I got this book for Christmas, and I had wanted to read it ever since I read The Fault in our stars by the same author, since John Green is a freaking genius. The Fault in Our stars is as you know one of my favorite books, and one would be mad not to love it according to me. Looking for Alaska is also kind of a love story, but it's not as obvious as tfios.
Looking for Alaska is a book about a boy named Miles Halter, but he later gets called "Pudge" by his friends. In the beginning of the book he attends a new school called Culver Creek, and that's where the real story begins. "Alaska" from the title is a person and not the state, but I think most of you already knew that. So it centers around Miles's life at Culver Creek, his new friends and school. It may sound a bit boring, but I promise you, as soon as he meets Alaska, the book will drag you in instantly. At least that's what it did to me.
See, the funny thing about this book is that we hear the story from Miles's point of view, but the whole story is really about Alaska Young in my opinion. My copy of the book is 221 pages long, so it is a fairly tiny book (at least if you compare with a few Harry Potter ones). What is quite unusual about the book is also the fact that John Green hasn't divided it into chapters, but the book is divided in two sections. The first three quarters of the book are called "Before" and the last quarter is called "After". What before and after means, you'll have to figure out when you read the book yourselves. It's kind of a mystery that you won't figure out until you've come to the breaking point between "Before" and "After".
So what would be the equivalent to chapters are called for an example "Ninety-one days before", and then "Four days after". This is very creative, but chapters are easier for me to remember. For an example, if I'm talking to one of my friends and I want to explain to them what part of the book, it's easier to remember "chapter 15" instead of "Ninety-two days before".
I loved this book honestly, but it probably won't make my favorites list. It was great, but it also could have been better. I'm going to try and explain this without spoiling, don't worry. It was a great story about how you never know what's gonna happen until it really happens, and it's a very realistic book. That's what I love most about John Green's writing. He doesn't sugarcoat everything like many other authors. The books don't always have to end with happiness, that's not how it is in real life. No, John Green is honest with his readers, and I love that. It's a great change from fantasy and sci-fi books, which are not realistic.The book was of course well written, but I got bored when I entered the second section of the book, "After". Thos of you who have read it maybe understand why, but I can tell you that it's because there aren't as many things happening in that part of the book according to me. However it didn't last that long, and I was soon back on track again.
With other words, it was well written, but there was some lack of action sometimes. I'm not one of those people who need action constantly in books, but I easily get bored if there isn't any at all. There were moments when I thought that the story was a bit boring, but then again, so can life be. Life is not always fun, and I guess that that's also a part of the book. Miles's life is not very full of action, he's after all just a student at Culver Creek school.
I give the book a 4/5 :) I do recommend you all to read it though, because it taught me many things. That however, I will leave to you to find out.
~Emma ~
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