Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Looking for Alaska

I'm planning to watch the movie and so I decided to read the book beforehand.

My favourite character is Alaska. She's a raging feminist, who is a little moody, extremely intelligent and attractive. She doesn't smoke, because she enjoys it. She smokes to die. Alaska tutors her friends about Algebra and despite her sudden mood drops she always tries to be good. She's loyal to her boyfriend, if she wanted, she could have anyone, but she chooses her boyfriend. I believe, that she's really likeable and I wish her the best.

The theme of the book is finding “the Great Perhaps”. And this theme itself is cool in a way, but it didn't get to me. Also, the way the book is written isn't one of my favourites, however, there were some thoughts, which weren't bad. I have to admit I read the book just because of Alaska, the rest didn't get to me much. I mean it was nice, but nothing gripping. I did like the Religion class with the old professor. It gave the book some sort of direction, without it the story would be quite chaotic. Not sure though. I'm sure about the fact, that it had its place in the story and without it, the story wouldn't be the same. Plus I liked the thoughts coming from this class. It was nice.

My favourite part was the night in the barn because it had great vibes and it was actually interesting. However, my favourite lines are at the end of the book. There were also many Alaska's lines hating on patriarchy, but there are too many to mention them all. I'll just acknowledge she was a girlboss and we should smash the patriarchy. Anyways the lines I was talking about are on page 247. They are the ones that stuck with me. I suppose it's mostly because of my current situation. The not-knowing won't keep me from caring and I will always have a spot for this one person in my heart. I'm not trying to say these are comparable, however, I found some similarities. Also the crooked neighbor, crooked heart was mentioned before and so it has got more power.
I like these lines a lot and I like you a lot Mr. Libra ;). The lines are:

Spoiler
And as I walked back to give Takumi's note to the Colonel, I saw that I would never know. I would never know her well enough to know her thoughts in those last minutes, would never know if she left us on purpose. But the not-knowing would not keep me from caring, and I would always love Alaska Young, my crooked neighbor, with all my crooked heart.

The ending was okay. The essay Miles wrote was nice, nevertheless, there's not much to say. It was just okay.

About the rating, the story wasn't my favourite, I found very few likeable characters and the whole thing felt like it was missing something. And the writing style wasn't my favourite either. I don't know, it just wasn't „my book“.

Content Warnings

obsolete's review

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book, although

Spoiler

it does have a sex scene that may be uncomfortable to some readers

Spoiler

Content Warnings

ellaxkeller's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It’s weird how you just inevitably bond with some books, although you perhaps didn’t even enjoy them. I think it’s the same thing that happened to me after reading Catcher in the Rye, where I kind of absolutely hated all of the characters, hated what happened in general in the book and didn’t even enjoy the writing style very much. However, it still made me emotional for whatever reason and that’s why I bonded with it.

In conclusion, cishet teenage boys suck, just like the book itself, but I am somehow able to still feel empathy for them, which also sucks since I would rather prefer to be a cold asshole with no emotions.

The three stars are just because that’s the middle ground for me and I don’t know what else to do.

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