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Looking for Alaska

John Green

Start date: April 1, 2013

Finish date: April 30, 2013

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Feb 03, 2012 Dayla rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, coming-of-age, favourites, emotional-rape, awesome-ya, favourite-authors, school, young-adult, high-school-issues, beautiful-writing

Review first appeared on my blog: Book Addict 24-7

From the moment we meet Miles, the protagonist in John Green's Looking for Alaska, Green has already found a way to intrigue us by stating Miles' a) love of last words spoken by famous dead people, and b) his search of an illustrious "Great Perhaps".

Though Green does on occasion tend to forget that he is talking to a younger audience, Looking for Alaska is the type of contemporary novel that urges its readers to consider what life is about and if Review first appeared on my blog: Book Addict 24-7

From the moment we meet Miles, the protagonist in John Green's Looking for Alaska, Green has already found a way to intrigue us by stating Miles' a) love of last words spoken by famous dead people, and b) his search of an illustrious "Great Perhaps".

Though Green does on occasion tend to forget that he is talking to a younger audience, Looking for Alaska is the type of contemporary novel that urges its readers to consider what life is about and if we are all, in fact, searching for exactly the same thing as Miles.

Miles' attraction to Alaska Young is palpable. Between the innuendos and her constant need to remind both of them that she loves her boyfriend, the attraction is electric. But what makes this novel unconventional is that this is a romantic novel that surpasses all that we have come to expect of romance novels. Like Alaska, Green's book is more than the surface suggests and through dark hints and coyly hidden clues, the reader can somewhat understand what Miles slowly comes to understand. But again, much like Alaska, the novel can only tell us so much before we reach a dead end.

The prose is gorgeous. I've never been into marking up my books and making notes, but this was a tempting experience. Green has an incredible talent for metaphors and it made me want to note them down and carry them with me everywhere. I remember one particular quote that I still recall even days after having read it: "if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane" (Green, 88). This lyrical quote is beautiful, not because of how fluid the prose is, but because it is such an original and powerful quote, without appearing pretentious, that it can't help but be memorable.

Miles himself is a force, even if he doesn't realize it. He is beautiful because he is this character searching for something so beyond the mind and life of teenagers. He is also powerful because he first shows us an Alaska that is perched on a precarious pedestal, then slowly grows and teaches us to look beyond our youthful fantasies and search for the truth in our own individual worlds.

When I finished Looking for Alaska, it was like I'd just read a previously unknown J.D. Salinger novel. Miles may not have been as disturbed as Holden Caulfield, but he too was searching for something--these two great literary characters were searching for their own "Great Perhaps".

But this also raises the question of what a "Great Perhaps" truly is. Are we all indadvertedly searching for our own "Great Perhaps", or are we just stragglers chasing someone else's dream? Is what we see every day at school, our jobs, etc, really what we want, or is it just someone else guiding us? Do the "Great Perhaps"'s of life live in the people we meet, or is it something we find once those people leave us?

I recommend Looking for Alaska for any lover of contemporary fiction. Sure, the text is a little saucy, but a little controversy is good for the soul.

Looking for Alaska is one of those novels you want to devour, but end up savoring until the conclusion. Though you want answers, you are willing to wait--almost like Miles and his apparent addiction to mourning the Alaska he once knew, and will forever love. ...more

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Mar 14, 2012 Brian Rowe rated it it was amazing

One of the best books I've read in a long time. Certainly the best YA novel I've read in a year or more. Unlike many books I've read lately, this is one I'll never forget. I'm so happy John Green has written more novels!! ...more

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