The book Looking for Alaska is a very complicated but also somewhat relatable story about a boy with very few friends who goes off to boarding school to get away from his life at home. He meets new friends at boarding school, some which he enjoys and others which he does not. But there i one girl in specific in the book that stands out to Miles, the main character, and her name is Alaska. Personally I struggled to understand and follow the beginning of the book but once I reached around page 20 the book was starting to come together and I could finally interpret what was going on. Miles roommate, Chip Martin referred to by all of his friends as Colonel, first meets Miles in their room as Miles is getting out of the shower and Chip says to him, “just because we are roommates doesn’t mean we are going to be friends, you need to make friends yourself.” (Green 13) . A couple pages later in the book chip begins to enjoy the presents of Miles and gives him the nickname of Pudge. Then once Chip realizes that he doesn’t mind the presents of his roommate Miles he starts to introduce him to some of his friends around the campus. Chip intoduces Miles to a very special girl named Alaska.
As soon as Miles meets Alaska he instantly fell madly in love and had never seen anyone more gorgeous than her. The way John Green introduces Alaska is very secretive and suspicious. He introduces her as if she was the most important person in the whole book. Miles then shorty relizes that he cannot have Alaska because every other guy in the school is chasing after her, and he has a hard time admitting that to himself. The way Green sets the book is very unique and different, like all of his other books such as Paper Towns and Fault in our Stars. He sets all of his books up very differently yet no matter what book he writes you can tell it is him writing them. It seems as if his voice is talking to you about these amazing stories not like you are just reading words on a page like most other books are in my opinion.
Just because John Green’s books are very unique to him as a writer doesn’t mean they all sound the same. You may be able to tell if the book is written by him, but all of his books are very different and special in their own way. In a lot of his books he puts at least two characters in the story that he wants you to get attached to, and feel like you know them. In The Fault in our Stars the two characters were Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters, in Paper Towns the two main characters were Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Spiegelman, and in Looking for Alaska the two Characters that Green attaches you too are Miles and Alaska. Greens plan is for you to get attached or “fall in love” with one of the main characters and then have something bad happen to them leaving you heart broken. Later in the book they lose Alaska, one of the characters you are supposed to fall in love with, leaving the reader in great fear. In my opinion that is an outstanding writing technique and way of setting up the story. For a lot of the book the reader is very stressed out about weather Miles will find Alaska, or if she is even alive. Green plays with the readers emotions making them travel through a great adventure to find a character that the whole audience loves. Overall i though the setup of the book was perfect and although it was fairly confusing at times it was a very well written book and a great read.