Looking for Alaska Looking for Alaska discussion


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Dissappointed? *Spoiler* Make sure you've read the whole book

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message 1: by Sam (new) - rated it 3 stars

Sam Was anyone else super disappointed that we never get to definitively know if Alaska committed suicide?? I get the whole "Alaska didn't let us know her well enough to know what she was thinking" but COME ON! He spends half the book gathering clues and hypothesizing what she did or was thinking. Don't make me invested in knowing what exactly happened only to have the answer be "we will never know". Although I like the book this was a bit of a let down.

Going off of this do you think Alaska intentionally ended her life or was just too damn drunk? (Also, Ive never seen a female able to get even close to .2something BAC without throwing up everywhere, Alaska was a tank)


message 2: by Bri (new) - rated it 3 stars

Bri Not to be awful on the first post, but this needs a serious spoiler alert.


message 3: by Sam (new) - rated it 3 stars

Sam Bri wrote: "Not to be awful on the first post, but this needs a serious spoiler alert."

I assumed those looking at discussions of a book have read the book. But I suppose that's my fault for assuming.


message 4: by Amy (new) - rated it 4 stars

Amy http://onlyifyoufinishedalaska.tumblr...

John Green answers ALL your questions about the book.


message 5: by Sam (new) - rated it 3 stars

Sam Amy wrote: "http://onlyifyoufinishedalaska.tumblr...

John Green answers ALL your questions about the book."


Thank you sooo much!

From the site: "Anonymous said: Did you ever consider ending Alaska with a certain reason for her death? Like, in earlier drafts, was it easier for you to see Alaska committing suicide or something? Or was the book always going to end with Miles not knowing?

No, from the moment of its inception in my mind, the story was about whether (and how) one can live a thoughtful, hopeful life in the face of unresolvable ambiguity."

This is slightly acceptable, I'm still a little jaded.


message 6: by Tom (new) - rated it 4 stars

Tom OC It seems like you feel just like Hazel and Gus felt in "The Truth in our Stars"...about the fictional book "An Imperial Affliction". I wonder if John Green was addressing "unresolvable ambiguity" in TFIOS as an answer to his fans of "Looking for Alaska". Hmmm... have to think about that one.


Aimee Lowe I was disappointed for different reasons. I felt like the book wasn't telling a story. It was pushing a message: suicide is selfish kids. There's no subtlety here at all.
To be honest, I really didn't care if she did or didn't by the end of the book. I was choking on the authors "message" and bored.


message 8: by Bri (new) - rated it 3 stars

Bri Now that I have a chance to return and actually answer (lol), I would say that that was not something that disappointed me. Of course, I saw it coming about halfway through the "after" section. Once I realized that, I understood that it was truly not Alaska's story, so it didn't matter what really happened. It was Pudge's story; he's finding his spiritual path. While I don't agree with his path, I can respect it.

I agree with Aimee about the suicide bashing. Of course, suicide is awful, and it hurts people, but I think the book's condemnation of it is pretty cruel. The brain is an organ just like any other, yet when it attacks itself or malfunctions (like any other organ might), taboo kicks in. People are unnecessarily judgmental about things like depression and suicide, and they forget that people can't help these things any more than they can help asthma or cancer. They can be mitigated and kept under some level of control, but sometimes they kill you anyway.


Ryder Amy wrote: "http://onlyifyoufinishedalaska.tumblr...

John Green answers ALL your questions about the book."


except if she actually committed suicide or not because John is an advocate for not knowing anything that isn't on the page.


message 10: by Ana (new) - rated it 3 stars

Ana Avila Well it is dissappointing but I sort of liked it because that's just how life is, I think. In TV or movies, when someone dies, they almost always have time to say goodbye or you see it comming or you have at least an awesome last words or a very sweet moment with the characters. This is rare in real life.


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