Looking For Alaska

     I just finished reading Looking for Alaska, by John Green. This book was first published by John Green in 2005, and it is a fiction book about a boy seeking the "Great Perhaps." Miles (Pudge) leaves behind his nothing-of-a-high-school-life, to go to Culver Creek boarding school, where he meets Alaska Young, and Chip Martin (the Colonel), who turn his life around. Miles has to learn how to live at the boarding school, while keeping up his grades, and making friends all at the same time. But Alaska makes that just a bit difficult. The overall theme of this book is mystery because Alaska is a mystery that Pudge has to solve.

     The story is told from the point of view of Pudge (Miles) in 1st person. Miles first leaves his home in Florida to go to the boarding school in Alabama, where he meets his roommate Chip, and his friend Alaska. They have many adventures together with their other friends Takumi and Lara. Everything is great and Miles is having a great time, until one night, when one of Alaska's mood swings kicks in. She was drunk and she forgot the anniversary of her mother's death, so she left the campus and got in a terrible car wreck. Afterwards, nothing at Culver Creek is the same as it used to be. The intended audience of this book is teens who like mysteries and action. The general genre of this book is romantic fiction, but has mystery rolled into it, which makes me intrigued. John Green keeps you interested in the story by making Alaska's personal life a mystery. Not until much later in the book do you find out facts about her at all, except for what she looks like and her personality. The author effectively does this by having Alaska's mood go up and down all the time, creating different emotions in different scenes - keeping me interested.

     This book affected me by having me look at life in a new way. It changed my ideas on how life and death works. He does this by having me see what it would be like if a friend of mine died, and making me think about what might happen to them after their death. This fits in with what I think of the world, because I'm not sure whether or not to believe in heaven or hell after reading this book. No one knows for sure if those places are even real, because there is no one to tell us. So now, I think that the reason we believe in heaven or even hell is to stop others from worrying about where we go after death. What really happens to us? Do we believe in them just so we can be more relaxed about having a loved (or hated) one die? This book reminds me of another John Green book, The Fault in Our Stars (the first book of his I read), which deals with the tragedy of death among teens as well.

     This book was excellent, because it was exciting yet strangely sad, which makes you want to know more and read more to find out what's going to happen. I would most definitely recommend this book to all teens who like not just romantic novels, but also novels with a hint of mystery. This one deals with the life and death of a girl who deepens Miles love of the "Great Perhaps."

Madden Wilson
11/2/13
Rating: ***** 5/5