Saturday 25 October 2014

Looking for Alaska- Debut novel by John Green

Are you depressed? Do cynical thoughts haunt you day and night? Does death feel like a better option than going through life? Then this is the book you've been waiting for! Ok yeah I know, how can a depressing, suicidal book be good for anyone right? That's what I thought first before reading this mind-blowing novel. But there's more to it than what meets the eye.

Miles Halter is a high school student who shifts from Florida to Alabama to attend his Junior year at Culver Creek High. He was never a standout and always stayed in the shadows with even less than a handful friends. He expects the same at his new boarding school, but things change after he meets his roommate, Chip. Now Chip here is the ideal bad boy. Getting in trouble, pulling off pranks and some how always managing to slip away in the end, that's his daily routine. So Chip introduces Miles to his friends. At Culver Creek there was a tradition to pick nicknames. Chip was also known as the Colonel and he decided that Miles would be called "Pudge". That reassures Miles physical qualities  now doesn't it. Miles is introduced to Alaska Young...and that my friends is where our story begins. Alaska Young. Free-spirited, volatile and unpredictable as ever, Alaska is the heart and soul of the school. Her amazing prank-planning, execution and timing, her obsession with books and her unbelievable good looks. Isn't she the perfect girl time bomb ever made? One wrong move and she'll burst, but one right move and she'll be swooning on you. But Alaska is much more complicated than that. She has a boyfriend she really loves, but has her occasional, I wouldn't call it flings, but yes definitely something more than just friendship.

So when Miles sees her, he instantly falls for her. She thinks he's cute and leaves it at that. Here, I'd like to give a moment of silence for all those boys stuck in the friend zone. Don't worry, you'll get there eventually. Getting back to novel, a series of events leads to a total mess up which involves the Colonel, Alaska and Pudge. Alcohol after school hours in the forest has got suspension written all over it no doubt. But they were proven innocent before the school jury. Things started getting back to normal. I'll just skip a few more incidents that took place (not very interesting to put forward in a review, just your everyday drinking, smoking that's about it). Up until this point, the story moves in sloth pace, just enough to make you read on. Things change drastically after an incident which leads to Pudge kissing Alaska. In the middle of this, she gets a call and promises to be back. But when she comes back, she's shaken and in a bad mess. She asks the Colonel and Pudge to cover for her, said that she had to go somewhere really urgently. They did as instructed, but that led to something unexpected and something Miles couldn't remove from his conscience.

This novel is the definition of a changeover. The first half isn't that great, but the second half really gets you going and makes you want to read more. But as a diehard John Green fan, I can tell you that this isn't the exact style of the author as we know him today. So all TFIOS fans, be ready for a let down. In saying that, Looking for Alaska isn't a bad novel, it's just one of those novels you don't expect from John Green.









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