A review by nevercomemonday
Looking for Alaska by John Green
2.0
This was not my favorite. I was actually kind of shocked, really when I got s far into it realizing that i wasn't particularly enjoying it since I am absolutely in love with The Fault in Our Stars, I guess that's just comparing apples and oranges though. They're two different books written at two different points in Green's life and that makes a huge difference.
My short review: This book really had a lot of deep things to discuss but it feels like it's holding up a giant pretentious neon sign saying "THINK ABOUT ME CRITICALLY!!!" and I'm just not about stories that demand to be dissected just in it's nature. It feels kind of juvenile to me.
I would recommend this book to you if you: Enjoy movies like the Breakfast Club, if you Like John Green, if you enjoy stories of rotten teenagers, Like stories that deal with heavy issues such as but not limited to death and coping, If you don't have problems with excessive profanity/sex/substance use the way that I do.
My longer review:
I just didn't like any of the characters, I thought they were all either irritating (Alaska), stupid (Pudge), or just plain flat (Takumi, Lara). I also don't particularly enjoy books that are needlessly and excessively profane, I mean I guess Green was going for how teenagers actually talk but it was just a little much for me, as was the smoking, the drinking, and the talking/thinking/performing sex. I'ts just not my area and I think it's not needed to tell a meaningful and realistic story but I guess I'm just a 22 year old "grandma" who doesn't get it.
I also feel like this book just read to me like a novel I was forced to read for a literature class and only enjoyed it because anything is better than Ethan Frome or the Scarlet Letter. it just seemed that pretentious, like all of the characters and everything were supposed to be unlikable and the things they said and did were supposed to be horrible because it's the whole point of the book.
Alaska to me was just the worst, there was really nothing about her I liked or found lovable and endearing (and I'm a bookworm, prank-pulling, feminist, sass master). I feel like just saying that she's a feminist and reads a lot of books and lies poetry doesn't make be believe that she's in any way intelligent. I also hated how flippant she was and how rude and terrible she seemed to be to everyone, like I just didn't understand what Pudge saw in her other than I guess she's just the complete opposite of him in almost every way. But again, a lot of these problems that have with this book are "kind of the point" to the book so it's whatever.
The one thing that did redeem it somewhat for me and made it a worthwhile read in the end was the "After" portion ***SPOILERS**** and that's because I feel like this book almost perfectly captures what it's like to be young and to lose a young friend be it suicide or what have you. It's almost a year to the day that I lost a dear friend to suicide and just this book gets it "You can't just make me different and then leave". Best line, made the whole thing worth it. I also really liked the setting in Birmingham, because I live in Birmingham so it's cool to finally read a book about the place that you live (and it's not as boring as the book makes it seem!)
I do feel like it ended kind of abruptly, like you kind of know the entire time that they're not gonna figure out exactly what happened to Alaska but then Pudge just kind of abruptly says (in so many words) "I gave up on figuring out on what happened to Alaska" and I'm over here like, okay we've just spend like 50 pages getting to this point and you're suddenly deciding now that you give up?" ok.
And also Pudge's paper at the end, It makes me feel more sad really because as a follower of Christ, my view of death is just so much different from his and it's really hard for me to talk about it in the terms that he does because it feels so empty and so much more sad. Death is always sad no matter what but it hurts me to read about "not knowing" where a person is or about them just being "energy which never dies" and is turned into coal dust or whatever. To me it's just way more depressing. ***END SPOILER***
It might be a while now before I try another John Green book which is unfortunate because I'm a nerdfighter and love the vlogbrothers. I'm hoping that me loving TFiOS wasn't just a fluke!
My short review: This book really had a lot of deep things to discuss but it feels like it's holding up a giant pretentious neon sign saying "THINK ABOUT ME CRITICALLY!!!" and I'm just not about stories that demand to be dissected just in it's nature. It feels kind of juvenile to me.
I would recommend this book to you if you: Enjoy movies like the Breakfast Club, if you Like John Green, if you enjoy stories of rotten teenagers, Like stories that deal with heavy issues such as but not limited to death and coping, If you don't have problems with excessive profanity/sex/substance use the way that I do.
My longer review:
I just didn't like any of the characters, I thought they were all either irritating (Alaska), stupid (Pudge), or just plain flat (Takumi, Lara). I also don't particularly enjoy books that are needlessly and excessively profane, I mean I guess Green was going for how teenagers actually talk but it was just a little much for me, as was the smoking, the drinking, and the talking/thinking/performing sex. I'ts just not my area and I think it's not needed to tell a meaningful and realistic story but I guess I'm just a 22 year old "grandma" who doesn't get it.
I also feel like this book just read to me like a novel I was forced to read for a literature class and only enjoyed it because anything is better than Ethan Frome or the Scarlet Letter. it just seemed that pretentious, like all of the characters and everything were supposed to be unlikable and the things they said and did were supposed to be horrible because it's the whole point of the book.
Alaska to me was just the worst, there was really nothing about her I liked or found lovable and endearing (and I'm a bookworm, prank-pulling, feminist, sass master). I feel like just saying that she's a feminist and reads a lot of books and lies poetry doesn't make be believe that she's in any way intelligent. I also hated how flippant she was and how rude and terrible she seemed to be to everyone, like I just didn't understand what Pudge saw in her other than I guess she's just the complete opposite of him in almost every way. But again, a lot of these problems that have with this book are "kind of the point" to the book so it's whatever.
The one thing that did redeem it somewhat for me and made it a worthwhile read in the end was the "After" portion ***SPOILERS**** and that's because I feel like this book almost perfectly captures what it's like to be young and to lose a young friend be it suicide or what have you. It's almost a year to the day that I lost a dear friend to suicide and just this book gets it "You can't just make me different and then leave". Best line, made the whole thing worth it. I also really liked the setting in Birmingham, because I live in Birmingham so it's cool to finally read a book about the place that you live (and it's not as boring as the book makes it seem!)
I do feel like it ended kind of abruptly, like you kind of know the entire time that they're not gonna figure out exactly what happened to Alaska but then Pudge just kind of abruptly says (in so many words) "I gave up on figuring out on what happened to Alaska" and I'm over here like, okay we've just spend like 50 pages getting to this point and you're suddenly deciding now that you give up?" ok.
And also Pudge's paper at the end, It makes me feel more sad really because as a follower of Christ, my view of death is just so much different from his and it's really hard for me to talk about it in the terms that he does because it feels so empty and so much more sad. Death is always sad no matter what but it hurts me to read about "not knowing" where a person is or about them just being "energy which never dies" and is turned into coal dust or whatever. To me it's just way more depressing. ***END SPOILER***
It might be a while now before I try another John Green book which is unfortunate because I'm a nerdfighter and love the vlogbrothers. I'm hoping that me loving TFiOS wasn't just a fluke!