Laura's Reviews > Looking for Alaska

This book was truly epic. Not in the hero-beats-dragon-with-awesome-moves kind of way but in the this-is-the-everyday-but-not-everyday-search-for-meaning-in-life. The book is split into two parts, before and after. I won't tell you before or after what but it's pretty significant and might possibly rip your heart out. So the thing happens and everything is thrown out of wack which leads to the main character and his friends searching for the true girl behind the mask of Alaska. She's the kind of girl who is a true maze, a labyrinth if you catch my drift *winks*. Hence the name Looking for Alaska.

It's such a sad book but it helps you realize that the world isn't just your own little bubble. It helps you realize there is more out there and more out there for you. The 'Great Perhaps'. This book mesmerized me.

So here's the spoilers version of my review:
(view spoiler)[When the main character arrives at his new boarding school, he enters an entirely different world. It sort of reminds me of The Perks of Being a Wallflower in a weird way. He falls in love with Alaska. She isn't an easy girl to love with her moodiness and general maziness. But he loves her anyway. Then she dies. Yes, dies. The main character and his cohorts (sorry I've always wanted to use that word in writing!) search for the reason she suddenly had to get away from school when she was dead drunk. Driving. She found her way out of the labyrinth, 'straight and fast'. After her dead, the main character pretty much falls apart but he gets it back together. This book isn't just about a girl dying or the dangers of drunk driving (although those are relevant topics and plot things). It's about how we continue to exist after death. Whatever religion you are (or lack of one) the general idea is that something happens. Because most people do believe that it isn't just your cells that make up who you are. The last 3 pages of the book touched my heart and had me sitting and thinking after I finished. Even if you're dead, you don't disappear. Like in Harry Potter after Dumbledore dies. Harry can still feel him there, living on in everyone. I'm not trying to sound preachy (if I come across like it, I'm sorry) but that's what I got out of this book and I hope if you read it, you'll figure something out too. (hide spoiler)]