Author: John Green
Title: Looking for Alaska
Narrator: Jeff Woodman
Publication Info: [Grand Haven, Mich.] : Brilliance Audio, 2006.
Previously Read By Same Author: The Fault in Our Stars and An Abundance of Katherines.
Summary/Review:
This novel is told by a boy named Miles who transfers into a boarding school where he befriends his roommate “The Colonel” and falls in love with an intelligent, attractive, but impulsive young woman named Alaska. Like other works in the boarding school genre, the story involves a lot of drinking, smoking, sex, and pranks. But Miles also attends classes and his religious studies class in particular play’s an important role in helping Miles deal with some of the issues he’s facing in his life.
I don’t want to give anything away, but the novel turns on a tragic moment. On the downside, I found the book draws a little too much on the “women in refrigerators” trope and moral lessons that are a bit too pat. Overall though, I found it an accurate and entertaining depiction of teenage life.
Recommended books: The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, and Fade by Robert Cormier
Rating: **1/2
