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Looking for Alaska

John Green

Start date: April 15, 2024

Finish date: April 30, 2024

Discussion: 2024 - A Year of Banned Books

Discussion leader: Erica

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2024 - A Year of Banned Books

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* A Year of Banned Books Info
By Erica , Quality Control Supervisor · 1 post · 118 views

last updated Dec 12, 2023 03:53PM

* Reading List
By Erica , Quality Control Supervisor · 1 post · 92 views

last updated Dec 12, 2023 04:05PM

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What Members Thought

Dec 04, 2010 ilovebakedgoods (Teresa) rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, killeen-library-paper, young-adult, contemporary-fiction, zapril-2013, zblueberry-muffin

It just didn't do anything for me. If this was the first John Green I'd ever read, I wouldn't have read more by him. My first John Green was The Fault in Our Stars, which I loved. This one just didn't pull me in. I felt that the main character was just boring and bland and I didn't care about him or his friends, really. The friends, with their nicknames, felt contrived. I don't know, I've read books where characters have silly nicknames their friends call them but for some reason it just really It just didn't do anything for me. If this was the first John Green I'd ever read, I wouldn't have read more by him. My first John Green was The Fault in Our Stars, which I loved. This one just didn't pull me in. I felt that the main character was just boring and bland and I didn't care about him or his friends, really. The friends, with their nicknames, felt contrived. I don't know, I've read books where characters have silly nicknames their friends call them but for some reason it just really irritated me in this book. "Oh, he's a skinny guy, let's call him Pudge! How clever are we!" *eyeroll*

The Alaska character -- I'm just not in the mood for damaged. I don't mind someone who may be "damaged", such as Macy in The Truth About Forever because it wasn't so much that she was damaged, rather she had lost her father just the year before the story takes place. Alaska's story was probably heart-breaking to some but for me it was just a boring plot device, an excuse for her to be super vague and to get drunk a lot. I didn't wonder about her secrets or want to get to know her, I just wanted her to go away. And the part where Alaska explains her name just made me roll my eyes. She named herself arbitrarily at the age of 7 (her parents were hippies who let her choose her name) but lo and behold, the meaning of her name is just so *perfect*, she later finds out. Blahhhh.

I couldn't help comparing the Thanksgiving weekend in this book to the one in Anna and the French Kiss and boy, did it fail in comparison for me. The one in Anna was warm and heartfelt, whereas the one in this book was cringe-worthy. Maybe the one in Anna was less realistic and more fluffy, I don't know, but I'd rather have that than spend time with that insipid Alaska chick. Maybe I just liked the female perspective of Anna's vs the male perspective of this one, I don't know.

I'd say maybe I'm just too old, not the target audience but no, I read plenty of very good young adult where I can relate to the characters and their personalities or motivations, even if I didn't do the same things or feel the same things at their ages. I don't actually think I MUST be able to relate to every character in every book but this one just gave me no reason to care about what I was reading. Not what I'd hoped for or expected after all the rave reviews. ...more

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Feb 09, 2011 Trisha rated it it was amazing

a great story that struggles with the realization that each person we come in contact with, we change and they change us.

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Feb 03, 2014 Krissy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: pgs-200-299, cover-color-black, buddy-read, read-before-2015, book2film

This book started out great. Then it just plummeted. Once you got to the day the chapters were counting down to that is basically where the book ends for me. The last 40% of the book was very repetitive and boring. By the time I got to 80% I just skimmed my way through the last of it. The Fault in Our Stars blew me away. I was eager for another John Green book but this just did not compare. Not even close. I give it 2.5 stars.

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Sep 15, 2014 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015, reviewed, young-adult

I'm not going to lie, I didn't fall in love with this book. But it saved itself by the end.

What I did like: Chip, for the most part. His character stayed true throughout. The religion class, and the religion teacher. The ending, and the ending final paper. The character growth.

What I didn't like. Alaska. Trying too hard, she never rang true to me. I almost broke something with the ferocity of my eye-rolling. Miles at the beginning, although he grew on my by the end. The potential to really explo ...more

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Dec 25, 2010 Thenia rated it really liked it

Shelves: standalone, contemporary, reviewed, ya-na, 2011

A very good book that deals with serious issues, death being one of them.

It was going very well until close to the end where it started lagging a little and getting repetitive. It took them forever to think of the... solution to the mystery and I felt like it was staring at them right in the face.

Among the many "lessons" this book leaves behind, is giving people a chance and forgiving them.

My timing in reading it was way off - I needed something a lot lighter and I didn't expect this book to be ...more

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