Looking for Alaska by John Green

KyuRee Shim                                                                                             Oct. 28, 2013

Looking For Alaska

        The name of the book I read is Looking For Alaska by John Green. It is a young adult literature, which many teenagers would enjoy. Before I read this book, I was reading a novel called Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. By the time I finished it, I was captivated by its intriguing writing. However, I was disappointed because I believed that I couldn't find another novel as satisfying as Speak. I was wrong. Few pages after the last chapter, I found a URL that leads to a site, pointofviewbooks.com. That is how I discovered Looking For Alaska. Later on, my father paid for the books I picked out (mostly introduced from pointofviewbooks.com) in Chapters.

        "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." This quote is the last words of François Rabelais. These words inspired Miles "Pudge" Halter to attend Culver Creek Preparatory High School to seek what François had sought for. Before Pudge left his home in Florida, he wasn't someone special. He was just a scrawny 16 year old boy who had an odd interest of memorizing famous last words.  While he stays at Culver Creek, he meets Chip "The Colonel" Martin, a short well-built roommate who memorized the capitals and populations of countries; and Alaska Young, a wild, charming, gorgeous, mischievous girl who Miles falls in love with. With these two sly troublemakers, Pudge goes on an exhilarating adventure.

        Honestly, this book was fantastic. I am not exaggerating. If I had to give it a rate out of 10, I would give it a 10 because it definitely deserves it. The author makes the characters so real as if they exist in real life, which makes them irresistibly loveable. Although Alaska was an unpredictable, irrational girl, there were many times where I just had to admire her. One of the things I liked about Looking For Alaska was how Pudge narrated from his point of view because he was free to express his emotions and opinions. The humor the author used in this novel was brilliant; I caught myself giggling over Pudge's awkward actions, sarcasms and jokes. I strongly recommend this book to teenagers who are interested in stories that are related to real life problems. Despite the fact that Looking For Alaska has few explicit contents such as profanity, sexual content, etc., I believe this book is fairly appropriate as long as if you are mature.

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