A review by bibliophile_em
Looking for Alaska by John Green
5.0
This is going to be less a typical review and more of a collection of thoughts about what was a new experience I had with a book that I poured over for years. I was a tween/teen in the height of John Green’s writing explosion. He was the first author who was so easily accessible to an audience of young adult readers (like the dorky-in-a-cool-way uncle of pre-yahoo Tumblr), and he was giving us stories that made us felt seen. Stories where thoughts and feelings were taken seriously and we were allowed to exist as complicated beings.
So, fast forwarding to 2023, when I desperately needed a comfort read this last week, I turned to Looking For Alaska. I was looking for an escape from a rough patch of anxiety. While I managed that for the most part, I was not expecting to confront the reality of how much I had changed since 2010 when I first read it.
13 years later, I’m intimately familiar with the guilt and anger and confusion that comes with losing a friend who died way too young. Sometimes feeling selfish about it because your knee jerk reaction is thinking about the loss in terms of how it directly impacts you. Wondering what you could’ve done or worse: wondering what you did that made things go so horribly wrong.
Even though I picked up looking for Alaska as a nostalgic soaked comfort read, I found a story that hurt just a little bit in a sort of beautiful way.
So, fast forwarding to 2023, when I desperately needed a comfort read this last week, I turned to Looking For Alaska. I was looking for an escape from a rough patch of anxiety. While I managed that for the most part, I was not expecting to confront the reality of how much I had changed since 2010 when I first read it.
Spoiler
When I first read it, Miles’ situation read like a dream to me. The allure of boarding school where you find friends that just *get* you? You might be weird, but it’s a weird tjat’s complemented by you’re equally strange pack? God, I craved that. And don’t get me wrong- I was devestated by Alaska’s death then. It’s different now though.13 years later, I’m intimately familiar with the guilt and anger and confusion that comes with losing a friend who died way too young. Sometimes feeling selfish about it because your knee jerk reaction is thinking about the loss in terms of how it directly impacts you. Wondering what you could’ve done or worse: wondering what you did that made things go so horribly wrong.
Even though I picked up looking for Alaska as a nostalgic soaked comfort read, I found a story that hurt just a little bit in a sort of beautiful way.