How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?

books:

	• Looking For Alaska John Green, 2005 - 160 pages average customer review:based on 91 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

I love this book!!!!

This book is esitially about a lot of messed up kids bumbling their way through a private school. The story centers on a Boy named Miles who memorizes last words, Miles decides that he needs a change from his boring and pointless high school creaer so far so he dicides to venture into the "Great Perhaps" and look for grander meaning at a bording school. There he meets Alaska Young a sexy and screwed up girl who opens up Miles eyes to the world and strips him of his innocence. She finds him his first girlfriend, gives him his first real drink, gets him hooked on cigretts, and is his first love.
What makes this book so good is that it's actually about smart kids going through high school who's only thoughts aren't what there wearing to prom, but instead about the world and who they are and what they're living. The author dosen't try and turn teenagers into air-heads or children, but instead examines what's actually like to be 17. The confison with the world and what it wants of you, the diser to rebel, and the feelings of responsiblity that you are just truly growing into.

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Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska by John Green is a coming-of-age novel.Miles Halter,a 16-year old from florida leaves for alabama.He has an interest in memorizing last words of people before their death.The last words of Francois Rabelais were" I go to seek Great Perhaps".With those words Miles chooses to attend Culver Creek,a boarding school.He left with no friends with a hope to make friends.He first meets his roommate Chip,also known as the colonel.He is basically the leader of his group.The group is Chip,Alaska,Takumi,and Lara.He gets this thing for Alaska,she is a funny yet screwed up girl,but she loves her boyfriend.Alaska hooks Miles up with Lara,who becomes his first girlfriend.He tries new,but not great things.He starts to smoke and drink.After a night of pranks and drinks.He thinks he is involved in a love triangle with Lara and Alaska.The next morning they are hit hard when they find out Alaska died.They then bond together like never before to try and figure out what happened.Along the way through the tough times and the research.He finds himself.He finds what he was looking for.He also realizes he will never know her last words.
I enjoyed this book.I would recommend this book to any teenager.It deals with issues of teens including love,smoking,drinking,and making friends.

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the labrynth

I loved this book! At first, I wasn't hooked. It was just a story about a kid that didn't fit in and had some strange obsession with last words. As the story progressed, I realized that I could relate to the characters and find traces of my own best friends in the book too. Its entirely modern and gets teens to think about important questions with out all the boring-ness that some other books use. I love the characters, the questions it asked, and the realness that Green didn't try to hide.

Not worth a major literary prize

This novel is targeted for a young adult audience. I bought it because it won the Michael Prinz Award for Young Adult Literature and I am looking for new novels that I and the teachers in my English Department can use with our high school students. However, I found the writing style to be mediocre and the plot only marginally engaging. The protagonist is difficult to identify with because he has no problems that evoke sympathy in the reader. Even the supposed passion he harbors for the character Alaska leaves the reader cold.