Looking for Alaska

"Just like that. From a hundred miles an hour to asleep in a nanosecond. I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not f---, like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together, in the most innocent sense of the phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. 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 a hurricane." – Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter, Looking For Alaska by John Green

I love books that are epic, profound even. Something that will make the cogs and gears in my brain move rapidly, and timely. How often do I come across a book so indulging as this? Not too many times, I’m afraid. Lucky for me, I came across a book—but not just any book filled with teenage angst and corny love tales, but a book filled with words that can ring through your mind, that no other words can even begin to touch upon. This book was not something you’d expect. It was something more. It explored the deep and dark meanings of love, friendship, betrayal, and the brokenness of life.

Looking For Alaska, as I said, was not something you’d expect to read. The characters were so insightful, that you’d be falling in love with each and every one of them. They pulled you, and captivated you, as if you were tied with a string around their imaginary fingers. Their words flowed melodically, and provoked your thoughts. The protagonist especially, Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter, had a very sweet yet strong way of speaking. He wasn’t what you’d anticipate to read from a teen-fiction love novel—someone like a popular jock, who’d always get the girl perhaps? No, he was just a regular teenage boy, ordinary, trying to find, not love, but in search for “The Great Perhaps”. As ordinary as he was, he was believable. Which is what the entire book was; believable. He went through tough times, and fun times, through making right decisions, and wrong ones, and times when he’d be confused about everything happening in his life. From the drugs, to concentrating hard in school, to staying out of trouble, and slowly falling in love with the most beautiful girl on campus—this book glides you through the life of what most teenagers in today’s society go through, in the eyes of this sixteen year old boy.

I really can’t say more about this book, but other than the fact that it made me see a new meaning to my life. The awestruck genius that John Green brought, leaves me speechless and reflective. It was like seeing one of those amazing movies, that when you left the theater, there was nothing more you could say, because there was not one word in the english language to describe how incredible it was. This was one of the most amazing books, I have ever read, and one of the very few books that got me to tears. I suggest that everyone out there goes and buys this book, just to experience the mind-boggling sense of it. I am still in amazement even as I type this mediocre review. But to borrow words from Alaska Young herself: “Pretty good? Sure, and bufriedos are pretty good. Sex is pretty fun. The sun is pretty hot. Jesus, it says so much about love and brokenness - it’s perfect.”

Also, by 2010 this award winning novel, is set to make it's way to the big screen! Take that all you Perks of Being a Wallflower fans.