I mean, come on. It's pretentious. It has characters which don't resemble real people in the slightest but are quite clearly characters. It has the typical 'nerdy boy falls in love with beautiful but troubled girl' cliché. There are so many reasons I should hate it.
But I don't.
John Green is an author I have avoided for a long time. This is partially because as I understand it, his books follow the pattern of 'quirky teenagers do fun things and ponder life for a while before unexpected tragedy hits and then they ponder some more', and also partially because I swore I would never read The Fault in Our Stars. So far, this pattern has rung true. But hey, I was feeling curious.
Looking for Alaska was pretty much what I expected. Fortunately it was so well-written that I couldn't bring myself to hate it, despite its obvious faults. I plan to read a few more John Green novels out of sheer curiosity so it will be interesting to see how long this tolerance lasts. Also, this book surprised me with the actual event since it wasn't what I expected (though it probably should have been) but not with the reason for it which I guessed fairly early on, making the second half drag somewhat.
One thing I do want to raise though-Alaska. She is the perfect example of the shy, awkward guy's dream girl. Beautiful but bitchy, mysterious and tempting. I am so sick of people like her in fiction. It's the standard 'save the damsel' dream and it needs to stop. Alaska is an even more perfect example because she dies before the main character can figure her out, thus preserving the mystery girl fantasy.
Ultimately, Looking for Alaska is not the kind of book I approve of but I couldn't help but find it strangely entertaining. It's well-written, the characters are mostly likeable (if not realistic) and the plot is palatable enough. Should you read it? Eh. I won't advise it but I won't hold it against you if you do
Overall Score:
.5
No comments:
Post a Comment