Looking for Alaska

John Green’s Looking for Alaska is a literary young adult novel about Miles Halter, a tall, lanky teenager who harbors an obsession with people’s last words. Unfortunately, the unique skill of memorizing the last words of famous people has not helped him fit in. Hoping to find “the great perhaps,” Miles enrolls in a boarding school in Alabama, where he meets angsty teen pranksters, Colonel and Alaska. As Miles becomes a part of their world, he believes he finally has a place in it. However, when Alaska’s past sends her on a downward spiral, Miles finds himself unable to move on. Green’s novel is masterfully written with flawless dialogue and realistically flawed characters.  However, the novel, in places, is downright gratuitous, which I feel detracts from the overall theme and tone.  Looking for Alaska is the winner of the highly acclaimed Printz Award, and the Green certainly deserves accolades for his writing ability alone. However, I felt the novel lacked much to be desired with a couple of unnecessarily explicit scenes and a main character that failed to win my admiration or sympathy.