*Contains Spoilers*
The ever so
popular author and Youtube vlogger, John Green, is widely known for his
accomplishments for his New York Times bestselling book called The Fault in Our Stars. He has also won
the 2006 Printz Award for his first published book, Looking for Alaska.
Looking for Alaska is about a boy called
“Pudge” or Miles Halter. He is a quirky kid. He knows about every significant
person in history last words. His family decides to send him to a boarding
school for his junior year. This is where he meets a girl named Alaska who is
beautiful and enigmatic, according to Pudge. Throughout the story the teenagers
learn consequences of mistakes and just being a young adult and learning what
comes along with growing up in the world.
"The only
way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive"(Green, 200). Towards
the last two thirds of the book something major happens that changes the course
of the book. Pudge and Alaska couldn’t get over the fact that there was no way
out of the labyrinth. They believed it was just suffering. In a way Alaska
would have been suffering, that is if you think she committed suicide, and
wanted to get out so she killed herself. She felt terrible about her mother and
thought it was all her fault and had to live with that suffering. Alaska had a
lot of skeletons in her closet. She never really gave away much to anyone
except for when she started drinking. Even though I have finished the book,
Alaska still remains somewhat of a mystery to me and that’s something that I
really liked about her character.
"At
some point, you just pull off the Band-Aid and it hurts, but then it is over
and you're relieved" (Green, 7). The beginning of the book starts out with
Pudge getting situated into his new school. He is a bit shy, but curious to his
new environment. Pudge lives his life through the "Great Perhaps"
which is his way of saying he wants to go on of life adventures. He continues
to seek this "Great Perhaps" throughout the book. It becomes interesting
to see how he handles this after certain events that could have changed his
view, but really just makes them stronger. Pudge is a really well developed
character. First he is flawed. This is beneficial for teenagers because we are
obviously not perfect and anyone can relate to how Pudge handles situations
handed to him and his friends.
Alaska. She was
an extremely deep character. She was beyond the teenage years. Her character was
one of the key things in this book that kept you glued to it. I mean, "Who
is Alaska Young?"
“You
spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking how you'll escape 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” (Green, 54).
Throughout the book there is always talk about a labyrinth. This becomes a
centralized theme and is prominent in "Pudges’ journey." Most
teenagers can relate to having the thought of what will happen next instead of
living in the moment. Any minute could be your last and the characters soon
realize……
Overall I would
give this book an A- on the letter grading scale. John Green writing style in
this book was outstanding. It was witty and thought provoking, which are two
wonderful combinations to have in any book. He got me inside of Pudges head and
slowly eased me into the world. While there wasn’t a happy ending, you still go
the same feeling out of the book that you would have if it ended happily.
Obviously this book isn’t for people who like a nice wrapped up ending with a
bow on top. Looking for Alaska leaves
the reader with some ambiguity or unanswered questions, which you can take and
make it something of your own. Basically, I can see why Looking for Alaska was and still is a highly popular book for all
teenagers to read. If you liked any other books by John Green I definitely recommend
this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment