hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Thoughts on John Green's Looking for Alaska
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Thoughts on John Green's Looking for Alaska
Undeniably, there are books you can discard after a single reading. Then there are books that continue to haunt you long after you've closed the back cover and tried to sleep.
Such is the case for John Green's Looking for Alaska. What seemed to be an old love story of a hopeless crush turned into one of the most poignant books I’ve ever read to date. Looking for Alaska started innocently enough. There was a boy, Pudge, who liked to learn the last words of famous personalities and who was tired of his safe and predictable life back home. He enrolled at Culver Creek Boarding School, where he hoped for a fresh start. He became fast friends with The Colonel, his roommate, whose best friend happened to be the beautiful and enigmatic Alaska Young. On their first encounter, Pudge immediately became drawn to Alaska, particularly when she teased him about figuring out the mystery behind the labyrinth. In my opinion, Alaska was a difficult heroine to love. She alternated between being caring and ferocious, innocent and the devil-incarnate. She was coy on one moment and undeniably snobbish on the next. Her sexual appeal was often played up, of course. For Pudge who has about zero experience with women, Alaska’s unparalleled sexual appetite worked like the classic carrot-on-a-stick bait. Of course, given her unpredictability, it only goes to follow that our guy Pudge would fall for her. Now, for the fun part: supremacy at the boarding school was measured by how awesome pranks are. Alaska was one of the best pranksters in the history of Culver Creek Boarding School, often executing plans that were the brainchildren of The Colonel. Together, the two of them planned the most epic of pranks along with the help of Pudge and their other friends. At this point, I'll have to stop mentioning parts of the book as it would be obvious spoilers. However, I can say this: after their epic prank, something went horribly wrong and The Colonel, Pudge, and their friends were thrown into a labyrinth of their own making. It seemed that Pudge's world really deviated from the safe norm he was used to, only now, would he have the will power to overcome what could be the greatest hurdle of his life? Penned in a gripping narrative, Looking for Alaska undeniably left me questioning my ability to cope, and how far I would be willing to hold on to something or toss it away when it burns my very soul. If you read this book, make sure you're prepared for the aftermath: you'll be questioning the same things, too. Prepare for some sleepless nights.
hollywoodtone.blogspot.com Thoughts on John Green's Looking for Alaska