Review Detail

Here comes one of those books that you just can’t talk about without giving away a big ol’ spoiler. John Green’s “Looking for Alaska” revolves around a spoiler, so if you haven’t read it and don’t want to know what happens, stop reading! If you’ve read the book, or if you are okay with finding out what happens, have at this blog post!

What struck me most about “Looking for Alaska” is Alaska herself. One of my favorite experiences when reading a book is when an author makes you fall in love with a character, and I fell in loooooooove with Alaska. With each Smoking Hole, Strawberry Hill, Blue Citrus interaction you get with her, you just fall deeper and deeper in love with the girl, and you can understand why no guy would stand a chance if they were ever in her presence.

So of course all of our hearts break when Alaska dies in a mysterious car accident. Here is where Green continues to demonstrate his amazing writing skills in that he accurately portrays the mixed emotions one can go through when experiencing the death of a loved one. Obviously there’s grief, especially for Miles, the main character of the story. In Alaska’s special circumstance, there is the suspicion that her death was a suicide, prompting Miles’s anger at what he perceives as selfishness on Alaska’s part. Miles in particular has a hard time reconciling his anger and his grief, and Green brilliantly portrays that you don’t have to have one at the expense of another. Death is a complicated matter, suicide is even more complicated, and there is no all-encompassing answer that can make the loss of a friend an easy process to go through. Green, however, provides a text that may help teenagers get through this process if they sadly have to go through it themselves. Regardless of whether or not a reader of “Looking for Alaska” has lost a loved one, they will certainly connect with Green’s characters and their attempts to make their lives as meaningful as possible.