Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Reviewer: Taylor

5 Stars




Miles "Pudge" Halter is abandoning his safe-okay, boring-life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls impossibly in love. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, it is only in coming face-to-face with death that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.


Summary from Goodreads . 


HOLY COW. This was my first encounter with John Green. I NEED MORE. 


Going into this book, I had really no idea what to expect. Except that every single review i have read just raves about this story. Miles, or as he quickly gets nicknamed, Pudge, decides to change it up and head to boarding school in birmingham, AL. He meets friends quickly, and some crazy adventures spiral on from there.  This book also deals with some really tough issues, but i don't want to give anything away. 


Things I loved about this book:


I loved the realness of the characters. I only got to spend time with them for about 225 pages, but i felt like i truly knew them. I never really had any kind of experiences that they had in high school, but then again, i was a total goodie two shoes. (is that how that phrase goes?) These kids were crazy! Their pranks were outrageous. I loved living through their experiences with them. However, the characters get very, very real after tragedy strikes. They became raw and vulnerable. I couldn't believe how connected i felt to them.


Male point of view! Yay! Don't get me wrong, i love a good female heroine, but it was really nice to actually read something from a guys point of view. It's interesting to get into a guy's mind and try to scratch the surface of figuring out how they think!


BOARDING SCHOOL! seriously. do i even need to explain? who doesn't love boarding school books?!


Things I didn't love:


uhh.. this is like not really relevant. because i freaking loved this book. I would say i could do without so much language, but the characters and the story just wouldn't be the same. honestly, i wouldn't change a thing. 


okay, so basically, John Green is the bomb and you should go read this book right now! please!?


happy reading!


Taylor