I go to seek a Great Perhaps

I did it.  I finished a book!  Finally!  \o/  And I didn't even cheat by skipping ahead in the alphabet!  I stayed at G  and now I shall pat myself on the back  *pats*


Looking For Alaska
By: John Green

I started reading this book not really expecting much.  I mean, I'm in the middle of a book slump/I-don't-want-to-read-anything-at-all crisis after all, so I wasn't really all that excited to read this. And no, I did not know that this was an award winning book, and no, I have never heard anything about this book until I saw it for like 2 dollars on the Barnes and Noble bargain shelf on their website.  You can't pass up a deal like that!

The book starts out with Miles' parents throwing him a going away party.  Except it isn't much of a party and Miles knows that no one is going to show up.  It's one of the main reasons that he's decided that he wants to go to the Culver Creek Boarding School that his dad also went to.  The other reason is this; as a lover and collector of peoples last words before they die, Miles has come upon this one by Francois Rabelais, "I go to seek a Great Perhaps."  And that's what Miles wants. A Great Perhaps.  A great something that he can only find by being in someplace completely different, where no one knows him.
At the boarding school Miles quickly befriends his roommate who nickname is The Colonel.  The Colonel introduces him to Talkumi, Lara, and Alaska and Miles' life changes forever.
We follow Miles as he talks about his new life at school, the personalities of his new friends, his opinions on certain classes, planning pranks, and love. Centered around all of this is the ever interesting, always mysterious and sometimes moody Alaska Young.

Split into two parts, before, counting down from one hundred thirty six days, and after, readers know that something big and perhaps life changing is going to happen.  When it does happen, characters are left to deal with the aftermath.  Can they forgive themselves? Could it have been prevented?
And behind all of this is Miles' religion class which he uses to try to answer some of life's biggest questions along with the help of his famous last words.  Green handles all these situations like a pro without ever becoming preachy or over philosophical.

Yes YES!  Read this book.  It is truly a wonderful book and I really, really enjoyed it.  I loved Miles' voice, and I loved the crazy and impulsive Alaska, and I loved the ridiculously short but uncompromisingly loyal Colonel.


THE END.