First drink, first prank, first friend, first girl, last words… A poignant and moving crossover novel about making friends and growing up.
Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words – and tired of his safe, boring and rather lonely life at home. He leaves for boarding school filled with cautious optimism, to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.
This was the first John Green book I decided to read and I was not disappointed! Before I started the book I already had high expectations because of the large number of people who seem to love John Green. I am very happy to say that I am now one of those people, the book was so much better than I expected and I am so glad this was the first one I decided to read as it now makes me want to read them all! I am used to reading romantic chic-lit type books which makes this book very different as it is not a happy book at all but that makes it so good to read. I spent the majority of the time feeling myself getting close to the characters and hoping that something good was around the corner. Even though this didn't really ever come it kind of made the book even better as in most books I have read no matter how sad it is there will always be a happy ending. This book questions life and death and everything in between. It was a book that I found hard to put down and I think it was probably the perfect introduction to John Green.
Moving to a new school is never easy, even if you have decided to make the move yourself, and this book does a good job of reflecting on all the different things that occur in a new environment. It helped to make the book exciting and interesting, as we're getting to know Miles' friends at the same time as he is. But it's the overall plot of this book that really keeps the reader going.
The chapters are separated by "days before", and "days after". It's never mentioned what it is referring to in the before section but you can't help but feel that it is something to dread. You want to enjoy everything that Miles is experiencing in the excitement of starting a new school, meeting new friends and all of the fun adventures he goes on, but there's always this niggling in the back of your mind about what is actually going to happen, what is going to change ? What is going to ruin this? I found this to be a really unique and interesting way of setting out the chapters and it really helped to make this story that much more entertaining and enjoyable.
Miles was a character that was instantly admired. He was smart, risk-taking, but also incredibly cautious at times, always with a niggling feeling at the back of his mind as if something was telling him to be cautious. It was great to get to know more about him, to feel the emotions he was dealing with through his narrative voice, it was truly possible to know and understand everything that he was going through. I liked that about the book as it helped you to really get inside Miles' head and build up an impression of him much easier. I wanted things to be okay for him, wanted him to have the fresh start that he deserved. Alaska, on the other hand, wasn't a character I could like, I am not too sure why but she didn't seem like a likable character, at least she didn't to me. I could see why Miles liked her, befriended her and wanted to spend time with her. Although I couldn't particularly like Alaska's character I still felt emotionally attached to her and that, I feel, is in large part due to the amazing writing of John Green.
This book was John Green's debut novel and it seems to me like a brilliant way to enter into the world of publishing.He has set such a high standard with this book but you can tell from this book that this is not the limit to his storytelling. His writing is easy to get to grips with, and has a way of really grabbing the reader by the shoulders and forcing their arms to keep turning the page. It is interesting and intense, he has a lovely way of capturing human emotions in a way that makes all of his characters feel realistic and alive. You could, quite easily, picture these people. John Green has a way of questioning things with his writing and his stories, a way of opening things up that you may have never thought of before. He leaves the reader with so many unanswered questions about Miles and for Miles himself and he knows that, it is as if he is showing us that, that is simply the way life is sometimes and without probing John Green himself, will never know the answer to these. I found this to be one of the best parts of Looking for Alaska, John Green simply tells it as it is.
Looking For Alaska is a contemporary novel that really gets to work from the get go. It centres around an interesting character who gets to go to a new school and meet some new friends. It is interesting, entertaining, and compelling, and a book that I am incredibly glad that I chose to read. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes contemporary young adult novels, novels with male protagonists and novels that have a way of questioning the ways of life. There is so much going on in this novel but I don't want to reveal too much as I feel that this is one of those books that you really need to experience for yourself. So, go and pick up this book and read it. Chances are it'll move you in many different ways and make you really think about the world without letting you realise that is what you are doing. This is a book that I would easily read again and again.
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