Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska is a book that deals with some very confronting topics in a teenager’s life. John Green the author of this book explores what it is like to be a teenager and how to deal with growing up. Some of the topics that he explores are depression, relationships, the need to fit in, sex. The story follows a socially awkward boy named Miles Halter who left his home to attend a boarding school. Miles has always been obsessed with people’s last words which is quite evident throughout the whole book. There at the new school Miles is determined to finally make some friends, this is where the need to fit in starts to show. Green shows this need to be accepted by the things that Miles does to be accepted by his roommate who insists on being called colonel and the group that the colonel hangs out with. Such things as he starts to drink and smoke as that is what that group does and thinks that is how he will be accepted. Miles does start to like the smoking and the drinking and the friendship of this group for the first time he feels like he has friends. When you are reading the book you don’t not feel that the friends pressure him too much and you don’t blame them you don’t feel that Miles should have found other people, you feel that these friends were right for him in a way. In this group you meet a young girl named Alaska, who is a gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, and extremely screwed up. Alaska has a very unique personality which captures Miles from the very first time he met her. However Alaska Young suffers from depression. This is how the author deals with the topic of depression, he doesn’t straight up tell you that she suffers from it but gives you hints to help you figure it out, which can actually help readers know the signs of depression so they can recognise it in their own lives. Alaska always teases Miles and they become pretty good friends and he soon finds out that Alaska is already in a relationship with a person who doesn’t go to the school. Miles then tries dating someone else to try and get over Alaska. Miles and his new girlfriend decide to experiment with different sexual activities however both being virgins they knew nothing about it. They go to Alaska for some help and she gives them pointers. John Green might not actually teach about safe sex in the book however the part that he does look at is people deciding that they are ready and how they start to mature and how they deal with their new sexual interests. As the book progresses you see Alaska get worse you start to see her cracking. And on one night she starts to drive somewhere and crashes and Alaska young dies. Then the book shifts to how to deal with loss. You see how much the death affects Miles and he becomes obsessed with it. The death of Alaska hits the group hard and they all want to break down and yet still support one another. However Miles became distant and became obsessed of what really happened that night whether it had been an accident or if Alaska had driven off the road and killed herself. Always wondering what she had said in her final moments.

John Green is an amazing author who isn’t afraid to bring in confronting topics into his books. He has a very nice writing style and always manages to his readers on emotional journey through his books.

An interesting thing about the book is how John Green set out the chapters. Green has a sort of countdown for his chapters. There is a before such as “one hundred and twenty seven days before” the before counts to the night when Alaska dies in the book. Then after the event it starts to count days after the event. This is because when John Green was writing this book it was around the time of the 9/11. He thought it curious how people seemed to think they were living n a post 9/11 world. How after the event it was living in a time after, that there was a before and after not a continuous thing. John Green thought that sort of thinking the before and after could work well as a way to set his chapters and decided to use it.

Looking for Alaska is a very emotional book, and one of the few that actually show what it is like to be a teenager. John Green does that sugar coat it or make it pretty he shows it for what it is. He isn’t afraid to talk about some major topics in his book and he does it successfully. This book is truly quite special as the author puts a lot of real emotion into the book and I find that people would be able to relate to the problems the kids have in the book. John Green knows that people are not perfect and he shows that he really doesn’t glamorise his characters which makes it that much more believable and real to read.