Looking for Alaska

Bibliography

John Green. (2006). Looking for Alaska.  New York: Penguin Group.  ISBN:  9780142402511, pp. 256.

Summary

Sixteen-year-old Miles Halter leaves his home state of Florida to attend Culver Creek Preparatory School near Birmingham, Alabama. Unlike at his public school in Florida, he quickly fits in there with other students that appreciate his quirky obsession with memorizing the last words of famous people and that don’t judge his lack of experience with smoking, drinking, and sex. Miles befriends his roommate Chip “The Colonel”, the dangerous but alluring Alaska, and Takumi known for his hip rhymes. The foursome work together to plan elaborate pranks and get under the skin of the headmaster known as “The Eagle”. The fun comes to a tragic end when one of the students is killed in a car crash. Miles finds himself desperately searching for answers to the suspicious accident as well as the quest for the “Great Perhaps” that brought him to Culver Creek in the first place.

Critical Analysis

Green does an amazing job of developing each character in this story of one adolescent boy’s search for the meaning of life and death. Told through the perspective of sixteen-year-old Miles, readers are introduced to a number of intelligent teens that seem to be only worried about having fun. However, Miles learns as he becomes closer to his prep school friends that everyone has their dark secrets that haunt them. He is especially drawn to the elusive, Alaska, that simultaneously flirts with him and keeps him at a distance claiming she is in love with an out of town boyfriend. At times this back and forth is a bit annoying, and readers are frustrated right along with Miles. When Alaska is killed in a car crash, readers mourn her death through the confused and grief-stricken view of Miles. Readers will be disappointed as well as you finally see their relationship developing only to see it abruptly come to an end. He spends the rest of the novel trying to make sense of that fateful night as well as unraveling the true meaning of life and death. This thoughtful story is full of many literary and scholarly references which will be lost on some teenagers; however, it will have great appeal to those that can appreciate the deep concepts and realistic characters. Due to the sexual content, language, and references to drugs and alcohol the book is recommended for more mature audiences. However these elements are used in a believable way to shape the lives of teenagers that are living away from their parents. The layout of the book (in days prior to and after the accident) makes it a quick read that will leave readers thinking long after the last page.