Looking For Alaska (Printz Award Winner) 
asked by savvy on November 10, 2006 8:11 AM
Miles "Pudge" Halter is abandoning his safe-okay, boring-life. Fascinated by the last words of famous people, Pudge leaves for boarding school to seek what a dying Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps."
Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls impossibly in love. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, it is only in coming face-to-face with death that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.
John Green's stunning debut marks the arrival of a stand-out new voice in young adult fiction.
Pudge becomes encircled by friends whose lives are everything but safe and boring. Their nucleus is razor-sharp, sexy, and self-destructive Alaska, who has perfected the arts of pranking and evading school rules. Pudge falls impossibly in love. When tragedy strikes the close-knit group, it is only in coming face-to-face with death that Pudge discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.
John Green's stunning debut marks the arrival of a stand-out new voice in young adult fiction.
Reviews
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Miles doesn't love shows on the WB (0r CW), he doesn't gush about J. Lo's posterior. He doesn't rave about the football team's wins. Miles loves famous last words.
Teenagers have depth. They feel things tremedously. They are real people with real problems, real joys, and real angst. It's nice to see them portrayed realistically in this novel by Green as opposed to the happily ever after teens found in other bubblegum YA novels.
Miles has no friends. He is lonely. He has two wonderfully warm parents (whom he even admits as 'such nice people'), but it's not enough. He wants a chance to get away, become a new person, search out the Great Perhaps.
So, he embarks on a coming of age story. And what a story it is. He attends a private boarding school in Alabama where he finally makes friends. He finds a place for himself. Through his friend and roommate, Chip, and a quirky, moody girl, Alaska, Miles discovers who he is.
Green creates beautifully tragic characters in this novel. They make you want to find all the troubled kids in the world and talk to them. Listen to them. And make sure that they don't say their last words too soon.
Teenagers have depth. They feel things tremedously. They are real people with real problems, real joys, and real angst. It's nice to see them portrayed realistically in this novel by Green as opposed to the happily ever after teens found in other bubblegum YA novels.
Miles has no friends. He is lonely. He has two wonderfully warm parents (whom he even admits as 'such nice people'), but it's not enough. He wants a chance to get away, become a new person, search out the Great Perhaps.
So, he embarks on a coming of age story. And what a story it is. He attends a private boarding school in Alabama where he finally makes friends. He finds a place for himself. Through his friend and roommate, Chip, and a quirky, moody girl, Alaska, Miles discovers who he is.
Green creates beautifully tragic characters in this novel. They make you want to find all the troubled kids in the world and talk to them. Listen to them. And make sure that they don't say their last words too soon.
reviewed by lovieduvie on November 15, 2006 3:17 AM
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Looking for Alaska is a page turner. Did Alaska commit suicide or was her death a tragic accident? Why did she become so upset and drive off drunk in the middle of the night? The biggest question of all was Alaska's: "How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?" Pudge's answer to this question in his essay at the end of the book is profoundly true. For its mystery and truth, I loved this book.
However, I did not like its profane language. I don't like putting those words into my head. There is just too much profane language in books and movies. I can do without it.
However, I did not like its profane language. I don't like putting those words into my head. There is just too much profane language in books and movies. I can do without it.
reviewed by willie on November 27, 2006 3:39 PM