Sunday, February 16, 2014

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, 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, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

Flo's Review
Where do I start with this book? There is SO much I love about it. I finished reading it awhile ago, but I couldn't write this review right away because I had to process it first. Yup. One of THOSE type books. 

 Okay, first -- I love John Green and everything he does is gold. The end. He is one of my favorite authors, I had heard lots of great things about this book, and I wasn't let down. I came into the story knowing nothing about it -- I hadn't read the synopsis or anything, and I think that's a great way to come into something. Because I had no clue what I was going to read about. And I stepped into greatness. I mean, any book that starts with a concept as amazing as "I go to seek a Great Perhaps" is going to be amazing. 

 As always, John Green's characters shine. Just like with Paper Towns, I basically wanted to hang out with these kids. Can I please go to the woods and smoke with Pudge and the Colonel and Takumi and Alaska and the Russian? Because they just seem like FUN! And underneath it all, John Green's characters are always deep and complex. I loved seeing the Colonel's home, for example. 

 In the notes at the end of the book, John Green says one of the reasons he wrote it was because he wanted to write about or discuss or bring out thoughts on these big questions. You could tell he did his research with the three major religions and their beliefs on different matters and I loved how that class tied into everything that was going on in the story. 

 I could go on and on, but it would just be more gushing about the amazingness of this book. I don't care who you are -- you need to read this book! Go!
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