Spoilery Book Reviews

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Back of the book

"If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane."

Miles Halter's whole life has been one big non-event, until he meets Alaska Young.

Gorgeous, clever and undoubtedly screwed up, Alaska draws Miles into her reckless world and irrevocably steals his heart. For Miles, nothing can ever be the same again.

My thoughts

Looking for Alaska is a beautiful novel that represents most of the features I love in a read. The main characters are unique and quirky, and the narrator has a unique teenage tone without slipping into poor writing with overuse of 'like', 'really' and 'whatever'. This novel rides the perfect line between happy and sad, funny and melancholy, not taking itself too seriously yet hiding a good moral message. I was engaged and entertained the whole book with no slow or dull moments. I really enjoyed this book and will now try to dissect why.

Miles is a boring character, but he also knows this about himself, and decides to go to boarding school in search of some excitement in his life. Which he does find, however 'excitement' comes in good and bad forms: making new friends and being thrown into the lake duct taped up like a mummy. I liked that Miles was a character that thought deeply about things, but this did not alienate him. What I mean to say, is he also thought about sex and girls the way I assume most teenage boys do. I liked this duality, that you don't have to be one or the other, you can be a horny teenage boy and think deeply about religion, life and death.

I loved everything about Alaska. She was such a messy, honest and cryptic character. I fell in love with her too. While I was reading this book I wanted to stop before the After section, before my heart got broken.

Grief and chasing lost answers. I loved the ambiguity of the accident (or was it suicide?). Not wrapping things up in a neat little bow and answering every question reflects real life better. Some mysteries will never be solved but Miles and Chip have to live with their grief anyway, and find a way to make peace with this unanswered questions, and the role their actions played in how it turned out.

Looking for Alaska is one of the most challenged books in American high school libraries. The main points of contention are 'pornographic content' and the portrayal of smoking and drinking. I agree that this book is for older teenagers, I dislike the idea of 13 year olds reading this one. My personal rule of thumb is if the reader is the same age as the characters, who I think are 16 in this novel. However "pornographic content" is bullshit. Yes, there is a blowjob however it has no pornographic elements and is a super awkward non-event. The kissing scenes between Alaska and Miles are much more intimate. My opinion of the drinking and smoking...it's very unrealistic that they would even have access, but I feel Miles relationship with these actions is not promoting it. Miles dislikes smoking and ends up just buying Chip packets, and often drinks less than the others and avoids it altogether after Alaska's accident. Book bans make me mad.

To conclude, I would recommend this book to read because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't understand what made The Fault In Our Stars blow up in popularity instead of this one, because I think it is just as brilliant. Unique teenage characters seeking adventure and stumbling into learning how to live with grief and loss. Couldn't fault this book. Loves it.

TL:DR

Quite on point for John Green, if you've only read TFIOS then this is also likely to be a favourite.