Tolog Review: Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska
by John Green 
reviewed by Darcy Michero 

When I opened the cover of Looking for Alaska, written by author John Green, I had high expectations of the book. I’ve read all of John Green’s well-known books multiple times, feeling new emotions every time. After getting through about a third of this novel, I realized that I didn’t enjoy the characters or the development of the plot. The book is about a skinny, nerdy teenager named Miles whose hobby is learning the final words of famous dead people. He has no friends and is not happy with his life in Florida. Miles decides to go to boarding school in Alabama in hopes that his circumstances will change. Throughout the whole novel, Miles searches for meaning and excitement in his life which he calls the “Great Perhaps”. He definitely finds excitement when he meets Alaska Young at school.

Alaska Young is the most exciting and compelling character in the novel. In just a few short weeks, she turns Miles, now called Pudge, into a drinker, smoker, and rule breaker. Miles starts to fit in with a group consisting of his roommate, the Colonel, Takumi, Lara, and of course, Alaska. Alaska is self-destructive, mysterious, and intriguing and Pudge becomes obsessed with her. He believes that he and Alaska have something special, and that she might be his “Great Perhaps”. However, Alaska has a college boyfriend in another town. She is quite a flirt and encourages all of the attention she gets. Looking for Alaska is a combination of mystery, comedy, drama, and a little bit of romance. However, I found the novel’s characters, themes, and purpose to be confusing and a bit boring.

At first, I enjoyed reading about the crazy antics of life at this boarding school and even envisioned myself going to one like it. However, when disaster finally strikes, I felt nothing. The book is structured as a countdown to the climax of the novel. After the accident, the second half of the book is devoted to how the calamity affects Miles. He and the Colonel spend days upon days investigating why it happened, but the reason for the tragedy is not exciting, nor interesting. Overall, I was unimpressed with the tedious plot and dull ending. I was thoroughly disappointed in John Green’s, Looking for Alaska.