Recently Read: Looking For Alaska

The past few years, I have not read a lot of Young Adult fiction. I have been reading a lot of classics and adult fiction. Recently, reading John Green has gotten me back into YA and I'm really enjoying it again. This was my second Green book, I reviewed my first one here. Looking for Alaska is Green's first novel, and it is one of his best known.

 

Miles is an average teenage boy who feel no attachment to anyone at his school and is fascinated with memorizing famous people's last words. He talks his parents into letting him attend a boarding school where he hopes he will discover "the great perhaps." There he meets his roommate nicknamed the Colonial and a girl down the hall named Alaska Young. Miles quickly becomes infatuated with Alaska and her impulsive and sometimes dark personality.

 

This book, in true John Green fashion, is enjoyable and funny. Yet despite the teenage humor, the book is thought provoking and meaningful. This book is true to life. The characters are real teens, and they jump off the page at you. The book is beautiful and not overwhelmingly heavy. The ending passage of the book has been in my mind for a few days, and it is one of my favorite things I have read in a while. I would recommend this book to anyone, if you have never read any Green this is a great book to start with, although I feel that any one of his books would be a good place to start. I am beginning to understand the hype surrounding John Green and at the moment, he is my favorite new YA author. I look forward to reading his other books