Looking for Alaska
John Green
Pudge (Miles) has always led a non eventful life, until his last year of high school when he chooses to go to Culver Creek Boarding School. With his obsession with famous last words and his lanky skinny body that earns him the ironic nickname Pudge, he becomes friends with his roommate The Colonel and while seeking the 'Great Perhaps' he finds it unexpectedly in the form of the beautiful Alaska Young.
Adoration for this book is an understatement. It's hard to believe this is John Green's first novel, especially if you've read some of his more recent works. This coming of age story has elements of Catcher in the Rye, but is in it's own category for the teen of today (watch out, there's swearing!). All characters have their own quirk and geekness about them. Pudge loves famous last words, The Colonel loves strategies and is a real mastermind and Alaska, well, Alaska is the very cool and unpredictable mysterious girl that captures the heart of Pudge. Oh yeah, and she loves collecting books:
"Have you really read all those books in your rooms?"
Alaska laughing -"Oh God no. I've maybe read a third of 'em. But I'm going to read them all. I call it my Life's Library. Every summer since I was little, I've gone to garage sales and bought all the books that looked interesting. So I always have something to read." -I think we can all relate to that.
A gripping read that captures your heart but not in the romantic sense. The idea of boarding school is always cool and rebellious but this book shows that in reality, it's quite lonely. I suggest reading this book at 16 years of age and then reading it again in your mid 20s. To truly understand a coming of age novel, you need to do exactly that: come of age. Every emotion comes to surface and you really feel for all the characters. You may think that Pudge needs to grow a pair or that The Colonel needs to take a chill pill and that Alaska seriously needs to stop pretending that everything is ok. But I guess that's just all part of Green's "Great Perhaps."
Adoration for this book is an understatement. It's hard to believe this is John Green's first novel, especially if you've read some of his more recent works. This coming of age story has elements of Catcher in the Rye, but is in it's own category for the teen of today (watch out, there's swearing!). All characters have their own quirk and geekness about them. Pudge loves famous last words, The Colonel loves strategies and is a real mastermind and Alaska, well, Alaska is the very cool and unpredictable mysterious girl that captures the heart of Pudge. Oh yeah, and she loves collecting books:
"Have you really read all those books in your rooms?"
Alaska laughing -"Oh God no. I've maybe read a third of 'em. But I'm going to read them all. I call it my Life's Library. Every summer since I was little, I've gone to garage sales and bought all the books that looked interesting. So I always have something to read." -I think we can all relate to that.
A gripping read that captures your heart but not in the romantic sense. The idea of boarding school is always cool and rebellious but this book shows that in reality, it's quite lonely. I suggest reading this book at 16 years of age and then reading it again in your mid 20s. To truly understand a coming of age novel, you need to do exactly that: come of age. Every emotion comes to surface and you really feel for all the characters. You may think that Pudge needs to grow a pair or that The Colonel needs to take a chill pill and that Alaska seriously needs to stop pretending that everything is ok. But I guess that's just all part of Green's "Great Perhaps."
