Looking for Alaska

Green, John. Looking for Alaska. New York, NY: Dutton Books, 2005. Print. ISBN 978-0525475064

Looking for Alaska

Written by John Green

Reviewed by Jen Pappas

Recommended Audience: Older High School

Listen to the booktalk

Fascinated by famous last words and the people who uttered them, sixteen-year-old Miles Halter is eager to live a life worthy of a great biography. Spurred by the dying words of the French poet Franҫois Rabelais, (“I go to seek a Great Perhaps”) he leaves the only home he’s ever known to attend an elite boarding school in Birmingham, Alabama. It’s here at Culver Creek that Miles meets Chip (or the Colonel as he prefers to be called), and Alaska Young – the beautiful, literary, reckless, wine-guzzling, possibly bi-polar object of everyone’s affections. Under the guidance of Alaska and the Colonel, Miles is initiated into the ills of adolescence: smoking, drinking, pranking, and yes, a tiny bit of sexual activity.

The book is divided into two parts: before and after – which should set off some serious foreshadowing alarms that things are not going to end well. But even given the ominous division, I was still unprepared for the culminating event that does take place at Culver Creek. The second half of the book (after) chronicles Miles’ personal journey through the “labyrinth” of suffering, a metaphor set in motion by Alaska early in the novel. As he struggles to make sense of what’s happened, Miles’ quest for his Great Perhaps starts to gain clarity and he begins a new pursuit, this time toward enlightenment.

Looking for Alaska is heartbreaking and smart in the same way S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is. Both novels – memorable and rich – avoid the obvious clichés, over-sentimentality, and lack of complexity other teenage novels fall victim to. The dialogue is clever yet real, and many of Miles’ observations reveal a sincere profundity well beyond his sixteen years. The inclusion of last words and Buddhist theory adds depth to the novel, encouraging readers to make important connections between the nature of life, death, suffering and hope. And while the adult characters in the novel are somewhat one-dimensional, ultimately this is a heartfelt, transcendent story we can all relate to.

Interview with John Green

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