Looking For Alaska by John Green

I (that is, Kat) just finished up reading John Green’s first novel, “Looking for Alaska”. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. It’s not a big book, only about 220 pages (maybe the length of a longer-ish NaNo), but all kinds of powerful things happen within the covers.

The story focuses on Miles (ironically nicknamed Pudge, despite his tall, skinny lankiness), a kid who has zero friends in his Florida hometown but has a great fascination with the dying words of other people. His junior year, he decides to transfer to Culver Creek, the boarding school in Alabama his father attended, supposedly to pursue the meaning of Francois Rabelais’ last words: “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.”

At Culver Creek, he makes friends with a number of other students: Chip, a short stocky kid who goes by the name “The Colonel”; Takumi, a gifted rapper; Lara, a sweet and soft-spoken Romanian girl from his precalc class; and the titular Alaska, an impulsive and reckless (though very clever) girl his age.

Pudge, along with the others, focuses on classes, attends basketball games (despite the fact that the school’s team sucks), and even gets involved with the pranks that Alaska and the Colonel devise. They sneak around campus, avoiding getting caught by the dean of students (nicknamed “The Eagle”) whilst making mischief, and all of them—especially Pudge—grow to enjoy and look forward to the surprisingly interesting Religious Studies course, taught by the ancient Dr. Hyde.

Pudge is always fascinated by the being that is Alaska Young, however. He is enraptured by her—physically, she’s a gorgeous specimen, and mentally, she’s a brilliant girl. She has a passion for reading, for poetry and art. He compares people to rainstorms at one point, and decides that if Alaska were rain, she’d be a hurricane. It only takes a few months for him to fall in love with her.

One thought that Alaska fleetingly mentions is from a line spoken by Simon Bolivar about a great labyrinth. She thought it might be life or death, but she was never sure. Pudge ponders this, but stores it away.

Halfway through the year, tragedy strikes the school. Pudge leans heavily on his friends for support and the question of the labyrinth—what is it and how do we escape it—looms in the front of his mind.

The whole book fascinated me, I won’t lie. I had expected, from some of the hype, that it wouldn’t be as riveting or well-written as it had been made out to be, but it was and I’m glad I gave it a chance.

John Green has truly made me think. Not just about what will happen when I die, but about interpersonal connections I have with other human beings (do they really know me? Do I really know them?), about the concept of enlightenment (a Buddhist belief that I’m absolutely fascinated by), the words I will leave this world with as a parting reminder that I existed (and as a writer, I’m enraptured by anything word-related), but most importantly, how will I escape my own personal labyrinth?

This book is absolutely fantastic. I loved it from page one until the end and when I finally closed it I felt a little shocked, like I had been cut off (though from what, I’m not entirely sure).

PROS:
-well-written characters
-feminist main character (awww yeaaa!)
-mostly realistic portrayal of personal relationships between high school students
-friendships
-seriously, like, these characters are tighter than a fat guy in spandex
-makes the reader think about concepts larger than their own lives
-a tiny glimpse at Buddhist beliefs (which are, in fact, very interesting)
-the whole concept of a labyrinth (although that kinda goes with “big concepts”…)
-Takumi’s fox hat
-Maxx/Dr. William Morse

CONS:
-explicit sexual content
-underage substance abuse
-hazing/socially unacceptable peer interactions (so bullying, pretty much)
-porn
-language
-death
-the amount of ease with which this particular group of friends gets away with making mischief feels unrealistic…