Book review: Looking for Alaska

Goodreads Synopsis

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. 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.

Looking for AlaskaAuthor: John GreenPublished: 2006

The front cover of Looking for Alaska describes it as electric and I really couldn't have thought of a better adjective to describe this roller coaster of a story. It shocked me in its honesty. It shocked me in its realism. It shocked me how humorous it was, even though it was all rather heartrendingly tragic.
I have heard the same words; roller coaster, honesty and tragic, used to describe one of John Green's other novels: the wildly popular (and rightly so), blue covered The fault in our stars and although that novel also deserves the praise I honestly feel that Looking for Alaska is the better story.
The story in question follows Miles Halter as he embarks on his first term at an Alabama boarding school called Culver Creek. He goes in search of a 'great perhaps' and maybe he finds it. Find it or not what he does discover is an eclectic group of friends who, led by the Colonel, take him under their wing. What follows is a fantastic story of love, guilt, adventure, loyalty and of growing up with each of the wonderfully developed characters bringing something unique to this writing.

The characters themselves are fantastic, continuing to develop right through to the last page. Each is unique and realistic meaning that the reader can relate to each character at different times in the story. I related to Miles' sense of restlessness, need for adventure and pathetic sense of un-sociability (trust me, I'm right there with you Miles), to Chip's need to sometimes overcompensate for his background, and to Alaska, the quick-witted love interest of our main character and the essence of don't judge a book by its cover - appearing strong on the outside she may just be falling apart on the inside.

The cast may have sold this book to me but the story-line is what made it truly scintillating and the way it was written even more so. It is no secret that John Green likes to write about difficult subjects and Looking for Alaska is no exception. What makes Green stand out from the other YA authors attempting the same thing is the way that he avoids sugar coating those issues, how realistically he writes about them and how honest he is about the pain that they likely cause. Even with his unrelenting honesty and lack of cliched endings Green avoids bogging down the stories with brilliant humour which not only make his books a joy to read but also makes them very quotable - 

“What the hell is that?" I laughed.
"It's my fox hat."
"Your fox hat?"
"Yeah, Pudge. My fox hat."
"Why are you wearing your fox hat?" I asked.
"Because no one can catch the motherfucking fox.” 

(There are so many fox hates for sell now - its fantastic)

In case it hasn't been realised, I loved this book. I laughed. I gasped. I may have cried. And then I laughed again. This is a book that everyone should read and that I am sure will be re-read many a time. Outstanding.

Rating: 5/5