Looking for Alaska

by John Green
275 pages
Reviewed by Dr. Russ Yocum

 
“That is the fear: I have lost something important, and I cannot find it, and I need it. It is fear like if someone lost his glasses and went to the glasses store and they told him that the world had run out of glasses and he would just have to do without” (Green, Kindle p.144 of 221).

 
Looking for Alaska is the coming-of-age story of Pudge, the Colonel, and Alaska Young. These boarding school teens yearn to discover their sense of self, cigarettes, and sex against a back-drop of master-mind high school pranks. Miles Halter, humorously nicknamed “Pudge” due to his slim physique, has led a life that he feels has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him hunger for the “Great Perhaps” ( the words of François Rabelais, poet) even more.

 
While on this road of discovery, we find that, in addition to adolescence, they must also deal with profound loss and regret.
is a laugh-a-minute read that manages todeal with serious subject-matter for teens with witticism and humor.

 
What one moment in your life changed EVERYTHING about your life, so that your entire life is now defined in terms of what came BEFORE that one moment and what came AFTER? What if you could change that moment? What if you could get back what was irrevocably lost? How would life
be different?