Looking For Alaska By John Green

Miles Halter, begins his journey to attend Culver Creek Preparatory High School in Alabama, leaving his Florida home. Miles grew up in Florida, with his parents. He always had a hunger to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father had attended Culver Creek boarding school when he was growing up. Looking For Alaska was written by John Green. Miles, leaves behind his few friends and very little social life to begin new friendships and experiences. Miles’s main goal is to discover who he really is.
Miles was a quiet young man who just completed high school. He loved reading biographies of writers and he had a curiosity about him that wanted to discover what life had to offer him out there. His parents were not keen on the idea of him leaving to go to boarding school. When they
asked him why he was going, he replied “So this guy, Francois Rabelais, his last words were I go to seek a Great Perhaps. That’s why I’m going. So I don’t have to wait until I die to start seeking a Great Perhaps.” (Green 5). “Don’t worry, I’s a-gonna learn how t’talk right Southern.” (Green 7). He was trying to make a joke out of the language he would pick up when he moved to boarding school, to lighten the sadness that his parents felt because he was leaving.
As Miles settles into his new life at boarding school, he begins to make some new friends.
He is introduced to a girl, named Alaska and begins to develop feelings for her. Alaska is a troubled girl who has problems as a result of her mother’s death. She drinks and smokes. Miles’s response to all this was, “God, if I get in trouble my parents will kill me.” (Green 17). He was concerned that he might get kicked off of campus, but his friends assured him that they would not find out. As time went on, Miles was better known on campus as Pudge, a nickname his friends put on him. With the new friends that Pudge had made, he began participating in drugs and alcohol with his friends. One evening Pudge, Alaska and some other friends were together drinking and. They asked himPudge if he ever played Truth or Dare?. “Never played it”, he said. (Green 130). Alaska asked him the first question and the result was the two of them making out. Everyone in the room had passed out or fell asleep. Alaska remembered, that yesterday was her mother’s anniversary of her death and she had forgotten to put flowers on her grave. She got in the car and left. She was too drunk to drive. She crashed the car and was
killed.
Everyone was shocked by the news of Alaska’s death. “I think she’s playing a dumb prank”, said Miles. (Green 141). She was always playing tricks on everyone and he thought this was just another joke she was playing. “We should have stopped her.” Pudge said. (Green 145). Pudge knew she was upset that night, and talked about her mother’s death. He wished he could turn back time to change how that night ended. He would have taken her away from the wheel of the car.
I think this was a great book. I think the message that the author was trying to portray, is what the consequences are of making the decision to be careless and drink and drive. This was a good book. It was not a boring book. I got very much into the characters, and wanted to read on to see what was going to happen next. The ending was sad and I didn’t really know at the end whether Alaska had committed suicide or was killed as a result of the drinking and driving.