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Sunday, June 2, 2013

Looking for Alaska Review

Looking for Alaska by John Green is an incredibly captivating fiction novel. It follows Miles “Pudge” Halter in finding the purpose of his existence, and meeting new friends along the way who change his life forever. Miles was always a lonely, one-friend kid at his old school who never stood out. But when he decides he is tired of it, his parents allow him to go to the prestigious boarding school which his father once attended. Miles meets his best friend Chip when they are put together as roommates. Chip loves to have fun and break rules, but is incredibly smart and studious. Miles becomes incorporated into Chip’s group of friends and meets the beautiful Alaska, who Miles falls in love with quickly.
            Green’s presentation of Alaska is genius. She is fun and witty, but is also extremely depressed; the contrast makes a very realistic person whom readers can understand. She falls through a cycle which everyone goes through at one point or another, but the result is more extreme.

Spoiler alert!!! 

Skip to the last paragraph if you do not want to read the ending.

When Alaska leaves the dorm the night of her accident, the reader automatically knows something awful is going to happen. But Green leaves the reader as clueless as Miles and Chip are. Later the next day, they are informed of Alaska’s tragic death. It is as shocking to the person reading as it is to the characters.
            Miles and Chip go through extensive measures to find out what happened to Alaska, in attempt to find comfort in a devastating incident. Because they never figure out exactly why Alaska crashed her car (intentionally or unintentionally), and we are left to wonder with them. The reader misses her spunk as much as the characters in the book do.
            Miles’ strange obsession with last words foreshadows a bit into Alaska’s death. It is ironic and bittersweet that the only person Miles ever falls in love with dies, and he will never know her own last words. But they will never find out, and so the reader is left to wonder just the same.  The very last page sums up the book beautifully. He brings back this motif with Thomas Edison’s last words: “It’s very beautiful over there.” And Miles makes his final statement, saying in a sadly optimistic tone, that he hopes it is in fact beautiful.

Spoiler over:

            Throughout the entire book, Green does a wonderful job in making the reader see through Miles’ eyes and feel through his heart. I would recommend this book because it is a quick but worthy read. If you enjoyed this book, I also suggest you read the amazing The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky.

Written by Geena Elghossain on June 1, 2013 

2 comments:

  1. I've read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which was a great read, but now I'll definitely read Looking for Alaska!

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  2. Made me wanna read the book! Amazing job. Well done!!

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