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taliatalksbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Looking For Alaska by John Green deals with grief and loss through the lens of teens who haven’t yet experienced a loss of this magnitude. Like many of Green’s novels, Looking For Alaska approaches young relationships through the complex emotion of love. While most of us feel/have felt love, few of us understand the magnitude of that emotion until suddenly it is stripped away, especially at young ages (where we think we know everything). While not the most complex in plot, Green’s novel works hard to develop interesting and complex characters that exhibit different forms of bonds we can share. From friendship, to romance, to lust, this book covers them all. Obviously Green is known for destroying our emotional sanity, but his novels serve the purpose of explaining loss in a real and tangible way—and how this grief we feel can vary from person to person. Grief is both a universal and individual experience at the same time, and for Green to continue to express this kind of complex emotion in his work is truly a feat
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, and Grief
abbyisabellas's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Grief
lily_kruse's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Suicide, Grief, Car accident, and Alcohol
Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Sexual content, and Death of parent
amesnotamy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, and Alcohol
kaitlynkreu's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol
ashylibrarian's review against another edition
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I didn't love this one. I had high expectations with the hype around John Green, but I was left feeling meh about this story. I think it brings up important topics like mental health, trauma, and substance use, however it didn't feel like there was much more to it than bringing up the topics. I don't hate that I read this one, but I don't think it will be a go-to for recommendations.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Car accident, and Alcohol
imaginethisreader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol
charley_books's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol
miles862's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Hm. I think I like John Green's writing better in small doses. This is a very...quotable book? You can pull out plenty of lovely prose and turns of phrase. The problem is pretty much everything in between. The idea of this book was one that I was all on board with. The before and after structure and countdown sections was very well done. However, I didn't particularly care about the characters. For every turn of phrase that I though was well done, there were paragraphs that I rolled my eyes at. It just tried to hard often. I'd have to read more to decide if it was just coincidence or not, but from the few John Green books I've read it seems like the narrators are largely interchangeable? And possibly very strongly self-insert in a boring way. I think this book wanted to critically analyze the problem of the manic-pixie-dream-girl and how people are more complex and have their own narratives and selves that we don't know...but I don't feel like it managed to pull it off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit and Grief
Moderate: Suicide and Death of parent
josefinemartensson's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Read this for a school assignment so automatically the book was kind of ruined for me. This book was not mind-blowing. It had some good moments but having a main character you don’t care for makes it hard to enjoy the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol