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I'm giving this book 4 stars even though it led me to notice some problems with John Green's books (that aren't news to anyone who follows the world of YA literature.) I think I read this one too soon after Paper Towns. The book took a darker turn than I expected, and the female characters are really not very rich or complex at all. To some extent, I see that they are seen through the male narrator's eyes, but I would hope the male narrator could start to see the girls as more full characters. A
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I was a bit disappointed with this book. I love the vlogbrother Youtube channel so I decided it was about time I got around to reading one of John Green's books. I have since read The Fault in Our Stars, which I liked a lot more than Looking for Alaska. I found Looking for Alaska extremely predictable. I think one of the main problems was that I already knew a lot about John Green from his YouTube channel and this book was very autobiographical (he says it isn't, but I don't believe him). There
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Quirky but generic everykid protagonist, manic pixie dream girl (self-destructive variety) to seem available but be unattainable and who Teaches Life Lessons, largely parent-free environment so the kids can learn those lessons on their own, and a Big Event That Ends Their Innocence... I've heard this one before. It's competently written, maybe even skillful, but there's not enough New in here to make it feel anything but formulaic. I'd probably have liked it a lot better at 14, but at nearly 37,
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Looking for Alaska was so incredible real so much so that it was actually hard to read at points. I laughed, I cried and I lived through this story. I had already had my "coming of age" years before I read this book but I could absolutely empathize with what these characters were going through. All of John Green's books will forever have a special place in my heart but this one was my first and it still resonates the most with me. This was my first re-read of the book since I read it when it ori
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Interesting characters involved in a tragedy and how they deal with it... but even for a boarding school, I didn't hang out with teens who drank and smoked (even though I know it happened), so that seems a bit unreal to me.
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This is one of those times when I REALLY wish goodreads would offer 1/2 star ratings. This was definately a 3 1/2. Dark some, funny some. Kind of deep for the kiddies.
One of the best YA books ever!
Sep 29, 2008
CLM
marked it as to-read
Jan 12, 2016
Heidi
marked it as to-read
Aug 29, 2016
Kate Thompson
marked it as to-read
Dec 22, 2018
Susan
marked it as couldn-t-finish
Oct 28, 2019
Destiny
marked it as to-read
Jan 31, 2020
Shoshanah
marked it as to-read
Apr 06, 2020
Flynn
marked it as to-read
