Looking for Alaska by John Green

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Looking for Alaska was John Green’s first novel. It won the Printz award in 2008.

Miles “Pudge” Halter is transferring to the elite boarding school “Culver Creek” at the age of 16. His life until now has been pretty uninspiring. He is a typical teen; not a loser, not popular, but extremely bright while unenthusiastic about his current school and life in general. Miles is a collector of last words of famous people and is inspired in this school switch by the last words of the poet Francois Robelais; “I go to seek a Great Perhaps”.

What Pudge finds at “the Creek” is his first freedom from his parents, his first major teen rebellion through the consumption of the forbidden cigarettes and alcohol, and his first love for an amazing girl named Alaska. In this way, Looking for Alaska is a typical coming of age story. However, it is written in an atypical manner.

The students at Culver Creek are all highly intelligent high-achievers. Their free time is taken up with well-planned and well-implemented pranks that stretch them intellectually. These pranks are usually conducted between the two major student factions – the Weekday Warriors, those wealthy students who can afford to go home each weekend, and the less fortunate who spend all week at the school. It is through these pranks that Pudge develops friendships with the Colonel, Alaska, and other friends Takumi and Lara. For the first time he finds himself belonging and being seen as a reliable and trusted friend.

What makes Looking for Alaska unique is the design. The story is told in two parts: 1. Days counted off leading to a traumatic event, and 2. Days counted off after this event. I am reminded of the movie Life is Beautiful where the first half is a comedy and the second half a tragedy. The first half of this story reads like a typical, humorous coming of age story. Pudge is growing up and sharing common experiences with other teens in the same process. In school his favorite class is World Religions taught by Dr. Hyde. He finds within this class an opportunity to objectively explore ideas about what life is about and whether there is an afterlife. Here he uses some last words from a book Alaska is reading about Simon Bolivar “Damn, how will I get out of this labyrinth?” as inspiration for his study. He begins to think about the interconnectedness of all things.

After the tragic event, Pudge now finds his explorations about life, death and interconnectedness have become personal. He and the Colonel struggle with their culpability in the event, and seek to understand why it occurred and if they could have prevented it. Their search leads them to find out more about themselves, their friendships, and about their friend. They determine the best tribute they can make for their friend is a light-hearted prank based on Alaska’s original plans for a great prank for their senior year. It is this search and discovery that puts Looking for Alaska above the standard coming of age theme. It incorporates additional themes of love, friendship, loyalty, the meaning of life, our beliefs about the afterlife, and the interconnectedness of all things.

The superior language of Looking for Alaska also lifts it to the level of literary excellence. The growth we see in all the characters is the shift from the self-absorbed normal teen, to that of individuals seeing themselves as parts of a greater world. The descriptions help us to see them developing empathy and learning about personal responsibility. We see the world at Culver Creek from the perspective of Pudge as he grows and slowly learns to see the wholeness of the friends he has made. Pudge’s view of the world expands to help him learn tolerance and even appreciation for what makes up each of his friend’s lives.

Looking for Alaska is a story written in a way to appeal to teens in a classic “living vicariously” manner. They can see themselves in the characters and, yet, learn from their mistakes without experiencing them personally. I expect this to be a story read by teens for many years, as the themes are those close to their heart. And, luckily for all readers, Looking for Alaska also foreshadowed John Green’s writing career.




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