Looking For Alaska by John Green

source

isbn: 0-525-47506-0

published: 2005

read from: 6/11-16/2014

nails: they were whit gel then gold glitter to cover chips!

have you heard of that one show Rick & Morty on Cartoon Network? 

there's an episode where Morty shrinks Rick to go inside drunk Santa Claus so he can help fix the broken amusement park. inside drunk Santa. yep!

if there was a safe way to do this and get inside John Green's brain (creepy!) i would LOVE too!!! man is a friggin genius. 

Ive read all of his books except 1 (the let it snow one i believe...only because its a book with other writers...and for some stupid reason im protesting it!) any who, i have to say TFIOS still takes number one but this one is a close second! followed by Paper Towns (which i will actually re-read) then the other two (Will Grayson Will Grayson & An Abundance of Katherine's. those are kinda like eh... to me personally!) 

any who, lets get to the summary before i spoil it all!
Looking for Alaska is about Miles "Pudge" Halter's quest for "seeking his great perhaps." -{François Rabelais}

he ends up leaving his home and public school life in Florida in exchange for his "great perhaps." he transfers out to his fathers private school out in Alabama. 

once out there he comes across his roommate Colonel, Alaska and Takumi (of course others follow.) 

in this book JG makes you fall in love with these characters like if you knew them personally. from the pranks they all pull, to the smoking and drinking; its all great until you know, it isnt. 

ill write what it says in the back of the book because there is no better way to describe it.  

"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" {Francois Rabelasi, 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 in to her world, launches him in to the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.  

after. nothing is ever the same." 

i mean whaaat!?? 

granted, i didnt read what the book was about at least i dont remember but if it was an impulse buy (which it wasnt) its okay because JG has yet to let me down. 

and nooooow, for spoilers!!!....

this is what i get for waiting so long before writing a post! shitty memory! >.< 

okay lets get to it, you dont want spoilers.....stop now!

seriously, you have been warned!

Miles (Pudge from here on out), like it states above, leaves to CC to look for his great perhaps. he ends up meeting the Colonel (which btw, when they describe him, its not at all what i was thinking.) Colonel lets him know right away he wont be his gateway to the cool kids. or any kids. he's on his own. which i mean, hey!, luck because colonel hates the rich and well given that they're roomies, they're set to become good friends (this is me using my "its a YA book, it has to happen" logic). they get their stuff ready and this is where my mind draws blanks because im not sure if Alaska comes to them or they go to her. (way to go les!...sorry!) 

within his first few days, Pudge gets "kidnapped" in the middle of the night by Kevin (i think) and some other boys. they take him to the lake and drop him in it...harmless prank. except that they taped his hands and legs down. serious damage had he not floated up. when word get to the colonel (not that it traveled...but you know dramatic effect as my sister calls it!) it starts a prank war. 

it leads to the gang dying the main dude's hair a blue blue that wont wash off. 

BUT even then this prank was AFTER they had put a busted pipe in Alaska's room ruining all of her books. 

(i loved that about her! she had books everywhere!!! sorta like me! and i just got a new bookcase soo eeeek!)

any who, the whole book itself is just something you basically want to memorize which is why theres a flag in every other page buuuut....

to get to the point..., Pudge is in love with Alaska. deeply in love. but she is in love with her boyfriend so he moves on with Lara after a hidden camping trip. during that camping trip Alaska reveals some information about her mother that her friends did not know and why she chooses to not go home during the holidays. 

skip to the night before "it" happens. 

the 3 of them, Pudge, colonel and Alaska, are all drinking in her room. everyone is a little wasted and she suggests that they should play a little game of truth or dare. Pudge is up first and after all the wishing and hoping, she dares him to kiss her. they end up on her bed kissing but before anything can happen she says that its "....to be continued" and they both fall asleep.  

that is until the phone rings and she comes back in to the room crying hysterically asking them to distract the Eagle so she can escape. 

of course they help her even though she's drunk. 

and that is the last time we see or hear anything about Alaska. 

she kills herself. 

Alaska saw her mother die of an aneurysm at a very young age. instead of calling 911 once it was over (she thought her mom was just resting once she was done convulsing) she just sits there with her mom until her father gets home. she has been carrying that guilt with her for years. 

her boyfriend had called her the day after her mothers death anniversary (which was their month-aversary) and she freaks out because she forgot her mothers anniversary; hence her freaking out and needing to leave.  

its never solved whether she intentionally killed herself or if it was on accident but based on the evidence and what the cop states, it seems pretty obvious it was suicide. 

of course the guys feel guilty. had they stopped her or maybe offered to go with her she would still be alive. 

for a while they feel really guilty until they realize that there was nothing anyone would have been able to do for her. 

of course they end the school year with a pretty great prank in honor of Alaska. 

and they learn that you know, eventually it all fades but memories are forever. 

i guess you can say SPOILERS OVER!!!!

i wasnt expecting what happened to happen. 

i only found out because i Wikipedia'd the book. so i wasnt super shocked when it happen although since i didnt know the details, i was still surprised. 

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

john green is a genius!!!

when is the next book out!!

and also! just FYI! this book was actually supposed to be made in to a movie! buuuut it got shelved i dont remember why (looks like its still happening though!!!) however! i have also read online that Papertowns is the next one up to be made in to a movie!!!

eeeekkk!!!

before i leave you though, here are some things i highlighted and underlined and tagged....as always! :D

"She laughed. "Oh God no. I've maybe read a third of 'em. but im going to read them all. i call it my life's library. Every summer since i was little, ive gone to garage sales and bought all the books that looked interesting." -Alaska {pg 20} this is when i knew i loved her!

"You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will b, and imagining that the future keeps you going, but you never do it. you just use the future to escape the present." - Alaska {pg 54} 

"so i walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, i was drizzle and she was the hurricane." -Pudge {pg 88}

"i finally decided that people believed in the afterlife because they couldnt bear not to." -Pudge {pg 100}

"...Because no one can catch the motherfucking fox" -Takumi {pg 104}

"there comes a time when we realize that our parent cannot save themselves or save us, that everyone who wades through time eventually gets dragged out to sea by the undertow - that, in short, we are all going." -Pudge {pg 120

"when you stopped wishing things wouldn't fall apart, you'd stop suffering when they did."-Pudge (i believe) {pg 198}

"because i will forget her, yes. that which came together will fall apart imperceptibly slowly, and i will forget, but she will forgive my forgetting, just as i forgive her for forgetting me and the colonel and everyone but herself and her mom in these last moments she spent as a person.......(and it continues longer...)" Pudge {pg 219}

and basically the last paragraph of page 220 where its starts at "when adults say "teenagers think...." 

i love this book.

John Green, you are a genius!

thanks for reading!