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A review by kateyoutka
Looking for Alaska by John Green
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Alcohol, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content