From the Bookshelf of YAholics Anonymous!…

Looking for Alaska

John Green

Start date: July 1, 2013

Finish date: July 31, 2013

Why we're reading this: July Book of the Month
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What Members Thought

Jul 10, 2013 K.J. Madsen rated it did not like it

I dislike finishing books and feeling depressed. I really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't. Throughout, I was distracted by the foul language and explicit sexual references. And yet the story itself had poignant moments - they were just marred by all the word pollution; spoilt by content that could have been implied rather than spelt out in detail.
I am not afraid of difficult topics or the dubious experiences of life, however I want to be inspired, uplifted when I read. I want to be ...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Marie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

beautiful <3

John Green has shredded my heart as always

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May 23, 2013 Emma rated it really liked it

Shelves: one-shots-series-starters, 2013, ya, romance, contemporary

It's weird; the book is similar to TFIOSm yet it is nothing like it. I mean, not to sound vague on purpose or anything. It seemed like a nice way to start off a review at the time, but no it just sounds confusing. Forget it.

I remember when I found this book at the bookstore. I looked at the cover and thought, "What the heck is THAT?!" It seemed like steam or something completely unrelated to looking for something (I didn't read the back cover). But I get it now. It's smoke! ...right? Smoke from
It's weird; the book is similar to TFIOSm yet it is nothing like it. I mean, not to sound vague on purpose or anything. It seemed like a nice way to start off a review at the time, but no it just sounds confusing. Forget it.

I remember when I found this book at the bookstore. I looked at the cover and thought, "What the heck is THAT?!" It seemed like steam or something completely unrelated to looking for something (I didn't read the back cover). But I get it now. It's smoke! ...right? Smoke from a cigarette.

I had very, very high expectations for this book. I mean, it's JOHN GREEN, the author of TFIOS! Bt I guess I should have lowered my expectations since this book was written BEFORE his master piece.

I'll start with the bad stuff. The role-modeling factor was bad. There's smoking, drinking, bad language, reckless driving, etc. I personally did not like the fact that Green made it seem that all teenagers did this stuff (see list in pervious sentence). I wish he tossed in more rule FOLLOWERS instead of rule BREAKERS. Just for variety.

Another thing I didn't like was the plot line. It seemed to be all over the place. Half of the time, I couldn't even figure out the point of it all. I suppose it's about Pudge finding the Great Perhaps, but I don't know. Before seemed to be a lot of development and nonsense fluffy while After was the actually meat of the story. And yet the After was smaller than the Before. Weird.

Now to the positive stuff. The constant countingdown of days because it left the reader wondering what was going to happen. And I really like how the readers can relate with the characters. Sometimes. Like the quote below:
"I hated discussion classes. I hated talking, and I hated listening to everyone else stumble on their words and try to phrase things in the vaguest possible way so they wouldn't sound dumb, and I hated how it was all just a game of trying to figure out what the teacher wanted to hear and then saying it. I'm the teacher, so teach me." -Page 32-33

Besides the obvious fact that Pudge is complaining (which I think annoys everyone because no one wants to hear someone complain all the time), I totally get that. I also wish that all classes would be lecture classes. And that's why I love Green so much.

But, despite all that, I have to knock off a star. It just wasn't amazing like TFIOS.

Rating: 4 stars ...more

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Apr 21, 2013 ☆Kiran☆ rated it it was amazing

I cried and I cred in a corner. This book is just a few words. It's the most beautiful thing ever read next to The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. ...more

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