John Green has grabbed teenagers’ attention with his novel Looking for Alaska. Although the book is over seven -years-old, it’s kept it’s popularity going today.

The book tells a story of a boy named Miles Halter, also known as “Pudge” in the story. He moves off to a new boarding school and anticipates trouble making friends. Pudge has never been very outgoing; at his going away party, merely two friends showed up.

When Pudge arrives at his new school, his roommate introduces him to a friend named Alaska Young. She’s a beautiful, mysterious young girl with a knack for reading. Another important aspect of Alaska is her flirty personality, which immediately hooks in Pudge. From this moment on, he pursues his crush on Alaska. But she already has a boyfriend.

Along with Alaska’s mysterious side lies depth. A question a professor had given her class was this: “What is the most important question to humankind?” Alaska responded with, “How will I ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” This question becomes the rallying theme of Green’s novel.

The book contains a lot of practical jokes on the principal and late nights out, all lead by the one and only Alaska Young. But one night, things get out of hand.

Looking for Alaska brings suspense with every chapter; each chapter counts down the days until a death of an important character happens, and then upward afterwards. Not only is it intense, but thought provoking. It makes a person think about life and their well being philosophically.
John Green does a wonderful job of tying in teenage love and teenage suffering without being mushy-gushy or depressing. He makes the book easily relatable to all; and he even refers to the fact that pain is universal, after all.
The book ends abruptly, and some might say doesn’t give enough answers. But I enjoyed how open-ended it was. It forced creativity on the reader and makes them put the puzzle pieces together to create their own ending to a wonderfully written book.
I would definitely recommend this book to all high school students, no matter what genre they like to read or if they even read at all. Once the back cover is closed for the final time, you’ll wish you could open it and start on page one all over again.