Seriously, is this guy a human being, or is he just an incredibly awesome writing machine, gaurenteed to write bestsellers every time he puts down his pen?
The first thing that stands out in Looking for Alaska is the division of the book into two parts. The first few hundred pages of the book are in a section called "Before," with each chapter labeled as "X number of days before." Then, after the event that throws everything the characters in the book know of of whack occurs, we move into the "After" section of the novel.
As with many if not all of the John Green books, the story centres around one major tipping point in the plot that plays with the protagonists emotions and forces them to rethink the world. This happens once again in Looking for Alaska, when due to a certain event our protagonist's life is thrown into a tailspin.
God, not being able to spoil the book is frustrating!
This is why I think that the "Before" and "After" scheme is really quite clever as an interesting way to clearly mark the change in the protagonists worldview. However, I've lingered on a trifle when I should have been giving you the whole picture, so let's move on.
The overall plot of the book was interesting, the writing meaningful as always. To give you an extremly quick overview of said plot, the protagonist of the novel goes off to a school away from home to spend his year. There, he learns to let his wild side go free under the guidance of his new friends. He has his world most rocked, however, when he meets Alaska- a beautiful, wild, and free girl who throws both his life and his heart around with reckless abandon.
A compelling plot, to be sure. Dispite this, the plot was not what most stood out in this novel.
To me, the most powerful aspect of John's writing is his ability to create complex and three-dimensional characters. You begin to understand the people in his worlds. You find that you can relate to them, and that's what really makes John's writing shine.
This book explored that idea once again, with Alaska and the protagonist shining. This made for another great book, as I believe that John Green is at his best when he writes with his characters in mind as opposed to plot. Looking for Alaska, The Fault in our Stars, and Paper Towns were all focused intensely on the experiences of the characters, and all of those books were beyond wonderful. An Abundance of Katherines, while also a respectable book well worth a read, was less character driven- or really strongly driven at all, I wouldn't say- and so didn't quite stack up to the other three aforementioned books. Having said that, I really hope that I didn't previously post a review of that book stating the opposite. It's been too long since I've posted on this blog!
In the end you may rest assured, good reader, that Looking for Alaska is a great book. I mean, I just compared it to Paper Towns and The Fault in our Stars! What do you expect?
Make sure to give this book a try if you haven't already. If you don't like the book, call me up and I'll personally reimburse you. I have that much faith that you'll like it.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
-Mark
As with many if not all of the John Green books, the story centres around one major tipping point in the plot that plays with the protagonists emotions and forces them to rethink the world. This happens once again in Looking for Alaska, when due to a certain event our protagonist's life is thrown into a tailspin.
God, not being able to spoil the book is frustrating!
This is why I think that the "Before" and "After" scheme is really quite clever as an interesting way to clearly mark the change in the protagonists worldview. However, I've lingered on a trifle when I should have been giving you the whole picture, so let's move on.
The overall plot of the book was interesting, the writing meaningful as always. To give you an extremly quick overview of said plot, the protagonist of the novel goes off to a school away from home to spend his year. There, he learns to let his wild side go free under the guidance of his new friends. He has his world most rocked, however, when he meets Alaska- a beautiful, wild, and free girl who throws both his life and his heart around with reckless abandon.
A compelling plot, to be sure. Dispite this, the plot was not what most stood out in this novel.
To me, the most powerful aspect of John's writing is his ability to create complex and three-dimensional characters. You begin to understand the people in his worlds. You find that you can relate to them, and that's what really makes John's writing shine.
This book explored that idea once again, with Alaska and the protagonist shining. This made for another great book, as I believe that John Green is at his best when he writes with his characters in mind as opposed to plot. Looking for Alaska, The Fault in our Stars, and Paper Towns were all focused intensely on the experiences of the characters, and all of those books were beyond wonderful. An Abundance of Katherines, while also a respectable book well worth a read, was less character driven- or really strongly driven at all, I wouldn't say- and so didn't quite stack up to the other three aforementioned books. Having said that, I really hope that I didn't previously post a review of that book stating the opposite. It's been too long since I've posted on this blog!
In the end you may rest assured, good reader, that Looking for Alaska is a great book. I mean, I just compared it to Paper Towns and The Fault in our Stars! What do you expect?
Make sure to give this book a try if you haven't already. If you don't like the book, call me up and I'll personally reimburse you. I have that much faith that you'll like it.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
-Mark
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