Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Looking for Alaska by John Green

133 reviews

booooookkkksss's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

stephliljazz's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

John Green has the saddest imagination of any author I have read. I went into this book knowing something gravely sad happens because that's how the author writes. However, the character build up outside the plot was a lot and I found myself thinking at some points if parts actually had any relevanxe to the plot or outcome. I still really enjoyed it. My favorite thing about this whole book is Miles paper at the end. I feel like if you are grieving his words will help you think deeply about life and loss. I think even if you do not want to read this whole book reading that paper would make you love it anyway. I also have to say Wil Wheaton narrates this book perfectly. He successfully gave voices to each individual character and added emotions to their words in a very meaningful way. His voice was soothing and steady. I would definitely recommend this audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Suicide, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, and Death of parent

katey_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is probably the book I've read more than any other book except, maybe, some of the Harry Potter books.

There's a reason I keep coming back to it. I was 14 when this book came out, and I think I was maybe 15 when I first read it. It was the first time I'd seen a book talk about what I now know to be one of John Green's primary messages -- that it's difficult for us to ever really know another person, so it's important that we remember that they're just that -- a person -- and it's worthwhile, necessary, to imagine them complexly. Throughout this book, Miles builds Alaska up into something more than that. He puts her on a manic-pixie-dream-girl pedestal. As she gradually disappoints him, he realizes how flawed his thinking was, and how flawed Alaska herself was, and how flawed all people are. It's an important message whether you're 15 or 32 (as I am now) and it continues to be relevant.

I don't quite understand the negativity this book has received over the years. I see a lot of reviews critiquing Alaska's character since she is a manic pixie dream girl -- but that was kind of the point all along, and I strongly feel that she was written purposely that way. Green shares a similar message in Paper Towns, with the character of Margo being an almost caricatured version of a manic pixie dream girl. Green isn't falling prey to writing a manic pixie dream girl character -- he's poking holes in stories that utilize those characters and demanding that we think more critically about both them and the real-life people we interact with every day.

The messaging in this book surrounding religion and seeking purpose in our lives is also one that I've thought more about as I reread this book at twice the age I was when I initially picked it up. I think I initially thought that this book was extremely depressing when I read it at 15 -- a book about death and grieving and loss -- and at 15, I was thinking a lot about my own Great Perhaps. At 32, I'm thinking more about the fact that the only way out of the labyrinth is through and about always choosing the labyrinth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content

cnicoleyao's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This book was an emotional roller coaster ride that left me crying happy tears filled with hope and closure for the main character Pudge. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol

mrsmishler's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, and Death of parent

sadiebugreads's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

asienerbrown's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Sexual content, Car accident, and Alcohol

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Bullying

mack_urdaddy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny lighthearted sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Will shock you so hard you might need time to recover. Don’t get too attached.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Grief, and Car accident

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

chelseeaa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Car accident

Moderate: Sexual content, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

rhiannon814r's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

"One night... I heard a psychologist say that Americans would organize their memories around [9/11]: before and after. It occured to me that we almost always measure time in relation to what matters most to us... The story I wanted to tell was about young people whose lives are so transformed by an experience that they can only respond by reimagining time itself." -John Green on Looking for Alaska

As a (still somehow) young person with her own ever-growing list of Afters... yes. We're all stuck in the labyrinth. "The labyrinth sucks but I choose it." The best any of us can do is keep trying to seek the Great Perhaps.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Car accident, and Alcohol

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, and Suicide

Minor: Body horror, Sexual content, Vomit, and Death of parent