Friday, September 12, 2014

Looking for Alaska-Book Review

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"Looking for Alaska" by John Green
About: "Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.
After. Nothing is ever the same" -From Goodreads

My Review: An interesting book. It was very sad, and depressing, but still thought provoking. I had never read any of John Green's books before I read this one, though I enjoy watching his vlogbrothers videos on youtube on a regular basis. I finally decided to try reading one of his books, and I chose to read this one mostly because I heard a lot about a surprising plot twist at the end, but when it came I didn't find it all that surprising, or amazing, as I had been led to believe. If I had been aware of how much explicit content that is in this book I would surely have skipped it.

It wasn't really worth reading in my opinion, but at the same time it wasn't a total waste. I enjoyed the deep conversations and thoughts that the characters had in this book, and some interesting thought provoking points were raised. I kept thinking about this book for several days afterwards, but it kind of depressed me.

Questionable Content: There was so much questionable content in this book, that if it was a movie and included everything in the book I think it would get an R rating. Swearing, drinking, smoking, drugs, and sex, fill this book from cover to cover. It was pretty disgusting.  

I give "Looking for Alaska" ★★☆☆☆=It was okay. The only reason this book didn't get a one star rating is due to the intellectual side of the book, and John Green's wonderful writing style. Though I am sorely tempted to leave it at one star because of the gross amount of the questionable content. So my advice is you probably want to skip it.
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Rating System:

                                               ☆☆☆☆☆=It was terrible! I didn't finish it.
                                               ★☆☆☆☆=I did not enjoy it.
                                               ★★☆☆☆=It was okay.
                                               ★★★☆☆=It was pretty good.
                                               ★★★★☆=I really enjoyed it.
                                               ★★★★★=It was Amazing!
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What about you? Have you read "Looking for Alaska" or any other books by John Green? What did you think? Please leave a comment, I always love hearing from you!

7 comments:

  1. I actually liked Looking for Alaska, but it's been ages since I read it! I know I haven't really enjoyed any other John Green books since.

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  2. Ooops clicked too soon, haha. I agree about a lot of the content, I remember some really inappropriate stuff in it. I don't shy away from reading such things, but I do try to read MORE books that are a lot cleaner.

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    1. I prefer not to fill my head with stuff like that if I can help it, though this book still had some value. I'm not sure if I'll will be reading anymore of John Green's books anytime soon though.

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  3. Ugh, John Green. . . .

    I have not read tjis, but I did read both "The Fault in Our Stars" and "Paper Towns". Both I could have liked, but it was like you said: cover to cover objectionable content. Disgusting is right. Also, he seems a little too sure of his own 'brilliance'.

    Very good review, Andrea. : )

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    1. Yeah Ghost, cover to cover of objectionable content. :( You can't deny that he is quite knowledgeable but I agree with you when you say that he is maybe a little too sure of his own 'brilliance'. Thanks, Ghost!

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  4. I've thought about and tried reading several of John Green's books because I've heard they are such great stories, but I just cant get past all the trashy stuff that gets thrown into the great story. The Fault in Our Stars is the only one I've ever started, but I really didn't like Hazel's voice, not to mention some *other things*

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    1. I read the first chapter of The Fault in Our Stars, but the story wasn't really hooking me so I moved on to something else. If John Green makes a habit of adding trashy stuff to all of his books then I'm not sure that I really want to read any of his other books. It's not that I'm not comfortable with that sort of content, I just don't really want to fill my mind with junk, what comes in, comes back out.

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