Looking for Alaska, by new young adult writer, John Green, is a work of realistic fiction that has already earned the Printz Award, and is currently on the Abraham Lincoln Book List.
It follows the story of sixteen-year-old Miles Halter, who transfers out of public school and into his dad’s old boarding school, Culver Creek, in the hopes of finding a more exciting and adventurous way of living. He gets almost more than he asked for in the form of his roommate Chip “the Colonel,” and love interest, Alaska Young. From smoking to prank-pulling, Miles quenches his teenage thirst for rebellion while developing seemingly unbreakable friendships with his fellow rule-breakers.
What makes Looking for Alaska one of the best young adult novels on shelves today is not the typical angst-ridden plotline. The success of the story is in the depth of the themes presented throughout the novel. Miles identifies perfectly with the stereotype of the misfit teenager, making him not only relatable to the reader, but incredibly likeable in his blatantly honest narration. Green refuses to shy away from the adult themes present in teenagers’ lives, yet usually lacking in their literature. This offers a refreshingly realistic and honest view of the complexities of the emotions many teenagers have to deal with. The questions associated with life, death, life after death, and dealing with death during life are not only addressed, but violently confronted with and thoroughly explored.
Yet the novel is more than just a depressing search for reason and meaning. It opens as an easy-going read with an unexpected sense of humor. Miles’ dryness makes already funny situations all the more amusing. Green perfects the balance between amusement and profundity, making Looking for Alaska a satisfying read.
