Looking for Alaska in The Dusty Bookshelf

Feb 02, 2012 Emong rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own-in-paperback

Miles “Pudge” Halter has a very normal dull life of a teenager until he transferred to Culver Creek Boarding School and met Alaska Young who is made up of deep thoughts, different ideas and hilarious pranks. Pudge’s world collides with Alaska’s and technically turned his world 180degrees until the sudden unexpected tragedy. He goes on to solved the mystery but is having a hard time to move on and to continue his craves for the seeking of the “Great Perhaps”.

I like the idea of being inside Pudge’ ...more

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Aug 26, 2020 Wanda Hartzenberg rated it liked it

Shelves: 2020

It is the feelings of guilt that most caught my attention. Might be for YA but some of us still needs to hear that, that irrational feelings of guilt is universal. A good book but for me it lacked the punch of his later work.

If I read this first I would be more impressed I think.

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Aug 11, 2012 Lauren rated it really liked it

I have to admit, I have a slight obsession with the writing of John Green. Having said that, I don’t think ‘Looking for Alaska’ was Green’s best book, but it was still beautifully written and thought-provoking.

The blurb includes the following description:
‘When Miles Halter leaves for boarding school, he goes to seek what dying poet Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps”. Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, self-destructive and dead sexy, Alaska pulls Miles int I have to admit, I have a slight obsession with the writing of John Green. Having said that, I don’t think ‘Looking for Alaska’ was Green’s best book, but it was still beautifully written and thought-provoking.

The blurb includes the following description:
‘When Miles Halter leaves for boarding school, he goes to seek what dying poet Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps”. Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, self-destructive and dead sexy, Alaska pulls Miles into her labyrinth, catapulting him into an unimaginable future…’

I’m not sure the blurb completely fits the book - it leaves quite a lot as a surprise, which can only be a good thing in my eyes. ‘Dead sexy’ was a clever pun on words, I have to say. When I read the blurb, I did think it was a peculiar choice of words, but now I completely understand - it was foreshadowing!

Despite really enjoying the book, I felt the first half lacked a little ‘something’. I wasn’t really sure where the story was going before the halfway point; the only clue being the countdown of days used to break up different sections of text. I love Miles, Chip and Alaska. They’re all so hopelessly flawed, and yet somehow they work together. Alaska is the wild, unpredictable factor; Miles being the quietly rebellious protagonist, and Chip the organised ‘leader’ figure.

As I previously mentioned, instead of chapters, Green used a countdown of days to break up different sections of his story e.g. ‘4 days before’. I can’t speak for anyone else who happens to have read this book, but for me this definitely built up a sense of urgency. I didn’t know what was coming, but it felt like something ‘big’.

The ‘After’ section of the book was absolutely perfect. Alaska dying in a car crash was something I never even entertained as a possibility for the storyline. The special, almost magical thing, about John Green is the ability he has to make you feel, through his words. He writes grief and sadness so well that it literally feels real.

I loved the fact that we will never know if Alaska killed herself, or just had an accident, because Alaska as a character was so unique that she herself didn’t make sense - why should she be any different in death?

Throughout the novel, Miles or ‘Pudge’, explains his fascination with last words. I noticed, when talking to the cop who witnessed Alaska’s death, he asked if she’d said anything before she died. This to me, was quite a poignant moment - not eryone gets last words or a chance to say goodbye.

Although I enjoyed ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ more, I still dearly love this book. I have yet to read a John Green novel that I don’t love.
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Nov 03, 2016 Darlene rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, bought, audiobook, young-adult, award-winning, realistic-fiction

This book totally caught me off-guard! It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and that’s okay.

The story is about a 16-year-old boy named Miles Halter. He’s a bit of a loner in school, and he convinces his parents to let him go off to Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama (he’s from Florida). It was the same boarding school that his father attended, as well as his paternal uncles and their kids. He is in search of the “Great Perhaps” which, to me, means some monumental life-changing event. I This book totally caught me off-guard! It wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and that’s okay.

The story is about a 16-year-old boy named Miles Halter. He’s a bit of a loner in school, and he convinces his parents to let him go off to Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama (he’s from Florida). It was the same boarding school that his father attended, as well as his paternal uncles and their kids. He is in search of the “Great Perhaps” which, to me, means some monumental life-changing event. I assumed the quest had to do with losing his virginity, but I was wrong!

At the start of each chapter, the book counts down the days “before” Miles’ “Great Perhaps.” This countdown method that Green employed is very clever, because it builds anticipation and suspense. I do not want to reveal what the event was, but it wasn’t what I thought that it would be. It took me by surprise, and I like when an author can do that! I also really liked Miles as a character. He is just your regular teenage boy. He experiments a bit with drinking and smoking but, overall, he is a good kid. I also liked his dorm-mate, Chip Martin, and I loved how Green depicted Chip's relationship with his mom.

With the sexual content and description of oral sex, I am not surprised that this book was the most "challenged" book of 2015. Personally, I would not feel comfortable with my teenage daughter reading this until she was a bit older. I think this book is better suited for the upper-end of the YA age range, say 16+. Now, having said that, I found that particular scene hilarious and I thought that Green handled it very well. The naivete of the two characters was very sweet.

Memorable quote:

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

Green is a new-to-me author, and I am definitely looking forward to reading more of his work! I think that I will try The Fault in Our Stars next.

Jeff Woodman is also a new-to-me narrator, and I really enjoyed him! His pacing was excellent, and the tone of his voice is very easy on the ears. He handled the various different vocalizations between characters very well, and I love it when narrators are able to do that. I will definitely look for other audiobooks that he has narrated.

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