Looking for Alaska
Green, J. (2005). Looking
for Alaska. New York: Penguin Group.
In Looking for Alaska,
Miles Halter decides to go to boarding school during his junior year of high
school to escape bullying while seeking “The Great Perhaps”. When he arrives at
Culver Creek Preparatory School, he finds himself rooming with Chip “The
Colonel” Martin and dorm neighbor to Alaska Young. As school commences, Miles
(now nicknamed Pudge), begins to make friends and become part of a group. There
are many pranks played, cigarettes smoked, bottles of wine drunk and Pudge even
gets a girlfriend (even though he is slightly in love with Alaska). After a
night of heavy drinking, Alaska drives off into the night and dies tragically.
Pudge and the Colonel (and the rest of the student body) are left to come to
grips with her death. Her close friends wonder if perhaps, she committed
suicide. As Pudge and the colonel come to grips with her death and the possibility
that they might have been able to stop her, they pull one last prank in her
honor.
Looking for Alaska
by John Green, is a moving coming of age story told from Pudge’s point of view,
giving it a slight autobiographical feeling. This realistic novel would appeal
to teens as it deals with friendship and relationships. Navigating the dating
world is painful, but as told by Pudge, it is even more so. The novel is
written in two parts: the countdown to Alaska’s death and the counting up from
her passing. Pudge and the Colonel wrestle with her death, their possible role
in her tragic accident, then the possibility that she took her own life. They
try desperately to makes sense of something that never will. The novel ends
with forgiveness: forgiving Alaska for driving drunk, forgiving himself for not
stopping her, while finding the strength to move on.
Awards:
Printz Award (2006)
ALA Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults (2006)
ALA Teens’ Top 10 Award (2006)
Interesting Links:
Recommended Novels by
John Green:
The Fault in our Stars
Paper Town
An Abundance of
Katherines
Turtles All the Way
Dawn (Release date Oct. 2017)
No comments:
Post a Comment