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Looking for Alaska by John Green
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Looking for Alaska (original 2005; edition 2005)

by John Green

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
19,003751249 (4.06)4
Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash.
Member:tjaeger
Title:Looking for Alaska
Authors:John Green
Info:New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2005.
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Looking for Alaska by John Green (2005)

  1. 60
    The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (HatsForMice)
  2. 40
    On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta (thesundaybookreport)
  3. 51
    An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (mad.)
    mad.: this his john green's first book and although it has a completely different plot and characters it has the same style as an Abundance of Katherines
  4. 62
    The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (kaledrina)
  5. 30
    The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (Cecilturtle)
  6. 30
    Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (fyrefly98)
    fyrefly98: More average-boy-meets-life-changing-girl.
  7. 20
    Can't Get There from Here by Todd Strasser (Dainichi-Goddess)
  8. 20
    The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (BookshelfMonstrosity)
  9. 20
    Paper Towns by John Green (chwiggy)
  10. 32
    Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (wegc)
    wegc: Both are about a teen leaving home, trying to broaden their horizons, trying new things.
  11. 10
    Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers (kissthestarsxx)
  12. 10
    White Noise by Don DeLillo (tootstorm)
    tootstorm: The place to start with one of the American literary monoliths of the 20th century. Green takes a lot of influence--good influence--from DeLillo's stylistic uniquities and adapts it for a YA audience, leaving him arguably with a catalogue as intellectually important and influential for future generations.… (more)
  13. 00
    To Jaykae: Life Stinx by Jean Davies Okimoto (thesundaybookreport)
  14. 00
    Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde (curioussquared)
  15. 00
    Everybody Sees the Ants by A. S. King (kaledrina)
  16. 11
    Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A. S. King (kaledrina)
  17. 00
    Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (bluenotebookonline)
  18. 00
    Undone by Brooke Taylor (kissthestarsxx)
  19. 00
    Hard Land by Benedict Wells (Aludii)
  20. 01
    Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard (kaledrina)

(see all 21 recommendations)

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» See also 4 mentions

English (733)  Spanish (6)  Swedish (3)  French (2)  German (2)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  Dutch (1)  Hungarian (1)  Catalan (1)  All languages (750)
Showing 1-5 of 733 (next | show all)
School
  BooksInMirror | Feb 19, 2024 |
Book two for Pilgrimage Book Club. A young adult book but with a thoughtful look at the meaning of life and what happens after we die. KIRKUS REVIEWThe Alaska of the title is a maddening, fascinating, vivid girl seen through the eyes of Pudge (Miles only to his parents), who meets Alaska at boarding school in Alabama. Pudge is a skinny (?irony? says his roommate, the Colonel, of the nickname) thoughtful kid who collects and memorizes famous people?s last words. The Colonel, Takumi, Alaska and a Romanian girl named Lara are an utterly real gaggle of young persons, full of false starts, school pranks, moments of genuine exhilaration in learning and rather too many cigarettes and cheap bottles of wine. Their engine and center is Alaska, given to moodiness and crying jags but also full of spirit and energy, owner of a roomful of books she says she?s going to spend her life reading. Her center is a woeful family tragedy, and when Alaska herself is lost, her friends find their own ways out of the labyrinth, in part by pulling a last, hilarious school prank in her name. What sings and soars in this gorgeously told tale is Green?s mastery of language and the sweet, rough edges of Pudge?s voice. Girls will cry and boys will find love, lust, loss and longing in Alaska?s vanilla-and-cigarettes scent. (Fiction. YA)
  bentstoker | Jan 26, 2024 |
Not nearly as good as [b:An Abundance of Katherines|49750|An Abundance of Katherines|John Green|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1211230733s/49750.jpg|48658]. Too much angst. Not enough humor. ( )
  Treebeard_404 | Jan 23, 2024 |
An exceptional book that I have no problem pushing on others. Here are characters that pull you in, that make you care what happens as well as how they react to the events in the story. A coming of age story like Catcher in the Rye, or Separate Peace. Throw in a little hopeless geek love with the friendships and out comes a wonderful story to think on for some time. You may even want to revisit later to enjoy again or see if your reading changes with future experience.
Cheers to those willing to pick up this fine book and explore the "Great Perhaps." ( )
  wvlibrarydude | Jan 15, 2024 |
This was such a great book. Told in two parts the "Before" and the "After". Throughout its pages we meet Miles "Pudge" Halter. He's recently left home and is now enrolled at Culver Creek a boarding school - seeking his "Great Perhaps." Looking for Alaska chronicles his ordinary life - leaving behind his former Florida high school and moving out to Alabama. There he finally feels that he fits in. He makes friends with the Colonel, his roommate, Lara Buterskaya, Takumi, and last but definitely not least, Alaska, the girl he immediately falls for.

Mr. Green does a superb job in really capturing the lives of these teens. Their feelings, emotions, actions were all relate-able, realistic, we have all been there, we have all done these same things. I really commend him for not only introducing us to these characters but, if you're anything like me, you'll feel like you not only got to know them by the end of the book, but that they're also your friends. Pudge, the Colonel, Alaska, Lara and Takumi are just living their lives - but doing whatever possible to amuse themselves along the way. Even if it means irritating their teachers, playing pranks on the Weekday Warriors and all without getting caught by "The Eagle", the dean. They learn about alcohol and just how good it can make them feel, and then exactly how bad it can also make them feel, they learn to smoke cigarettes and experience sex for the first time.

This is their story of growing up, of loving and losing, of dealing and eventually just living life to the fullest. Mr. Green's writing is witty, entertaining, thought-provoking. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. And I guarantee it will stay with you long after you are done with it. ( )
  b00kdarling87 | Jan 7, 2024 |
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» Add other authors (7 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
John Greenprimary authorall editionscalculated
Celi, LiaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
McCarthy, LindaCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Vandervoort, IreneDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Woodman, JeffNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Epigraph
Dedication
To my family: Sydney Green, Mike Green, and Hank Green
"I have tried so hard to do right."
(last words of President Grover Cleveland)
First words
The week before I left my family and Florida and the rest of my minor life to go to boarding school in Alabama, my mother insisted on throwing me a going-away party.
Quotations
How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!
If only we could see the string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can’t know better until knowing is useless.
When adults say, "Teenagers think they are invincible" with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we are never irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they are old. They get scared of losing and failing.
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.
When you're walking at night, do you ever get creeped out and even though it's silly and embarrassing you just want to run home?
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash.

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Average: (4.06)
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3.5 153
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