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elviswho125's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
4.0
elusorius's review against another edition
2.0
I thought this was paper towns at first.
It's a short book, typical YA writing. For YA, the writing was good (as expected of John Green).
However, I hated all of the characters. Didn't care about a single one. I thought the peer pressure and objectifying was gross. The amount of times Miles objectified Alaska, who had a boyfriend, was unsettling. Though I suppose they're at that horny teen boy age. The pranks and school rules (no rats) were just stupid in my opinion, and our main character was constantly forced into everything.
The plot was extremely predictable, especially with the countdown. The first half of the book (the "before") had a forgettable plot. Building friendships, getting pressured into drinking and smoking, blabla. The second half of the book was slightly better (mystery of the after), but still not good. The only thing that kept me reading was the fact that it was so short.
2/5, close to 1/5.
It's a short book, typical YA writing. For YA, the writing was good (as expected of John Green).
However, I hated all of the characters. Didn't care about a single one. I thought the peer pressure and objectifying was gross. The amount of times Miles objectified Alaska, who had a boyfriend, was unsettling. Though I suppose they're at that horny teen boy age. The pranks and school rules (no rats) were just stupid in my opinion, and our main character was constantly forced into everything.
The plot was extremely predictable, especially with the countdown. The first half of the book (the "before") had a forgettable plot. Building friendships, getting pressured into drinking and smoking, blabla. The second half of the book was slightly better (mystery of the after), but still not good. The only thing that kept me reading was the fact that it was so short.
2/5, close to 1/5.
rozenaut's review against another edition
2.0
I read The Fault in Our Stars and absolutely loved it, so I wanted to go back and read John Green's earlier work. Unfortunately I did not enjoy Looking for Alaska nearly as much. Maybe I'm just not in the right demographic.
I really did not care about the characters. Alaska was downright obnoxious and I hated the way Pudge seemed content to fall into vices just to be liked (although maybe that's realistic?). And for heavens sake, nobody needs those kinds of details about clumsy sex acts. Despite what Hollywood thinks, no one want to see/read that. I got all the way through the book solely to get to the end of the central mystery, which was never really definitively solved. Again, that may be realistic, but still, meh.
This story tried really hard to be deep, but it was just about self centered teenagers having to deal with the consequences of their own reckless actions.
I really did not care about the characters. Alaska was downright obnoxious and I hated the way Pudge seemed content to fall into vices just to be liked (although maybe that's realistic?). And for heavens sake, nobody needs those kinds of details about clumsy sex acts. Despite what Hollywood thinks, no one want to see/read that. I got all the way through the book solely to get to the end of the central mystery, which was never really definitively solved. Again, that may be realistic, but still, meh.
This story tried really hard to be deep, but it was just about self centered teenagers having to deal with the consequences of their own reckless actions.
chennessey97's review against another edition
4.0
I liked this book, but not as much as John Green's other books. It was really confusing at first, but by the ending it was pretty good. Anybody could read this book and like it though, because John Green is an amazing author.
galacticallz's review against another edition
3.0
Rating: 6/10
I do think this book is well written and the story it tells is very endearing but theres still a lot of issues I have with it. I’ve only watched a couple episodes of the show but I think that the show makes it more feel like a romance story while the book is a unrequited love story. Miles sees Alaska as this perfect girl but after she passes he realizes how actually flawed she is. I love characters that have bad characteristics about them because it makes things more real and I think Alaska fits that really nicely as well as being charming to complete it. I feel like if you go into this book after watching the show or seeing it as a romance it might ruin it for you. Despite that it is an excellent story about love, friendship and grief. A lot of people said it was boring but I don’t think so, I think it’s just how life is sometimes without crazy things happening every second, just people living.
I do think this book is well written and the story it tells is very endearing but theres still a lot of issues I have with it. I’ve only watched a couple episodes of the show but I think that the show makes it more feel like a romance story while the book is a unrequited love story. Miles sees Alaska as this perfect girl but after she passes he realizes how actually flawed she is. I love characters that have bad characteristics about them because it makes things more real and I think Alaska fits that really nicely as well as being charming to complete it. I feel like if you go into this book after watching the show or seeing it as a romance it might ruin it for you. Despite that it is an excellent story about love, friendship and grief. A lot of people said it was boring but I don’t think so, I think it’s just how life is sometimes without crazy things happening every second, just people living.
sne_reader's review against another edition
2.0
I read the book hoping it might lead me to a vortex of emotions (based on the innumerable good reviews about John Greens TFIOS), but I was disappointed.
I could not wait for the book to get over (since I don't leave books midway once I start reading it)
Nothing in the book held my interest. The characters in the book were highly disappointing and lacked any real quality that could make me relate to them.
Just a bunch of teens trying to find answers at the bottom of a bottle, especially the main character who was shown to be a feminist just to give her some depth.
But I liked the part where a couple of witty quotes nicely tried to cover up the otherwise disappointing read.
I could not wait for the book to get over (since I don't leave books midway once I start reading it)
Nothing in the book held my interest. The characters in the book were highly disappointing and lacked any real quality that could make me relate to them.
Just a bunch of teens trying to find answers at the bottom of a bottle, especially the main character who was shown to be a feminist just to give her some depth.
But I liked the part where a couple of witty quotes nicely tried to cover up the otherwise disappointing read.
livrawds's review against another edition
2.0
I love John Green so I was sad I didn’t love this but it just didn’t resonate with me and the plot seemed dull