Looking for Alaska, Looking for a "Great Perhaps"

Looking For Alaska Review

By Sithmi

"If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane."

Miles Halter's whole life has been one long big non-event, until he meets Alaska Young. Gorgeous, clever and undoubtedly screwed up, Alaska draws Miles into her reckless world and irrevocably steals his heart. For Miles, nothing can ever be the same again.

John Green seems to somehow always incorporate the 'search for the meaning of life' vibe into his books and this is his first book. There's also the teenagers that are unrealistically smart and very deep or heavily invested in something. But that's a good thing. It's a niche he touches on. And it makes the novel interesting.

Alaska, the wild girl with a thing for drinking and smoking, is who we are searching for. She was smart and beautiful, and a tad mysterious. And I have feeling she's searching for something herself. But what? I'm not sure. A purpose in life, most likely. She is an enigma.

Miles Halter aka Pudge, the last words expert, decides to go 'seek a Great Perhaps' and finds something, albeit he doesn't know what this 'Perhaps' is or what he should expect. He finds friends and a new part of life. Far from his bland life are; rule breaking things that seem to excite and hidden mysteries along with emotions he hadn't felt yet.

He becomes rebellious to an extent, smokes and drinks, plays pranks, smiles and laughs, basically experiences. He even falls in love, unrequited love however. They enjoy life and understand it. They battle sadness, grief, anger and a lot of regret. And with the regret and self entitled obligation of friendship comes a mad search for justification, for Alaska.

By the end of the book, which is my favourite part, Colonel, Alaska's best friend, and Pudge give us all closure for what happened. The madly driven search finally comes to an end once Pudge and Colonel go through every aspect of the accident, and seemingly are satisfied with what they find. We won't know whether it was on purpose or not. Because not all answers are revealed. And that's okay.

Reading Pudge's paper, gives us a sort of closure and makes us sad. A happy sad. Because you know it's okay, but the regret lingers, the sadness lingers, the night still lingers in our minds. But he writes his way out of the labyrinth with forgiveness.

If you want to know what happened, you need to read it. Sorry but I don't spoil, at least not some parts.