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.
I've read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which was a great read, but now I'll definitely read Looking for Alaska!
ReplyDeleteMade me wanna read the book! Amazing job. Well done!!
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