bookedbyruqs's review against another edition
2.0
To be honest I didn't really like this book. It was too hyped up in my opinion which may have added to my high expectations. Excessive smoking and drinking are involved which led to the characters making stupid decisions. Half way through the book I was getting sick of it especially the continued excessive drinking and smoking- two things that I completely go against. From the beginning I knew something was going to happen to alaska I just didn't know how and the timing of her death did catch me off guard . When Alaska died I didn't really feel sad or upset. I feel like readers never really know her enough to miss her loss. In addition uncovering how and why Alaska died the way she did was intriguing at first but then it got boring because it was dragged on so much which didn't make the book enjoyable .
elliemcc11's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't think this was as good as TFIOS, but then again I didn't think TFIOS was anything amazing...
It was an enjoyable enough read, which I would probably have preferred when I was Young Adult age as the themes and characters would be more relevant.
It was an enjoyable enough read, which I would probably have preferred when I was Young Adult age as the themes and characters would be more relevant.
takeitezy's review against another edition
3.0
I'm writing this review nearly a year after reading the book, and the only memory that sticks with me is my lack of attachment to Alaska, whom I found to be quite a "Pick me Girl"? I don't know, I found the themes important and the story touching, but my disinterest in the central character prevented me from truly enjoying my reading experience.
karagee's review against another edition
3.0
This is my first foray into John Green so I figured I ought to start with his debut novel, Looking for Alaska. To be honest, all I really knew about John Green was that he wrote that weepy novel about the cancer kids and I avoided it like the plague because I am in my 30s, and teen romance rarely appealed to me even when I was a teen. I can see the appeal in Green, though, and I probably would have enjoyed Looking for Alaska a lot more if I had read it when I was 18.
Green's debut novel is the story of Miles Halter, a high school junior and a loner with a penchant for memorizing famous people's last words. Miles decides to leave home for the boarding school his father once attended in search of "the great perhaps," an elusive feeling of fulfillment Miles hopes will give him some meaning or direction in his aimless life.
At Culver Creek boarding school, Miles unwittingly makes his first real friends: his short but incorrigible roommate Chip "The Colonel" Martin; the "hottest girl" Miles has ever seen, Alaska Young; and their friends, Takumi and Lara. Miles is initially in over his head at Culver Creek--quite literally, as the rich kids that the Colonel has dubbed "Weekday Warriors" bully Miles by tossing him in a lake--but Miles' new friends immediately take him under their wing.
Looking for Alaska has all of the things you'd expect to be in a teen melodrama:
- A lonely wallflower unreservedly embraced by a group of 'cool' outsiders who despise the rich and popular crowd out of some sort of undefined obligation;
- Vaguely ethnic friends whose chief defining qualities are their vague ethnicity;
And most importantly,
- A Mary Sue dream girl with a tragic past whom everyone desperately loves, even though she's not that nice.
The story is split into two parts, "Before" and "After," complete with a countdown of days to the book's defining incident. I won't say what that incident is, but I will say that it was somewhat predictable, even with my limited knowledge of John Green's style. If you haven't figured out by now, even though Miles is the protagonist, the book revolves around Alaska (who named herself when she was four, natch). She's, like, literally, the hottest girl Miles has ever seen, and she smokes and drinks strawberry wine she obtained with her fake ID. And she openly talks about sex like it's no big deal. And she flirts with everyone even though she has a boyfriend. And she has too many books and doesn't like going home for the holidays. And did we mention that she's hot?
If you haven't figured it out by now, I am not Alaska's biggest fan, but the story is chiefly preoccupied in the search for what makes her tick. It gets all muddled up in Miles' competing theme of figuring out what this life thing is all about, a common concern for teenage protagonists who are predisposed to overthinking. As a complete piece, the story tries for depths but splashes in the shallows; teenage me would have probably loved it; 32-year-old me found it a bit cringeworthy, but in a fond sort of way.
Green's debut novel is the story of Miles Halter, a high school junior and a loner with a penchant for memorizing famous people's last words. Miles decides to leave home for the boarding school his father once attended in search of "the great perhaps," an elusive feeling of fulfillment Miles hopes will give him some meaning or direction in his aimless life.
At Culver Creek boarding school, Miles unwittingly makes his first real friends: his short but incorrigible roommate Chip "The Colonel" Martin; the "hottest girl" Miles has ever seen, Alaska Young; and their friends, Takumi and Lara. Miles is initially in over his head at Culver Creek--quite literally, as the rich kids that the Colonel has dubbed "Weekday Warriors" bully Miles by tossing him in a lake--but Miles' new friends immediately take him under their wing.
Looking for Alaska has all of the things you'd expect to be in a teen melodrama:
- A lonely wallflower unreservedly embraced by a group of 'cool' outsiders who despise the rich and popular crowd out of some sort of undefined obligation;
- Vaguely ethnic friends whose chief defining qualities are their vague ethnicity;
And most importantly,
- A Mary Sue dream girl with a tragic past whom everyone desperately loves, even though she's not that nice.
The story is split into two parts, "Before" and "After," complete with a countdown of days to the book's defining incident. I won't say what that incident is, but I will say that it was somewhat predictable, even with my limited knowledge of John Green's style. If you haven't figured out by now, even though Miles is the protagonist, the book revolves around Alaska (who named herself when she was four, natch). She's, like, literally, the hottest girl Miles has ever seen, and she smokes and drinks strawberry wine she obtained with her fake ID. And she openly talks about sex like it's no big deal. And she flirts with everyone even though she has a boyfriend. And she has too many books and doesn't like going home for the holidays. And did we mention that she's hot?
If you haven't figured it out by now, I am not Alaska's biggest fan, but the story is chiefly preoccupied in the search for what makes her tick. It gets all muddled up in Miles' competing theme of figuring out what this life thing is all about, a common concern for teenage protagonists who are predisposed to overthinking. As a complete piece, the story tries for depths but splashes in the shallows; teenage me would have probably loved it; 32-year-old me found it a bit cringeworthy, but in a fond sort of way.
smakakakakuk's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book was well written. I just found it a bit boring.
bookchew's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second John Green book I've read, and while he's certainly a good writer (and an intriguing personnage in his own right), I did not connect with The Fault in Our Stars, and was thus initially iffy on this novel as well. I find his characters to be a bit too pixie and twee, with just the right dose of cynicism--a bit of bitterness to cut the sweet. Too formulaic to be relatable.
When I began reading Looking for Alaska my first reaction was "oh no, not this again." The characters are so flawlessly snarky, dialogue concentrated down to such a slick and witty repartée (with just a peppering of "likes" and "ums" to sound "natural"), that it reads more like a tediously-edited movie script than like a novel. John Green presents perfectly-packaged characters that allow for easy reading but lack the intimacy and nuance of truly organic character-building. When a character is a bit rough around the edges, Green spells it out. When a character is quirky, clever, and "screwed-up," they are that ALL THE TIME. In their every action, in their every word. This book is thus full of rapid-fire quips, which might work and even be necessary in the shorter form of film, but that rob the reader of the pay off that taking the time to READ and appreciate a character's intricacies provides.
And yet...
Midway through the book, I found that this story was haunting me. So much so, that I had difficulty sleeping while I was reading this book. In Looking for Alaska, John Green seeks to ask, in his words: "questions--big questions about suffering and loss and faith and despair--that could not be answered. And I wanted to know whether it is possible to live a hopeful life in a world riddled with ambiguity, whether we can find a way to go on even when we don't get answers to the questions that haunt us." These are vast subjects, and the realm of YA is a small pond in which to crowd such big fish. But he does it exceptionally well. Seeking to deal with these subjects is tricky territory; one risks veering into the vague, the mystical, the cliché, the downright corny. Looking for Alaska does none of that. It presents realistic instances of extreme pain and despair, asks questions, weighs hypotheses, accepts the inevitability of suffering, and courageously throws its hands up in humble acceptance. This novel admits both the utter lack of meaning of "the labyrinth of suffering" in which we live, and yet offers a touch of gratitude for the small, almost tangential meaning that such suffering provides with time.
Yes, there is perhaps an overdose of "teenage debauchery" (as other reviewers have noted) in this book. It didn't bother me, but I can see why some would be irked to have teens shed in such light. When I was a teen (which was not too long ago), such endless drinking and smoking and "hooking up" was virtually non-existent among my peers. But I did appreciate that Green wrote candidly about these subjects, and that he gave his characters the credit to be able to have these "rights of passage," and to still have some depth as well (i.e. his teens wanted good grades, studied hard, were interested in moral and spiritual complexity). The portrait he paints did not speak to my high school years so much as my university years, but I found myself, despite my initial resistance, recognizing this sordid, cynical, tight-knit community of young people that Green created. And I found myself haunted and ultimately moved by his treatment of the inescapability of suffering and the necessity of acceptance.
When I began reading Looking for Alaska my first reaction was "oh no, not this again." The characters are so flawlessly snarky, dialogue concentrated down to such a slick and witty repartée (with just a peppering of "likes" and "ums" to sound "natural"), that it reads more like a tediously-edited movie script than like a novel. John Green presents perfectly-packaged characters that allow for easy reading but lack the intimacy and nuance of truly organic character-building. When a character is a bit rough around the edges, Green spells it out. When a character is quirky, clever, and "screwed-up," they are that ALL THE TIME. In their every action, in their every word. This book is thus full of rapid-fire quips, which might work and even be necessary in the shorter form of film, but that rob the reader of the pay off that taking the time to READ and appreciate a character's intricacies provides.
And yet...
Midway through the book, I found that this story was haunting me. So much so, that I had difficulty sleeping while I was reading this book. In Looking for Alaska, John Green seeks to ask, in his words: "questions--big questions about suffering and loss and faith and despair--that could not be answered. And I wanted to know whether it is possible to live a hopeful life in a world riddled with ambiguity, whether we can find a way to go on even when we don't get answers to the questions that haunt us." These are vast subjects, and the realm of YA is a small pond in which to crowd such big fish. But he does it exceptionally well. Seeking to deal with these subjects is tricky territory; one risks veering into the vague, the mystical, the cliché, the downright corny. Looking for Alaska does none of that. It presents realistic instances of extreme pain and despair, asks questions, weighs hypotheses, accepts the inevitability of suffering, and courageously throws its hands up in humble acceptance. This novel admits both the utter lack of meaning of "the labyrinth of suffering" in which we live, and yet offers a touch of gratitude for the small, almost tangential meaning that such suffering provides with time.
Yes, there is perhaps an overdose of "teenage debauchery" (as other reviewers have noted) in this book. It didn't bother me, but I can see why some would be irked to have teens shed in such light. When I was a teen (which was not too long ago), such endless drinking and smoking and "hooking up" was virtually non-existent among my peers. But I did appreciate that Green wrote candidly about these subjects, and that he gave his characters the credit to be able to have these "rights of passage," and to still have some depth as well (i.e. his teens wanted good grades, studied hard, were interested in moral and spiritual complexity). The portrait he paints did not speak to my high school years so much as my university years, but I found myself, despite my initial resistance, recognizing this sordid, cynical, tight-knit community of young people that Green created. And I found myself haunted and ultimately moved by his treatment of the inescapability of suffering and the necessity of acceptance.
robdabear's review against another edition
5.0
One of the best pieces of young adult fiction I've read in a while, "Looking for Alaska" is simply amazing. I don't want to sound like your typical fanboy who just spends this review raving about the book, but the way in which it is so well written, combined with it's deep moral truths in finding the meaning of our existence when we are still nothing but teenage souls, is very, very worthy of excessive, possibly annoying praise.
I am, admittedly, a nerdfighter, and so John Green is no stranger to me, however I've always shied away from reading any book with an emotional meaning, simply because I don't like being depressed for days afterward. This mindset has changed since I've read "Perks of Being a Wallflower," and I can say that it has been a change for the better.
Skinny and quiet teen Miles Halter makes the decision to go to boarding school in Alabama, intending to seek the Great Perhaps. There, he meets quite an interesting crew of, I wouldn't say outcasts, but their own little reckless group where they have many a typical high school adventure filled with plenty of booze, cigarettes, teenage problems, etc. Miles falls for the absolutely beautiful and enigmatic Alaska, who steals his heart and causes him to question his own meaning in existence.
There is a twist that's very difficult to talk about without spoiling anything, but I will say that it is quite difficult to read, and afterward, nothing is ever the same. Things pan out as such. Fantastic book.
What impressed me most, watching Green's vlogs for so long, is that as a grown man, he still has quite an accurate grasp of the teenage mind. It was almost surprising to me (but not after reading further, because obviously he was making the story accurate and real, which it was) how real everything was, from the mannerisms of Miles and his friends, their language and conversation, habits, thoughts, everything was so real, so relatable, it impressed me and made me inspired to do I don't know what.
I don't really know what else is worth going over, but I will say there were a few elements that were quite predictable if you are a teenager like me who is fed up with teenager culture of drinking and drugs and such, but nevertheless things came at a twist and kept me engaged all the way through. I absolutely love the book, for both it's complexity and simplicity intertwined to make a fantastic piece of discovery for how we fit into the grand scheme of things.
Vague enough for you?
Everyone should read this...keep in mind, for the younger ones or those with weak stomachs-plenty of strong language, references to drugs, alcohol, sex, suicide, domestic violence, and plenty of tobacco use. Not that it matters to me, but just so you wary parents out there don't get all huffy because little Jimmy is too young to grasp these things.
I am, admittedly, a nerdfighter, and so John Green is no stranger to me, however I've always shied away from reading any book with an emotional meaning, simply because I don't like being depressed for days afterward. This mindset has changed since I've read "Perks of Being a Wallflower," and I can say that it has been a change for the better.
Skinny and quiet teen Miles Halter makes the decision to go to boarding school in Alabama, intending to seek the Great Perhaps. There, he meets quite an interesting crew of, I wouldn't say outcasts, but their own little reckless group where they have many a typical high school adventure filled with plenty of booze, cigarettes, teenage problems, etc. Miles falls for the absolutely beautiful and enigmatic Alaska, who steals his heart and causes him to question his own meaning in existence.
There is a twist that's very difficult to talk about without spoiling anything, but I will say that it is quite difficult to read, and afterward, nothing is ever the same. Things pan out as such. Fantastic book.
What impressed me most, watching Green's vlogs for so long, is that as a grown man, he still has quite an accurate grasp of the teenage mind. It was almost surprising to me (but not after reading further, because obviously he was making the story accurate and real, which it was) how real everything was, from the mannerisms of Miles and his friends, their language and conversation, habits, thoughts, everything was so real, so relatable, it impressed me and made me inspired to do I don't know what.
I don't really know what else is worth going over, but I will say there were a few elements that were quite predictable if you are a teenager like me who is fed up with teenager culture of drinking and drugs and such, but nevertheless things came at a twist and kept me engaged all the way through. I absolutely love the book, for both it's complexity and simplicity intertwined to make a fantastic piece of discovery for how we fit into the grand scheme of things.
Vague enough for you?
Everyone should read this...keep in mind, for the younger ones or those with weak stomachs-plenty of strong language, references to drugs, alcohol, sex, suicide, domestic violence, and plenty of tobacco use. Not that it matters to me, but just so you wary parents out there don't get all huffy because little Jimmy is too young to grasp these things.
coffeewithmae's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
5.0