Looking for Alaska by John Green

Miles Halter is tired of his loner life and boring school in Florida. The only thing he finds comfort in is reading famous people’s biographies and learning their last words. In fact he is fascinated with last words. When he comes across Francois Rabelais’ biography and learns about the “Great Perhaps.” He decides that he wants to embark on his on “Great Perhaps” journey and chooses to go to boarding school. When he arrives at Culver Creek boarding school he soon finds a friend in his roommate, nicknamed the Colonel and is relieved to know that here he won’t be treated like an outcast. Then Miles meets Alaska. She’s smart, sexy, and completely hilarious. She even nicknames Miles, Pudge, even though he’s one of the skinniest kids you’ve ever seen. During his boarding school adventures Miles comes to have his first drink, his first cigarette, his first real friend, and even his first love. Will it all last? If something were to happen could Miles cope?

Honestly I was expecting a lot out of this book because John Green’s other novel, An Abundance of Katherines, is one of my favorite books. While I liked this book it didn’t seem to captivate me as much as his other one. While Green’s phenomenal writing style shone throughout the book I just couldn’t get into the story. What surprised me the most about this book was the amount of controversial topics discussed. There were references to sex, drugs, and alcohol. I found it very interesting the way that John Green incorporated the effects of these substances into his book. This is definitely a book for older readers because of all the references and also some of the language. As I mentioned before Green’s writing style is amazing and vibrant and makes the story come alive. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us next.