John Green is seriously talented, and even though i don't like this book as much as i love his "The Fault in Our Stars", it was still wonderful book.

I have to admit that i was on verge of crying on almost every page from the "After" part. And then, in the end, i did cry a little. Let out a tear or two... But, it was beautiful ending, and i loved it :)

CHARACTERS :

"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."

We follow a group of people from the perspective of Miles and those people are Colonel(aka,real name Chipper),Takumi,Alaska and Lara. I liked Miles a lot, he was cool, interesting and nice...Colonel, on the other hand, was fantastic character, crazy, with strong personality... Takumi was great too, even though i wished there was more of him; Lara was here and there, likeable and cute girl and in the end we have Alaska... Alaska is a different story... even though she was fun to read about, i still didn't feel anything toward hure. Sure, she may be crazy and she might be awesomely defensive of womankind, but overall i didn't feel much about her. But, she was still loveable.

“Sometimes I don't get you,' I said.
She didn't even glance at me. She just smiled toward the television and said, 'You never get me. That's the whole point.”

They were fun, they were crazy, they did some extremely crazy things and in the end, i will miss reading about them (not like i won't read it again).

“What the hell is that?" I laughed.
"It's my fox hat."
"Your fox hat?"
"Yeah, Pudge. My fox hat."
"Why are you wearing your fox hat?" I asked.
"Because no one can catch the motherfucking fox.”

OVERALL :

Some people say that the best years of our lives are when we are young, when we are teens, when we are in college... when we first fall in love, when we go on our first day...When we are with friends... But some stories finish before we even blink.

BUDDY READ WITH MY BEAUTIFUL MORGAN!

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REVIEW(S) RELATED TO THIS BOOK:

◈ Paper Towns
◈ Looking for Alaska
◈ The Fault in Our Stars


This review can be found on my blog: infinity-of-time.blogspot.com also known as...

[ily · Rating 1 out of 5]

"white girl who's not like the other girls, finds the boy of her dreams.. a white boy who's not like the other boys!" This perfectly sums up every John Green book. All his characters are socially awkward, know the names of foreign poets and come up with phrases like "My thoughts are stars I cannot put into constellations" randomly. It is so pretentious. John Green is one of the most overrated authors in YA.

[kimberlina · Rating 1 out of 5]

my first boyfriend was obsessed with looking for alaska and anything john green and that should’ve rung alarm bells in my head but unfortunately i was as dumb and as stupid as this book

[emi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.

John Green has established himself a very large fan base of readers, who are very fond of his work and writing.

Unfortunately, after reading a lot of his work, I can't say that I belong to that fanbase. Neither his characters nor writing nor plot make me swoon.

Alright, that was a very formal way of saying that his books are not for me.

Now, let's cut to the chase, shall we?

Everybody loves to read a good, ol' raging review about a controversial book. But I'll try to keep this one civil.

I can understand why Green's books are so popular, even though I don't personally find them anything spectacular.

First of all, I noticed a trend in some of his stories.

The leading main character is almost always bland and boring, take for example, Paper Towns or this book, Looking for Alaska. Now, I'm not being a bully here and saying that Green is the only one who follows this trope - but, it's just a little observation of mine. You don't have to agree with me.

Following that observation, have you realized that similarly in a few cases, the female is always portrayed as this 'mysterious, untouchable' goddess of some sort?

The normal, grey-little-piece-of-paper bloke and the otherworldly queen. I get that when people, especially teenagers, fall in love, they idealize their crush, looking past all their imperfections ... but, come on. This trope is overwhelmingly popular in YA.

Okay, now think about this.

Imagine a bucket full of paper cards with plot twists, character traits, character interests, events, etc. Now, the way I see it, most of Green's books feel like these little cards have been pulled out at random, and the story was based upon them. It's ridiculous, I know. But, that's just how I feel, okay?

Now, let's get to the actual book. Looking for Alaska.

If I could describe this book in a few random words, it would be: excessive teenage smoking, teenage rebellion, drinking, unlikeable characters.

Apart from Chip. I liked Chip. You rock, Chip.

I highly appreciate that Green was trying to touch on some important matters. But, I don't think this book did them justice.

Let's start.

Plot:

This book was entertaining to read, in the way that it's wasn't boring, even though it pretty much had no plot. I won't lie. You fly through it. I can't say that I didn't necessarily enjoy reading it - it was chaotic, and crazy and full of that 'teenage rebellion' jazz.

Characters:

I felt very little towards any of the characters, especially Alaska. The amount of times her body was described is literally insane - like, Miles, get a grip, stop being fickle. I understand that he thought her personality was brilliant too and at that age, teenage hormones go on a raging rampage, but, enough is enough. Even towards the end, I couldn't bring myself to feel any sympathy for either of them. At one point, sure, I felt a little bleak, but no tears were shed.

Writing:

The writing wasn't bad. It was very simple and bland, and full of vulgar language, but it wasn't something terrible. As usual, it had that 'philosophical' undertone - when young people try to sound all wise - which drives me crazy. I'm not saying that teenagers are stupid, because as a teenager myself, I think that is the most inaccurate, insulting accusation one can make. But, there's a huge disparity between wisdom and intelligence.

Okay, now, I'd like to touch on another matter.

Smoking.

I'm not going to hide it. Teenagers smoke, and that's something that was and most likely always will be part of our society. That's okay. That's life. Lots of my friends smoke, and whilst it's not something that I want to take part in, as an athlete (saying athlete, I don't mean I'm a professional, or anything), I under where its popularity comes from. Really, I do.

But...

The characters in this book smoke. A lot.

That's fine, because it makes the book seem realistic. Damn it, I'm fifteen and I know people my age and younger who smoke. And, truthfully, that's not something society can magically eradicate.

But, the way it was depicted in the book made me mad.

Not whilst reading it.

But looking back at it now... it was very problematic, in my personal opinion. If you have the opportunity to write a book aimed towards a younger audience, wouldn't you want to make a positive impact?

Teach them something.

But, in this book, smoking was deemed (in my opinion) 'cool' and, honestly, that was something that infuriated me.

The characters smoked so much, and nothing happened to them.

They were healthy, and didn't cough at all. No effects, whatsoever. Literally, as though smoking was a chill, harmless activity - not full of nicotine and tobacco.

Why? WHY?

Smoking is life threatening. Why glorify it in a book?

This whole theme should have been handled differently, in my opinion.

It should have pushed people away from smoking.

Writers can create magic through words. As the saying goes, words have the power to change minds. John Green has a huge amount of fans, spread all around the world, and he obviously must have a talent in writing. If you happen to possess two of these things, why not use them to your advantage?Through a beautiful paragraph, people could feel at least feel some distaste towards smoking. It just should have had a better moral; a better message towards readers. A more constructive message, in my opinion. I understand that these teenagers want to experiment, want to try new things, but come on, there's boundaries that shouldn't be crossed. And, when an author touches upon life threatening, addictive substances, I think it would be only fair if he portrayed the action, as dangerous. NOT AS A LEISURELY, FUN ACTIVITY, RESERVED ONLY FOR THE BEST OF THE BEST. Man...

Overall, I didn't enjoy this book. Sadly, it just wasn't one for me. How did you find it?

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was recommended this by a good friend and I was really looking forward to it. I love the vlogbrothers videos and the first chapter really made me want to read it and find out more but it didn't live up to the expectation that the first few chapters set up.

My main problem with the book was the characters. It wasn't even that they were underdeveloped. Alaska and Miles just pissed me off. I let some of it slide by because I understand certain parts were intentional but Miles was just so whiny. I couldn't handle it.

By the time I got to the "After" section of the book I was going through the motions; counting pages, skipping whole paragraphs that seemed unimportant and screaming internally at my book. The took so long to figure out the great mystery of the incident that is didn't seem plausible for a group of teenagers who are supposed to be smart.

I have since read another John Green book and I truly loved it. His writing is excellent and it is so refreshing to see a YA novel with a male voice. I also rather liked that they actually did homework and went to classes. So, please, go and but another of his books and truly enjoy the author that is John Green.