Written by: Aryan Thagunna - 2022003, Grade X
Posted on: 22 November, 2020
Young Adult literature has always fascinated me. Always might be an overstatement but lately I’ve been engrossed in this genre for quite a while. From ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ to ‘ Lord of the Flies’, I think they’re absolute masterpieces. Probably it is because the characters and the story resembles me a lot. Whatever the reason is, when I came across Looking for Alaska, John Green (The writer) absolutely blew my mind.
For his junior year in high school, Miles Halter, a teenager who has no friends, decides to attend Culver Creek Boarding School as a family legacy. Miles has an addiction for people’s last words and one that has stuck with him is the renaissance poet Rabelais’ dying words, “I go to seek a great perhaps”. And that is exactly what Miles is doing in Culver Creek. Like a typical school there are cliques in Culver Creek but the most notable and the largest being the rich kids and the poor kids. Miles debuts in the latter with his roommate Colonel’s help. And soon enough he is part of a mini clique himself. There’s Pudge, the nickname his friends give Miles, Colonel, his brilliant but slightly insane roommate; Takumi, the Japanese kid with the Southern accent; and Alaska Young, “the hottest girl in all of human history.” His friends at Culver Creek introduce Miles to smoking, drinking and pranks between the two cliques all while dodging the prying eyes of the ‘Eagle’, headmaster of the School.
The book shows the experience that Culver Creek has to offer through Pudge’s eyes. His life in Culver Creek is centered around Alaska. Alaska is described as an unpredictable girl with a heart of gold for her friends and anger for her foes, incredibly attractive along with unmatched intelligence and having mixed feelings towards Pudge. Pudge explains “If people were rain I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.”
Pudge shows how hard it can be for someone to fit in especially in the teen years. A time when we feel everything is either going perfect or horribly wrong. A moment when we feel there are only a handful of people who understand us. Pudge and his group of friends reflect the life of every teen in one way or another. The crisis of not knowing the purpose of doing something, the crisis of not having friends you can rely on and especially the crisis of finding a place for yourself. Pudge struggles to show himself capable and grown up throughout the novel to win his friend’s trust or Alaska’s attention. Although the reason might be different, we have tried to act grown up at least once at one point in our lives. The sheer resemblance of the events and the feelings of the book attracts readers like us.
‘How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!”
“So what’s the labyrinth?” I asked her…
That’s the mystery, isn’t it? Is the labyrinth living or dying? Which is he trying to escape- the world or the end of it?”
The writer speaks a great deal about some sort of labyrinth. A labyrinth that has fascinated the likes of Alaska. We for sure don’t know what that labyrinth is. Is it referring to life or does it symbolize love and feelings? This becomes the topic of discussion in some part of the book and rather forces us to look at things in a different way. The puzzle becomes quite important as the book proceeds. We all are in a certain sort of labyrinth at various times of our lives. The characters in this book experience a labyrinth of guilt, love, friendship, and teenage life.
Speaking of characters, this book review would be incomplete without acknowledging the great work John Green has done with the characters. The intriguing back stories, the catchy nicknames and the impressive personality they all have. I have to admit that the book was a lot interesting just because of the nicknames. They were a common and small part of this novel but still count for the massive impact they have on the reader. Characters are the base of novels such as this one. What makes a character even better is when readers can relate to them. That is exactly what the characters here help us do. Relate. The teenage spirit is the most intriguing part about this novel. This limbo stage of life we teenagers are in, runs on the basis of friendship, loyalty, identity, meaning of everything around us and a wee bit of mischief. The book really sheds light into this.
The way the story unfolds, it isn’t predictable. Why are the people Looking for Alaska? Was she kidnapped? Lost? The book doesn’t give it away until the climax. That being said, the book isn’t hard to follow either. We can understand the happenings of the story. It sometimes meets and sometimes exceeds our expectations. We have suspense that makes us wanna read more b
