Looking for Alaska by John Green

I have been a huge fan of John Green over the past few years. In fact, his book The Fault in Our Stars is one of my favorite books of all time. I will probably write about that one in greater detail later on, but I have written a million essays, including one of my college essays, about it and therefore I want to take a little break from that. So instead, I decided to cover my second favorite book by Mr. Green, Looking for Alaska.

Looking for Alaska is the story of Miles Halter, who goes to attend a boarding school, called Culver Creek, in Alabama for high school. I know what you were thinking; but no, this isn't a book about a frantic search to find the location of Alaska. Although, when I typed "Looking for Alaska" into google, a map of Alaska was the first result. Anyways, so Miles is really into biographies and the last words of famous people. He memorizes many of these last words, and particularly enjoys the last words of Francois Rabelais, who said "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." Throughout the book, Miles uses these words as a justification for many of his actions. 

While at Culver Creek, Miles, who is later nicknamed Pudge, meets his two best friends Chip and Takumi. Through Chip, he is introduced to Alaska, a gorgeous but slightly emotionally-unstable girl. The four friends go on numerous adventures and constantly find new ways to get into trouble. Over time, Pudge begins to fall for Alaska, but things are quickly cut short by a tragedy that affects them all. 

John Green has been one of my favorite authors for some time now, and this was the first of his books that I had ever read. It's a relatively quick and easy read, but it definitely keeps you interested and also has a lot of meaning behind it. This book was laced with many of John Green's personal experiences, such as some of the pranks that they plan on their school principle. It seemed like a particularly personal novel for him, which left me feeling like I truly got to know the author over the course of the book. 

This book was extremely enjoyable, and I hope to read it through again soon. John tends to add little details that are easy to miss the first time around, so I am eager to see if I pick up on anything new my second time.

“Thomas Edison's last words were 'It's very beautiful over there'. I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful.” - Looking for Alaska, John Green.