Heyyy guys! So I just finished Paper towns and I started Looking for Alaska right after... and finished it in a matter of days. Its a pretty short book and its good and an easy read, so Spoilers for my review: I loved it... not spoilers for the book though! I'm going to do a discussion, just like I did for Paper Towns... which I think I've posted by now... and then I'll spoil it... but I really want people to read it... so no spoilers... yet. Lol.
So this book... its kind of weird because it doesn't really seem to be about anything for the first part. There are no real chapters, the book is broken down into before and after and its kind of just about some rebellious kids at boarding school. It centers around Miles, or Pudge who is a good and innocent kid that enters into this boarding school his junior year. His Roommate is named Chip or The Colonel and he introduces him to this super hot girl named Alaska who is a wild free spirit and she has a boyfriend. And she's a really interesting character and you kind of get to know her through Miles's eyes. So you don't really know much about her and until the end of the novel, she is still very mysterious. She reminds me a lot of Margo in Paper Towns only more rebellious. She loves sex, alcohol and cigarettes, she claims to be a deeply sad person, she's always very moody, she has a stack of books called "her life's library" and she talks about her mom a lot. That is pretty much everything we know about her that is cannon... and nothing else. Ohhh and she's a feminist... but pretty much thats it. Lol. She's lively and adventurous and always coming up with prank ideas. And she's just really interesting. She's a real person and she's also kind of this kind of unattainable fantasy person, just like Margo. Its interesting.
This book kind of reminds me of Catcher in The Rye. Just because The Colonel has a very similar mindset and set of values as Holden Caufield it seems like. He has more friends and he's not quite as crazy... but there is a sort of Holden-ness to him that kind of makes me want to reread catcher in the rye. I thought his character was really interesting... and so were all of the characters really. John Green is really good with making his characters all really good, and like I said... not a lot happens for most of the book, so its kind of just nice to read about their lives and tragedies and all the high-school-ness of it all. They're great characters and its just an interesting book regardless if anything super amazing is happening in it or not.
And I know there is... sort of a controversy about the movie. John Green has nothing to do with the casting of the movie or much about it, he signed the rights to make it into a movie... probably when the book was released, and it is a successful book and his movies make a ton of money... so yeah its going to be made into a movie. He's been getting death threats about making it and the casting of it and he has very little to do with it. I kind of agree that maybe it wouldn't make a great movie. The book is really good on its own and I feel like a movie about this would be kind of hard to watch. I could kind of see a tv show... but it would only be good for one season really with the ending of the book. I didn't really picture anyone as anything... but for some reason, after a while I pictured the guy that plays Barry Goldberg on The Goldbergs as The Colonel. He's too tall to play him and I don't think they described the Colonel at all... but I'm sure he doesn't look anything like Barry Goldberg... but idk. His complaining all the time made me read it with Barry Goldberg's voice and that is just what got me started with it.
I don't know who I thought of Alaska as. Usually, unless there is already a trailer to the movie or something out, I always have the same image of the young teenage love interest which is a shortish girl with curly blonde hair, grey eyes and is kind of curvy. I think it just kind of became an amalgam of different female characters in different books I've read and thats how I ended up picturing Annabeth in Percy Jackson, slightly how I pictured Hermione Granger and how I pictured Margo... even though there is a trailer and she's played by Cara Deve... idk her name but she's gorgeous... lol I still ended up picturing her as this blonde girl with curly hair... no idea why. Anyway that was sort of a tangent, that isn't how I pictured Alaska or Lara. Alaska was taller and had straight brown hair that was usually tied back and Lara had black hair cause I had a class with a girl that had a similar accent and I just pictured her as that girl only a little different... And I think I pictured Lacy in Paper towns similar to how I pictured Alaska. Idk why I'm off on this tangent... but it seems important. Lol. I'm about to look up who people think should be Alaska.
So yeah overall good book. I think I liked Paper Towns better just because Paper towns was really funny... but this had a lot of funny moments too and the characters were a nice change of pace from Paper Towns. I liked it!
So yes I would recommend this book. Its such a good summer read, its nice, easy and even though it gets very sad at times... its just a good book overall. And very well written. John Green is probably one of my favorite writers.
Byeee!
-Shannon
So this book... its kind of weird because it doesn't really seem to be about anything for the first part. There are no real chapters, the book is broken down into before and after and its kind of just about some rebellious kids at boarding school. It centers around Miles, or Pudge who is a good and innocent kid that enters into this boarding school his junior year. His Roommate is named Chip or The Colonel and he introduces him to this super hot girl named Alaska who is a wild free spirit and she has a boyfriend. And she's a really interesting character and you kind of get to know her through Miles's eyes. So you don't really know much about her and until the end of the novel, she is still very mysterious. She reminds me a lot of Margo in Paper Towns only more rebellious. She loves sex, alcohol and cigarettes, she claims to be a deeply sad person, she's always very moody, she has a stack of books called "her life's library" and she talks about her mom a lot. That is pretty much everything we know about her that is cannon... and nothing else. Ohhh and she's a feminist... but pretty much thats it. Lol. She's lively and adventurous and always coming up with prank ideas. And she's just really interesting. She's a real person and she's also kind of this kind of unattainable fantasy person, just like Margo. Its interesting.
This book kind of reminds me of Catcher in The Rye. Just because The Colonel has a very similar mindset and set of values as Holden Caufield it seems like. He has more friends and he's not quite as crazy... but there is a sort of Holden-ness to him that kind of makes me want to reread catcher in the rye. I thought his character was really interesting... and so were all of the characters really. John Green is really good with making his characters all really good, and like I said... not a lot happens for most of the book, so its kind of just nice to read about their lives and tragedies and all the high-school-ness of it all. They're great characters and its just an interesting book regardless if anything super amazing is happening in it or not.
And I know there is... sort of a controversy about the movie. John Green has nothing to do with the casting of the movie or much about it, he signed the rights to make it into a movie... probably when the book was released, and it is a successful book and his movies make a ton of money... so yeah its going to be made into a movie. He's been getting death threats about making it and the casting of it and he has very little to do with it. I kind of agree that maybe it wouldn't make a great movie. The book is really good on its own and I feel like a movie about this would be kind of hard to watch. I could kind of see a tv show... but it would only be good for one season really with the ending of the book. I didn't really picture anyone as anything... but for some reason, after a while I pictured the guy that plays Barry Goldberg on The Goldbergs as The Colonel. He's too tall to play him and I don't think they described the Colonel at all... but I'm sure he doesn't look anything like Barry Goldberg... but idk. His complaining all the time made me read it with Barry Goldberg's voice and that is just what got me started with it.
I don't know who I thought of Alaska as. Usually, unless there is already a trailer to the movie or something out, I always have the same image of the young teenage love interest which is a shortish girl with curly blonde hair, grey eyes and is kind of curvy. I think it just kind of became an amalgam of different female characters in different books I've read and thats how I ended up picturing Annabeth in Percy Jackson, slightly how I pictured Hermione Granger and how I pictured Margo... even though there is a trailer and she's played by Cara Deve... idk her name but she's gorgeous... lol I still ended up picturing her as this blonde girl with curly hair... no idea why. Anyway that was sort of a tangent, that isn't how I pictured Alaska or Lara. Alaska was taller and had straight brown hair that was usually tied back and Lara had black hair cause I had a class with a girl that had a similar accent and I just pictured her as that girl only a little different... And I think I pictured Lacy in Paper towns similar to how I pictured Alaska. Idk why I'm off on this tangent... but it seems important. Lol. I'm about to look up who people think should be Alaska.
So yeah overall good book. I think I liked Paper Towns better just because Paper towns was really funny... but this had a lot of funny moments too and the characters were a nice change of pace from Paper Towns. I liked it!
So yes I would recommend this book. Its such a good summer read, its nice, easy and even though it gets very sad at times... its just a good book overall. And very well written. John Green is probably one of my favorite writers.
Byeee!
-Shannon
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