Goodreads Blurb:
A deeply affecting coming-of-age story, Looking for Alaska traces the journey of Miles Halter, a misfit Florida teenager who leaves the safety of home for a boarding school in Alabama and a chance to explore the "Great Perhaps."
The kids grow closer as they make their way through a school year filled with contraband, tests, pranks, breakups, and revelations about family and life. But as the story hurtles toward its shattering climax, chapter headings like "forty-six days before" and "the last day" portend a tragic event―one that will change Miles forever and lead him to new conclusions about the value of his cherished "Great Perhaps."
Review:
I read this book straight after 'The Fault in Our Stars' and I think it lacked something because of that. This book is a very good book... but 'Fault' is better! A theme I see running through John Green's book is that of the intelligent, geeky and slightly outcast teenager. Green voices these characters perfectly and gives them depth and humour, and I love that.
The problem I had with this book (which I did not have with 'Fault') is that for a large percentage of the book it is all about teenagers pranking each other in school., smoking illegal cigerettes and drinking... it's fun, but I think I'm just too old to appreciate it fully! I got a little bored of them with their teenage dilemmas and dramatics.
However, it does become more interesting in the days 'after' the shocking event, which as a reader you know Green counting down too throughout the first half of the book. For me the book was worth reading just for the last chapter: Mile's religious studies essay... perfect! All in all I think this is a brilliantly well written YA novel that will appeal to teenagers more than adults like me.
****
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