28th Diamond: Looking for Alaska

It's been a while ;)

Finally here it goes! The review for John Green's Looking for Alaska.

cred: runswithwolvesshop.tumblr.com

One thing I realized from reading two John Green books, his books are always a realistic fiction. So realistic, I actually thought it was based on a true story. *Or maybe it is!* 

So far though, I find his stories really interesting. Emotional in a way, but still, good stories. Now let's start the plot review! And, as usual, SPOILER ALERT.



The story starts with our main character Miles Halter. He is....you can say an "almost" invisible person and even during his farewell party, only two people showed up. That's it. 

Why is he having a farewell party? Well...he is going to a boarding school to "seek a great perhaps" or you can say, to seek something new and hopefully, a fresh start. Well don't we all :) In the new boarding school, he started to make friends with his roommate, Chip Martin "The Colonel." Chip warned him that if he's trying to get popular, then Chip is not the person he should be friends with. Miles didn't took that warning. Instead he grew close to Chip and met his close friend, Alaska Young. And this is where the drama starts. 

cred: kreRlyn @deviantart

That is how Miles (now called Pudge by Alaska) described Alaska. He fell in love at first sight I suppose. She is beautiful, but crazy. Growing close to Chip "The Colonel" who happens to smoke quite a lot and has a drink called Ambrosia (which is a concoction of vodka and milk) in his refrigerator, Pudge started to smoke. It was hard for him, but he did it anyways. Alaska was a heavy smoker too. 

Moving on. Alaska was a heavy smoker and a drinker, yet she loves to read books, AND SHE IS SMART. LIKE REAL SMART. Pudge though, need guidance on several subjects. And of course, Alaska helps him. One day, Alaska and Pudge had a conversation where Alaska (and the reader) finds out that Pudge's talent is to remember a person's last words. He seriously memorized all of the historical role models' last words. IT'S CRAZY. Mostly because he reads a lot of biographies, but it is also his natural talent. 

Alaska was what you can say a playful girl, who you'll never know if she's serious or not. So one day, the group decided to do pranks, and they succeeded. The pranks involved deceiving the headmaster and others. There was even one time when everyone went home for the holidays and Pudge decided to stay to accompany Alaska. They actually went to people's room and look around and play with anything they find. Drinking alcohol, etc. Oh their group drinks a lot, and I really mean A LOT. Then one day, when they were drinking and celebrating, Alaska, "The Colonel", and Pudge was talking together in a room. It's more like playing really, rather than talking. I'm pretty sure they're all drunk. It did end up with Alaska (who already has a boyfriend) making out with Pudge. WOW. Then suddenly, Alaska was reminded of something and she panicked, saying that she needs to go somewhere. Pudge and "The Colonel" thought there was nothing wrong with it so they let her go. They were wrong. 

The next day, the news came out. Alaska Young is dead. 

She drove to a police car on the highway and died on the spot. Pudge went into a state of depression and emo-ness. That's how I'd describe it. It was quite long until he finally wakes up and decided to do another prank in honor of Alaska Young. They actually convinced the headmaster that the speaker for the upcoming event would be a professor from a university, which it was actually a hired stripper. So it worked. The stripper does his job and stripped in front of the whole school with the headmaster left in shock. 

After the prank, Pudge was still investigating the reason of Alaska's death. It was not until a few months later that he finally found out why. Of course, number one is that she was drunk. Second, she drove away because she forgot to bring flowers to her mother's graveyard, whose death anniversary was the day before. She felt so guilty that she decided to drive away in the night, just to bring flowers. Knowing this, Pudge finally decided  to let go. 

Fin

One thing Pudge and Alaska discussed that I'm interested in is the Labyrinth. Alaska was soo interested in one book where the author's quote is "How will I ever come out of this labyrinth?!" The labyrinth can symbolize a lot of things. Life, bitterness, agony, and so much more. At one point in the book, it is said that the only way to come out of the labyrinth is through forgiveness. You can pretty much guess what the labyrinth is from there. But still, it's an interesting idea. 

I also decided not to use too much colors since the mood of the book is quote sad and gloomy with all the alcohol, smoking, death, and so many other things. I wouldn't recommend a 13 year old to read this book. Perhaps 17-20 would be a more suitable age. And also, there are characters I didn't mention as usual. If I mentioned everything then no one would read the book. I will not do a chapter-per-chapter review. That would be too nice. 

A little bit about my life right now. 

I have been attending university for about 3 days. And so far, everything is going really well. I love the classes and the teachers were nice. The people are also nice, but I can't help the stares sometimes. It makes me feel uncomfortable in my own skin. Well, I get to meet 2000+ people everyday...it's hard for them not to stare I guess. How can you walk and not look at the person in front of you?? BUT despite the stares-that-makes-me-uncomfortable, I am really grateful for my friends whom I always meet at the most unlikely times. I wouldn't be able to survive without them. And of course, I would also like to thank my readers. There's a really significant increase of blogviews I received and it makes me happy that my blog can help you or even entertain you. 

As for the next book, I decided not to continue reading The Cuckoo's Calling since it's not really my style of book. I downloaded Vampire Academy, but I also doubt that I would like it because it's soo dramatic. Or so everyone says. An author I was recommended was Neil Gaiman. I started researching his books, and some of them looks interesting so, look forward to that! As for now, thanks for reading!!

Sincerely yours,

Alicia. V