Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Rating: â 4/5
Date Read: 2014/04/05
Pages: 221
Itâs easy to lament societyâs increased obsession with mediocre dystopian love stories, such as [b:Divergent|13335037|Divergent (Divergent, #1)|Veronica Roth|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328559506s/13335037.jpg|13155899] and whatever else kids (and people who are far too old to be kids) are reading these days. Sometimes, serious readers want to throw up their hands and completely lose faith in humanity. But do not go gentle into that good night, for John Green is writing meaningful books for kids (and people who are far too old to be kids), and in that there is hope.
Whatâs wonderful about Green is that he captures what it feels like to be a teenager, when everything feels, overwhelmingly, as if itâs happening right now, and the stakes feel so much higher than they have any right to. The beauty of being a teenager is that everything is either brand new or far off in the future, and that makes it easy to be hyper-present by default. The sadness, of course, is that teenagers arenât as grown up as they want to be, a fact that no amount of dark eyeliner, body piercings, and shouting matches can change.
Looking for Alaska is set at a boarding high school in Alabama, and deals with many of the activities that teenagers have been known to engage in from time to time. Thereâs smoking, underage drinking, prank-playing, and sex, which may make some puritanical parents keep their kids from reading it (probably in favor of emotionally abuse sparkly vampire fiction, because that doesnât do anything crazy like question patriarchy). John Green takes his characters seriously, but doesnât act as if theyâre just younger adults. One particularly effective aspect of his writing is that his characters are at once precocious and sophomoric; this adult reader both remembered feeling the way they felt, and realized that they had such strong feelings and impulses because they havenât really developed into full-fledged people yet.
I loved [b:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462], and I think Iâll continue to pick up Greenâs books when Iâm in the mood for a quick but emotionally-weighty read. While sparkly vampires will likely only appeal to the Abercrombie-aged crowd (do kids still wear that, or is there some new aspirational brand that kids are into these days? Would my point be better made if I mentioned Snapchat? Also, can someone please explain what Snapchat is?), stories that deal with what it means to be human are truly appropriate for all ages.
(Kids, if youâre reading this, do yourself a favor and listen to this over and over and over again until youâre sick of it, which you never ever will be because no one gets sick of The Velvet Underground. Note: The Velvet Underground was brilliant, but Nico annoyed the shit out of everyone, so remember not to say too many nice things about Nico. Then, pick up Trout Mask Replica, on vinyl if you can. Warning: your parents might wonder if youâre on drugs, but itâs worth it. You can thank me later.)
