Summary, evaluation, big idea word

[Martina]

Summary:
I read the book Looking for Alaska by John Green. This book has been split into two parts: the before and after. This story starts with Miles Halter, he used to go to school in Florida, however, he never had many friends and didn’t fit in well at his old school. So, he decided to transfer to the school his father went to, Culver Creek boarding school in Alabama. He started attending Culver Creek his junior year of high school where he met his roommate Chip Martin, also known as the Colonel. Miles and the Colonel got along pretty well when they first met, the Colonel gave Miles the nickname Pudge and introduced him to his friends, Takumi and Alaska. Miles is different than most juniors in high school. He was a shy, scrawny boy who loved to learn about different religions and his hobby was learning about famous people’s last words. Alaska was very different. She was outgoing, loud, funny, but just as smart as Pudge, and also incredibly beautiful. Pudge fell in love with her instantly. This book is all about the adventures of these four friends, the different social cliques of high school, and the events that happen before and after the mysterious, unexpected occurrence that changes everyone’s lives.
Evaluation:
I personally really enjoyed this book. I’ve always heard that John Green books are very good and once I saw that my friend had this book that I’ve heard so much about, I knew I had to try it out! It is more of a mature read and got a little too inappropriate for me at times, but it was very real. It showed the struggles some of us teenagers go through while including humor and love. The plot always had something going which kept me interested in the book the entire time, and I especially liked how the book was laid out. From the very beginning there was a title for each passage or day and it was titled “121 days before” or a certain amount of days before. And from the very beginning I was intrigued by what was going to happen when this countdown ends, what is going to occur when it eventually goes “the day before” or “the day”. Also, I really liked this some sort of countdown because it helped with the timeline of the story, and if one passage said “120 days before” and the next one says “113 days before”, you know the story skips ahead a week later. I would definitely recommend this book but only to an older, mature audience because there are inappropriate parts. However, this is a very real book filled with humor, love, and quotes that really make you think. If you love soulful, real, or John Green books, I definitely recommend Looking for Alaska.
Big Idea Word:
There are a few big idea words that could represent this book as a whole, but I think the best one would be friendship. Pudge (Miles) never fit in at his old school in Florida and really struggled to make friends. However, once he came to Culver Creek, he realized that he finally made the once-in-a-lifetime friends he’s always wanted. “I thought of Florida, of my ‘school friends’, and realized for the first time how much I would miss the Creek if I ever had to leave it” (Green74). Pudge said this after only about two months of being at Culver Creek, after learning about the cliques, the rules, and all about his new friends. He realized he never wanted to do anything to jeopardize the dear friendships he has made. Again, this book is a lot about these four friends, their adventures, and how they remain out of trouble, most of the time.
However, along with friendship, this book is about love. The love of friendship and the love these four have for each other, that they would do anything for each other in case any one of them were in trouble or hurting. But besides friendship and the love that comes with it, this book is also about the love a young boy has for a girl he just met. Pudge has a hopeless crush on Alaska, a girl so loud and obnoxious, yet so sweet and kind. “I didn't know whether to trust Alaska, and I'd certainly had enough of her unpredictability—cold one day, sweet the next; irresistibly flirty one moment, resistibly obnoxious the next” (Green75). Yes, Pudge saw Alaska and immediately fell in love, but began to get to know her and started to question if he could trust her. However, he was young, and this was young love, but even so, he realized that he loved everything about her. He loved how stubborn she could be, the loud and obnoxious side of her just because he knew she wasn’t afraid of being herself or showing her opinions. But, no matter how great their friendship was, how great his love for her was, he also learned that sometimes love ends in heartbreak.