You Should Be "Looking for Alaska" Too...

Because I'm in the profession of teaching young adults, I often find myself reading a lot of Young Adult books. This weekend, I spent a few hours reading the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award winner Looking for Alaska by John Green. If you recall, I reviewed Mr. Green's novel, The Fault in Our Stars a few months ago, which I enjoyed immensely and had planned on catching up on all of his novels. I finally got around to Looking for Alaska.

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." (Amazon.com)

Review: As you can tell from the summary, this book is split into two parts: Before and After. As I was reading the first half of the novel, I wasn't entirely sure that I was going to like the book. While I really liked nearly all the characters (Alaska being one that I didn't particularly care for), I found much of the story to be fairly predictable. I had figured out the "twist" and the "solution" long before they occurred. Of course, I am not exactly the person for whom this novel is meant -- being three times the age of the target audience. Therefore, it must be said that perhaps a teenager might be surprised by the plot twists. Despite knowing what was coming, I continued to read because I do like most of the characters. Then I read a portion of the book which hit me hard. It was like getting punched in the face with a two by four.  

Miles, in speaking about another character, states: "You can't just make me different and then leave...Because I was fine before, Alaska.  I was fine with just me and last words and school friends, and you can't just make me different and then [leave]." It was with this section of the novel that I made the connection to my own life. When you have someone who impacts your life in a huge way and then disappears out of it, you struggle to regain your balance and composure, not to mention the sorrow over the loss, which is ultimately one of the themes of the book.

This book deals with the big issues: suffering, loss, and grief, but it does so with such compassion and humor that the net impact is uplifting. Even the hard-nosed dean of students turns out to be a human being. There are no cardboard cut-out characters here.

Be aware that the teenagers in this story do what many of them actually do (smoke, drink, and have sex). If that bothers you, read it anyway. There are more important things in life than observing proprieties and pretending that teenagers aren't exploratory. You don't have to approve of these characters. It is enough to love them and learn from them.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars