Book Review – Looking for Alaska by John Green


Hello Bookworms, Looking For Alaska is one of my favourite books of all-time. Now that rumours of a movie based on the book have been in the news, I think it’s about time I reviewed it.

Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5/5 stars)

Publisher: Published December 28th 2006 by Speak

Length: Paperback, 221 pages

Summary: Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.(Goodreads)

Recommendation: I did not cry. Just kidding, of course, I did. This book played with my emotions and hit me hard with the ending. I immediately fell in love with the characters(especially Colonel) and could relate to them. All the characters strong personalities worked well together, and I surprisingly loved all of them. Miles Halter, the tall and skinny main character is obsessed with famous people’s “last words”, Alaska is the unpredictable, sad girl, Chip Martin(Colonel) is Alaska’s and Miles’ best friend, and Takumi is a Japanese hip hop enthusiast. All these unique characters differentiated this YA novel from the previous books I have read by John Green. This novel definitely deserves all the awards it has received and is beautifully written. Even years after reading this book, I will keep on recommending it. This novel is for the ages of 14-18, due to profanity, and sexually explicit scenes.

A little about the author: John Green’s first novel, Looking for Alaska, won the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award presented by the American Library Association. His second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, was a 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His next novel, Paper Towns, is a New York Times bestseller and won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best YA Mystery. In January 2012, his most recent novel, The Fault in Our Stars, was met with wide critical acclaim, unprecedented in Green’s career. The praise included rave reviews in Time Magazine and The New York Times, on NPR, and from award-winning author Markus Zusak. The book also topped the New York Times Children’s Paperback Bestseller list for several weeks. Green has also co-authored a book with David Levithan called Will Grayson, Will Grayson, published in 2010. The film rights for all his books, with the exception of Will Grayson Will Grayson, have been optioned to major Hollywood Studios. (Goodreads)

Praise for Looking For Alaska

“Green…has a writer’s voice, so self-assured and honest that one is startled to learn that this novel is his first. The anticipated favorable comparisons to Holden Caufield are richly deserved in this highly recommended addition to young adult literature.”
VOYA
★“Like Phineas in John Knowles’ “A Separate Peace,” Green draws Alaska so lovingly, in self-loathing darkness as well as energetic light, that readers mourn her loss along with her friends.”
— SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, STARRED REVIEW
“The spirit of Holden Caulfield lives on.”
KLIATT

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4 responses to “Book Review – Looking for Alaska by John Green”

  1. […] read and loved, as well as The Kite Runner(heart-breaking, devastating, remarkable). Finally, Looking for Alaska has been a favourite of mine for a few years(I cry every time I read it…) and a new […]

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  2. […] my review for those who wish to learn more about the […]

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  3. […] now, to discuss the book that we are ACTUALLY supposed to be talking about, here’s my review for Looking for […]

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