Looking for Alaska in Overdue Podcast

Aug 30, 2015 Julie rated it really liked it

This is the second John Green book I've read, and while he's certainly a good writer (and an intriguing personnage in his own right), I did not connect with The Fault in Our Stars, and was thus initially iffy on this novel as well. I find his characters to be a bit too pixie and twee, with just the right dose of cynicism--a bit of bitterness to cut the sweet. Too formulaic to be relatable.

When I began reading Looking for Alaska my first reaction was "oh no, not this again." The characters are so This is the second John Green book I've read, and while he's certainly a good writer (and an intriguing personnage in his own right), I did not connect with The Fault in Our Stars, and was thus initially iffy on this novel as well. I find his characters to be a bit too pixie and twee, with just the right dose of cynicism--a bit of bitterness to cut the sweet. Too formulaic to be relatable.

When I began reading Looking for Alaska my first reaction was "oh no, not this again." The characters are so flawlessly snarky, dialogue concentrated down to such a slick and witty repartée (with just a peppering of "likes" and "ums" to sound "natural"), that it reads more like a tediously-edited movie script than like a novel. John Green presents perfectly-packaged characters that allow for easy reading but lack the intimacy and nuance of truly organic character-building. When a character is a bit rough around the edges, Green spells it out. When a character is quirky, clever, and "screwed-up," they are that ALL THE TIME. In their every action, in their every word. This book is thus full of rapid-fire quips, which might work and even be necessary in the shorter form of film, but that rob the reader of the pay off that taking the time to READ and appreciate a character's intricacies provides.

And yet...

Midway through the book, I found that this story was haunting me. So much so, that I had difficulty sleeping while I was reading this book. In Looking for Alaska, John Green seeks to ask, in his words: "questions--big questions about suffering and loss and faith and despair--that could not be answered. And I wanted to know whether it is possible to live a hopeful life in a world riddled with ambiguity, whether we can find a way to go on even when we don't get answers to the questions that haunt us." These are vast subjects, and the realm of YA is a small pond in which to crowd such big fish. But he does it exceptionally well. Seeking to deal with these subjects is tricky territory; one risks veering into the vague, the mystical, the cliché, the downright corny. Looking for Alaska does none of that. It presents realistic instances of extreme pain and despair, asks questions, weighs hypotheses, accepts the inevitability of suffering, and courageously throws its hands up in humble acceptance. This novel admits both the utter lack of meaning of "the labyrinth of suffering" in which we live, and yet offers a touch of gratitude for the small, almost tangential meaning that such suffering provides with time.

Yes, there is perhaps an overdose of "teenage debauchery" (as other reviewers have noted) in this book. It didn't bother me, but I can see why some would be irked to have teens shed in such light. When I was a teen (which was not too long ago), such endless drinking and smoking and "hooking up" was virtually non-existent among my peers. But I did appreciate that Green wrote candidly about these subjects, and that he gave his characters the credit to be able to have these "rights of passage," and to still have some depth as well (i.e. his teens wanted good grades, studied hard, were interested in moral and spiritual complexity). The portrait he paints did not speak to my high school years so much as my university years, but I found myself, despite my initial resistance, recognizing this sordid, cynical, tight-knit community of young people that Green created. And I found myself haunted and ultimately moved by his treatment of the inescapability of suffering and the necessity of acceptance. ...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Heather rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-2013

4 stars for writing, characterization and for making me think, but beyond that, I'm pretty sure I had an atypical reaction to the book. I must be going through a cynical phase or something.

I did not find Alaska fascinating, nor mysterious, nor alluring. I found her tiring. Some people are broken and self-destructive, and they only spread chaos and suffering until they decide that they want to get their sh*t together. So I thought it was a bit dubious to be obsessed with someone like that.

I also ...more

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Apr 22, 2014 Kaz rated it did not like it

_ I'm the only person it seems who cannot get behind ridiculously self aware teenagers. Also, the whole, she's crazy but it's ok because she's super hot. ...more

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Feb 08, 2012 Gabby Gonzalez rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult, contemporay, banned-books

I just have to say I dont enjoy this book. I don't like this book. It just ok.

Although everyone seems to love this book.

This book I feel has a lot of hype that doesn't meet it.
Keep in mind I did read the Fault in Our Stars before this and loved it.

So this was a big disappointment to me.

I feel for John Green books what are so good about them is their quirky characters and thats what I loved in Fault in Our Stars.

But I felt that these characters were so pretentious. And that we are suppose to ca ...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Stacy rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, 2014-books-read

Miles has recently decided he'd like to attend the boarding school his dad attended in an effort to find The Great Perhaps. Once at school, he quickly becomes friends with an eclectic group that includes The Colonel, Takumi, and of course Alaska. She's the sort of girl I imagine most teenage boys dream of - pretty, smart, likes sex, smokes, and drinks quite a bit. She seems hell bent on destroying herself but in the meantime wants to have fun doing it. Miles seems happy to pick up whatever bad h ...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Elizabeth rated it really liked it

I believe John Green said in one of his video blogs that a woman came up to him in a book signing and said to him that she thought the beginning was good but didn't like the second half. He was put off by that comment but I can't help agreeing with her. Sorry...

still liked it
4 stars ...more

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