Looking for Alaska
By John Green
Summary
Not only was Alaska a good friend she was a distraction, entertainment, trouble, and the love of Miles "Pudge" Halter's life. In the story Looking for Alaska by John Green, Pudge is spending the last two years of high school in Culver Creek Boarding School. In which be became best friends with his roommate Chip, also known as The Colonel, and Alaska Young. She has a reputation for screwing up, not only her life, the people she cares for too. But little did Pudge know what he was getting himself into when he followed The Colonel to her room to get cigarettes.
Character
Pudge (Miles Halter)'s life has been one big nonevent. He is obsessed with the last words of famous people, and the "Great Perhaps". When he comes to Culver Creek Boarding School he doesn't expect much until he travels down the hall with his best friend and roommate Chip (The Colonel), and meets Alaska Young. After that his life flipped upside down.
"We can never be irreparably broken"
"Ya'll Smoke to enjoy it, I smoke to die"
"How will I ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?"
Book Reviews
- This book deals with the Big Ones: suffering, loss, and grief, but it does so with such compassion and humor that the net impact is uplifting. Even the principal turns out to be a human being. There are no cardboard cut-out characters here.
- This is an outstanding coming-of-age novel that has already proved to be a favorite teen read. It doesn't resort to a cop out of a "happily ever after" ending, but the characters each seek closure on their own terms. The characters are well-drawn, witty, and full of individual quirks and spunk. Green even manages to bring in the reality of cigarettes and alcohol without a preachy or over-glorifying tone.
Comparison
If you compare the book Looking For Alaska to the book The Fault in Our Stars. You find a lot more in common than the author. In the books the main character, Pudge The Colonel Alaska and most others, along with Augustus Waters, are all involved in smoking. Though Augustus doesn't smoke it he always has a cigertte in his mouth.
Setting
The setting of this book is in Alabama where they go through all seasons. It takes place at a boarding school. There is a pond on school grounds, in which a swan lives. There is also the hang out call the smoking hole which is more of a building than a hole. Most of the story takes place in the dorm of Pudge and The Colonel.