Looking for Alaska- Summer Assignment Post 4

I chose to read this book because I read The Fault in our Stars, also by John Green, and loved it.  When I saw another John Green story was an option to read, I didn't even give the other books a second thought.  I had also heard good things about Looking for Alaska from friends and online reviews.  I knew I'd love the book and I wanted to make my summer reading as enjoyable as possible.

Like I said in my earlier post, I would recommend Looking for Alaska by John Green to anyone.  For people who like romance, there's romance.  For the people who like pranks, there are pranks.  For the people who like stories they can relate to, there's real issues that many people can relate to inside the book.  Sure, some guys may not like the romance side of the story, but it actually is a really good book (but then again, what John Green book isn't?).  

If the people that don't like romantic stories look past that one small detail, I think everyone would like it.  There are some points brought out within the book that really make you think about your views, other people's views, and how they relate and how they're similar.  John Green does a really good job of incorporating a lot of religions when talking about religions and a lot of societal issues when talking about societal issues, but he never sways towards one viewpoint or another.  Everyone can agree with at least one point or thought brought out in the book and you may be able to form new opinions after reading.  

I think that if I did have to recommend this book to one group of people in particular, I would recommend it to people who enjoy romance, laughing, and like thinking about the deeper meaning in things, not just thinking at surface level.  

I just want to mention this one point:  the entire story does not require deep thinking.  Most of the story is easy to understand and a light read.  So don't be turned away by me saying that there's deeper meaning and you just want a story to read, not a story you have to think about.  There's a good balance.

Looking for Alaska- Summer Assignment Post 3

Looking for Alaska by John Green could be a book for anyone.  Some people may not necessarily like the storyline, but there are so many great things that John Green points out about friends, family, religion, and just life in general that really made me think.

For example, this quote really made me think about how we, as human beings, spend our lives.  Alaska Young was explaining her views to Pudge when she said, "'Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia....  You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it.  You just use the future to escape the present'" (Green 54).  I really think that what John Green points out about life in this quote is true.  All of us think about the future and I think most of us don't really focus on what's going on in this point in time.  We all have aspirations.  Maybe you're in a race and you want to get a certain time, but you don't think you can do it.  You think to yourself, "I'll get there eventually" but you don't push yourself to work really hard so that 'eventually' is months from now instead of years from now.

Maybe you're not into deep, thought-provoking quotes.  Maybe you just like something light-hearted and funny.  When Pudge and The Colonel were talking about Alaska, The Colonel didn't agree with what Pudge was saying so he said, "'I just did some calculations, and I've been able to determine that you're full of shit'" (Green 78).  I don't know why this was so funny to me, but it was.  I guess witty comments like this one are always funny.  Maybe they are for you, too?

If you'd like to read some more Looking for Alaska quotes to see why you'd be interested in the book, you can click on the link here.

Looking for Alaska- Summer Assignment Post 2

     What does Miles "Pudge" Halter want?  He wants to find himself.  He wants to fit in at his new school and a girlfriend.  But not just any girlfriend.  An Alaska Young girlfriend.  There's just one small problem.  She already has a boyfriend that she loves.

     What does Alaska want?  She wants to escape the labyrinth of suffering.  There's just one small problem.  She doesn't know how to do that.  There's always pain and there's always suffering.

     What does The Colonel want?  He just wants to have a good time, but not get expelled from the school.  The Colonel would also like to be happy with his girlfriend by not continuously fighting.

     There are many themes that are appearing in Looking for Alaska.  To name a couple, there are self discovery and that people are complex and cannot be fully understood.  Pudge went out to Culver Creek to discover his "Great Perhaps".  He wanted to know who he was and see what life had to offer him.  Pudge was in love with Alaska, even though he only knew a little about her life.  After the crash, he realized he didn't know some of the most important events in her life.  Pudge then realized why she did all the things she did.  He found her mysterious and that was what made her intriguing.

     Looking for Alaska is structured in a very unique way.  Instead of chapters, each event is categorized by "days before" and "days after" Alaska's death.  In the beginning of the book, you didn't know what Pudge was counting down to.  As the days lessen and lessen, you start to predict what is going to happen.  Then, finally, you get to "the day after" and your heart just drops.  The entire mood of the story changes.

Looking for Alaska- Summer Assignment Post 1

     It's not hard to tell that one of the main characters in Looking for Alaska by John Green is Alaska, hence the title of the book.  But who are the other characters?  The story is told in the point of view of Miles "Pudge" Halter, the new kid at Culver Creek High School in Alabama.  During his first day arriving at his new school as a junior, he befriends his roommate, Chip Martin, aka "The Colonel".  Not long after meeting The Colonel, he is introduced to Alaska Young, the breathtaking and rebellious girl on campus.  Pudge has feelings for her almost instantaneously.

     In order to smoke cigarettes without getting caught by The Eagle (the code name for the school's principal), the friends go off to the "Smoking Hole" by the river, where they believe The Eagle can't smell their smoke.  During this time, Alaska says, "'Y'all smoke to enjoy it.  I smoke to die'" (Green 44).  After reading these words, I just knew that something was going to happen to Alaska.  And I was right.

     Alaska dies in a car crash about halfway through the book.  Everyone is devastated.  Everyone thinks it was an accident...except Pudge and The Colonel.  They were the only two with Alaska that night.  And they're not convinced that it was an accident.  Maybe it was a suicide?  Maybe it really was an accident and they're just over thinking things?  To find out the answer, the two set off gathering anything and everything they can that relates to her death.

     Were they responsible for her death since they let her out driving, even though she was drunk and upset?  Or are they just putting too much on themselves while trying to cope with their best friend's death?  I think the answer to these questions is yes.  Yes, they shouldn't have let Alaska go out in the middle of the night while intoxicated and emotionally upset.  But, yes, they are putting too much on themselves.  If it really was a suicide, then there was nothing they could've done to save her.


    In a way, this book reminds me of the book, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.  Sure, in Jay Asher's book you know it's a suicide and in John Green's you're trying to figure out if it is or not, but they're both trying to figure out why the character died.

How does R. J. Palacio Write?

The book, Wonder switches characters during every part.  The first part was written in August's point of view, the second in his sister, Via's, the third in his friend Summer's, and so on and so on until part eight where it goes back to August.  I think this is very interesting because you get to see how everyone around August feels about his situation and how it affects them.

R. J. Palacio also writes according to how that person would talk, which is interesting.  For example, when the book is written in August's point of view, there are a lot of grammatical errors such as, "I think she's too busy taking care of me and Via" where instead it should be Via and me (Palacio 4).  I think Palacio chose to write this way because August is a 5th grader, and you wouldn't expect a 5th grader to have perfect grammar.

Via's section is free of grammatical errors.  Via is a freshman in high school so she's expected to know more grammatical conventions and is less likely to have those errors.

I think it is really interesting how based on the character's age, she writes differently.  It makes you feel like the characters are real and the whole book as a whole is more realistic.  I think her writing was really well done.

Auggie Hates School

"'You have to go back to school.  Everyone hates school sometimes.  I hate school sometimes.  I hate my friends sometimes.  That's just life, Auggie.  You want to be treated normally, right?  This is normal!  We all have to go to school sometimes despite the fact that we have bad days, okay?'  'Do people go out of their way to avoid touching you, Via?' he answered, which left me momentarily without an answer.  'Yeah, right.  That's what I thought.  So don't compare your bad days at school to mine, okay?'  'Okay, that's fair,' I said.  'But it's not a contest about whose days suck the most, Auggie.  The point is that we all have to put up with the bad days"  (Palacio 114).

While reading Wonder, I came across this quote and it really made me stop and think about it.  I never realized how true it was, until I read this.   We all have bad days.  Its inevitable.  We all have those days where nothing seems to go our way.  Maybe something embarrassing happened.  Maybe your friend is mad at you.  Whatever it is, we all have those days where we just want to hide from the world.  What gets us through them is knowing that tomorrow is another day with a clean slate.

Auggie takes his sister's advice and goes back to school.  He ignores the kids that were talking bad about him, and gets through it.  Now, he's happy in school.

About the Author

As you may know, I began to read Wonder by R. J. Palacio a few weeks ago.  R. J. Palacio is an American author, who's career has just taken off with her hit Wonder.  She has not written any other books, besides Wonder.  She has always wanted to write, she just had to wait for the perfect opportunity for her career to launch.  After 20 years of being an art director and a book jacket designer, Palacio realized that she had to initiate that "perfect time" herself.  She considers home in NYC with her husband, two children, and two dogs.

For more information, visit her website.