Looking for Alaska by John Green

Looking for Alaska by John Green

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was pleasantly surprised by Finding Alaska. For me, it started out very young and teenager-ish, which is probably because…well, it’s a book about a bunch of teenagers, doing very teenage things. For a while I was thinking that I was just listening to a book that was going to be basically just that, teenagers doing teenage things; drinking, smoking, sex, and tormenting each other (yes, all of the above are included in this book). I figured there was going to be some great disaster and a lesson learned and wam-bam, you’ve got a book. The thing is, the book received several great reviews on audible.com that I just couldn’t give up on it. People saying how great a book it was – usually ”people” do know what they are talking about…well at least some of the time.

It took half the book – and then it happened, the great disaster I was talking about before. The thing is, it’s much greater than you wanted or expected. And John Green is a genius, because by this time, you’re laughing and enjoying yourself with these characters, so the blow is not just to the characters, but you feel it too.

So, no, this book is not about a bunch of teenagers, doing teenage-y things, no matter how much of it is included in the book. It’s a book about life. It’s a book about very young people attempting to discover the meaning of life, love, true friendship, having fun, tragedy, depression, and even God. I was so impressed with some of the things that the author included about God, and religion in general, and not just one but several different religions. I am a Christian, and while he was simply skimming the surface of religions and religious beliefs, John Green nailed some things on the head, or at least included things that nailed it on the head. My favorite religious section: the discussion about the lady (I can’t remember names right now – and since this is an audiobook, no book to reference) who wanted to destroy Heaven and Hell because she wanted people to love God not because he could get them into Heaven, keep them out of Hell, but because God is God!

I was reading the reviews on Audible, and many were saying that due to the mature nature of some of the stuff in the book, it probably isn’t for young teenagers. I would have to agree. There are moments when I felt like smoking and drinking and even sex was not glorified exactly, but it seemed normal. And it is, somewhat, but as adults and parents, we should attempt to move and motivate for it not to be normal. On the flip side, the consequences of some of these actions are shown throughout the book.

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