Looking for Alaska, by John Green

So, after finishing The Enchantress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, by Michael Scott on August 9, I picked up Looking for Alaska, by John Green.  I started this one on August 9 and finished it on August 31.  One of my colleagues at work brought in a bunch of books she read and was finished with, and recommended this one.  I read one of John Green's other books, The Fault in Our Stars, way back in January of 2014 and loved it.  There was a movie out recently based on a book by John Green called Paper Towns, and I think that I thought this book was that movie, but it wasn't.

Looking for Alaska tells the story of Miles, an unpopular high school student in Florida who decides he wants to go away to boarding school in Alabama - the boarding school his father attended.  Miles' parents throw him a going away party, and his fear that no one will show up basically comes true.  So, he goes off to Alabama to seek the "Great Perhaps."  What is the "Great Perhaps," you might ask?  Well it is a famous last word of poet Francois Rabelais.  Miles is obsessed with famous last words.

He arrives at school, where it is hot and humid with no air conditioning anywhere, and meets his new roommate, Chip, aka the Colonel.  Miles quickly gets a nickname of his own "Pudge", and a hazing (that goes a little too far) at the hands of the local rich kids, known as the Weekday Warriors.  They are at Culver Creek (aka "The Creek") during the week, then they go home during the weekends.  The Colonel and his merry band of trickster friends take Miles in and go about showing him the ropes at The Creek.  The band of tricksters quickly become Miles' friends.

One of this band of tricksters is a girl named Alaska.  You'll learn how she got that name if you read the book.  Alaska is an enigma, a breath of fresh air, a train-wreck you can't avert your eyes from, a huge ball of energy, a hard nut to crack, a moody and unpredictable girl, and she steals Miles' heart without even trying.  Miles, the Colonel, Alaska, and the merry band of tricksters drink, smoke, make out, and plan elaborate pranks during their time at the Creek.

     The final exam: What is the most important question human beings must answer?  Choose your question wisely, and then examine how Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity attempt to answer it. 

     "I hope that poor bastard lives the rest of the school year," the Colonel said as we jogged home through the rain, "because I'm sure starting to enjoy that class.  What's your most important question?" 

     After thirty seconds of running, I was already winded.  "What happens...to us...when we die?"

     "Christ, Pudge, if you don't stop running, you're going to find out."  He slowed to a walk.  "My question is: Why do good people get rotten lots in life?  Holy shit, is that Alaska?"

     She was running at us full speed, and she was screaming, but I couldn't hear her over the pounding rain until she was so close to us that I could see her spit flying.

     "The fuckers flooded my room.  They ruined like a hundred of my books!  Goddamned pissant Weekday Warrior shit.  Colonel, they poked a hole in the gutter and connected a plastic tube from the gutter down through my back window into my room!  The whole place is soaking wet.  My copy of The General in His Labyrinth is absolutely ruined." 

     "That's pretty good," The Colonel said, like an artist admiring another's work.

     "Hey!" she shouted. 

     "Sorry.  Don't worry, dude," he said.  "God will punish the wicked. And before He does, we will."

Thus begins the planning of the prank to end all pranks.   

     "I've got an idea," she said.  "It's great.  What we need is a pre-prank that coincides with an attack on Kevin [one of the Weekday Warriors] and his minions," she said.

     I was sitting on the bed, reading the textbook in preparation for my American history exam the next day. 

    "A pre-prank?" I asked.

    "A prank designed to lull the administration into a false sense of security," the Colonel answered, annoyed by the distraction.  "After the pre-prank, the Eagle will think the junior class has done its prank and won't be waiting for it when it actually comes."  Every year, the junior and senior classes pulled off a prank at some point in the year - usually something lame, like Roman candles in the dorm circle at five in the morning on a Sunday.

     "Is there always a pre-prank?" I asked. 

     "No, you idiot," the Colonel said.  "If there was always a pre-prank, then the Eagle would expect two pranks.  The last time a pre-prank was used--hmm.  Oh right: 1987.  When the pre-prank was cutting off electricity to campus, and then the actual prank was putting five hundred live crickets in the heating ducts of the classrooms.  Sometimes you can still hear the chirping."

You'll learn all about the prank planning, the prank itself, (parts of it were hilarious) and a host of other things, including a goose biting someone in the ass.  John Green is great at developing his characters and inviting you into their lives, their thoughts, and their worlds.  You can feel as if you really know these people, and you can envision the scenes he writes.  The book reminds me a little of the Breakfast Club (circa 1985).  If you've seen that movie, and you read this book, you'll see what I mean (hopefully).  If you haven't seen that movie, it's worth a watch.  The theme song seems to fit this book too - Don't You Forget About Me.