Product Description
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An ALA Quick Pick A Los Angeles Times 2005 Book Prize Finalist A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age A 2005 Booklist Editor’s Choice A 2005 School Library Journal Best Book of the Year Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave "the Great Perhaps" even more (François Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.
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 5 stars
'Looking For Alaska' is by far the best book that I have ever read. It is very well put together and is very entertaining. I read it without putting it down once.
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 Moving, thoughtful and worthwhile, despite its flaws ( kensimon )
Miles Halter is sixteen years old, and in his first year away at Culver Creek, a boarding school in central Alabama. A lot of what happens to Miles as he adjusts to dorm life feels very real -- it reminds me of my first year away at college. Intense friendships form, conflicts simmer, and things that seem small to adults seem so important in the moment to these newly independent teens.
Miles and his friends are by turns funny, introspective and overwrought, which is to say that they are like real people. This is not a cleaned-up wonderland -- our characters smoke, drink and explore their sexuality -- and this makes Looking for Alaska all the more believable, even if it makes some adult readers squirm. Miles feels like a real kid, and his friends feel like living, breathing human beings, not caricatures. This is the core of the book and what makes the first part so successful.
Yes, Looking for Alaska is divided into two parts: before and after. I won't give away the event that serves as a pivot point here, but it's a powerful moment and it gives us a window on Miles and his friends as they process what has changed. The "after" section of the book is not as good as the "before": it begins with all the power of the pivotal moment, but falters under the weight of some unnecessary repetition as Miles becomes obsessed with figuring out just what happened and grapples with mixed emotions and an urge to rationalize them away. Some of the dialogue in the "after" section tends to sound way too much like prose instead of talk, and threatens to sink Looking for Alaska under its own philosophical weight.
Still, this ship never completely sinks, and I stayed up way too late to spend time with Miles and his friends as they process what has happened in their lives. Our characters' relationships fracture and heal, and there's some beautiful rumination about life, and free choice, and consequences.
This isn't a perfect book, and John Green's writing technically improves in his later works (better dialogue, for one thing) -- but that didn't stop Alaska from being a good read, and my favorite Green book thus far.
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Just read it
Looking for Alaska is, without a doubt, the best book that I have ever read. It's proof that teen lit doesn't have to be dumbed-down idiocy. It is funny, sad, and smart, and it nails each subject it tackles right on the head. I've read Looking for Alaska over five times, and each time I discover something more incredible about it and fall even deeper in love with it. I recommend this book to everyone. Yes, everyone.
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YA??? Oy Vey! ( leah33333 )
I loved this book, but had no idea it was for grades 9 and up until after I read it. I looked on amazon.com and wow was I surprised when I found out it was for Young Adults. From my point of view it's not so kosher for kids because there is plenty of descriptive adult elements in it. But nonetheless, John Green is a refreshingly talented and creative story teller. What I liked most was that the characaters were all "smart kids" and Green adds very interesting, intelligent tidbits throughout the story. I don't like giving away the plot, etc. but after I finished this, I read his "Katherines" book, and now want to read the rest. John Green has definitely become one of my favorite authors.
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Breathtaking ( pocon46111 )
Looking for Alaska is probably one of the most well written books I have ever read. It flows smoothly, and makes you feel different emotions with every turn of the page! While reading Alaska, I found myself laughing, crying, and really thinking about some of the parts in the book. It's one of those books that will stay with you forever and touch your heart. I suggest this to any reader! You wont regret it. Thank you John Green for making such a brillant book!
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