THE BOOK REVIEW CLUB JUNE 10 - Looking For Alaska by John Green

Publisher: Speak, Penguin US

Pub. Date: August 14th 2008
Age Range: Young Adult
Pages: 221
Format: paperback
Source Of Copy: contest prize

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words - and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps. Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.


There's only one word to describe this book: awesome.

This is the second book by John Green that I've read and to be frank, even though An Abundance Of Katherines is witty and fun, it didn't impress me much. I had a little doubt about how great John Green's writing was because everyone talked about it. With this book, this author really shows me that readers don't adore him for nothing. Looking For Alaska is raw and amazingly gorgeous.

If An Abundance Of Katherines' highlight is the anagram and math, Looking For Alaska's charm will be the last words and passion for reading of the characters. More to that, it has a well developed but seemingly impulsive and natural plot, making you feel like you're reading what's really happening in real life. Normal things are portrayed in a very skillful ways, and as a result, the book attracts us even more.

The characters play a significant part in Looking For Alaska, not just the main ones, but also the subordinate characters. Everyone is unique and has their own background stories and the boarding school is where they fatefully meet each other. I love Alaska so much. She's like a mixture of opposite elements. She can be good at one moment, then turns bad in the next. Sometimes she's just reckless, sometimes so poetic. She's strong but still very vulnerable. She's someone you wish you know. Because she's a great person and she's mysterious as well. For Miles, he has something that very captivating I don't know how to explain. He isn't the ideal type of guys, but John Green does a great job of depicting his inner emotions I can't help but like him.

Overall, this is a really really really good book that I can quote and quote from forever. Go get yourself a copy and join John Green fanclub later when you finish.

Rating: 5/5