Book Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Reviewed by Hannah Train, age 12, Wood Green School

 

I loved Looking for Alaska for several reasons. Firstly, the general idea of the story. The meaning and fine line between living, loving and dying, and how it affects the people and things around you. Secondly, I also loved the layers of meaning around the main characters life and death (Alaska) and how it affected her friends in college, close or distant. Thirdly, I like that you could interpret the book in different ways from someone else, as it could leave a different message to different people. Such as Alaska’s quote: ‘How will we ever get out of the labyrinth of suffering.’

Looking for Alaska made me feel the pain of losing someone you loved and not knowing what happened and why. You can really feel the pain and confusion when they find out Alaska had died. You can distinguish the personality of the different characters by how they reacted to the news and it really shows how they cope with this loss. The book was generally easy to read, but I would not choose to read a book because the print is too small and I don’t chose books because it’s too hard or easy. But I would say this book is for 12+ as the whole plot is quite mature.

I enjoyed lots of parts of the book, firstly, it really made me think very deeply about living and dying and the mysteries of life. It really made me think how Alaska died, was it an accident or was it suicide? Secondly, it also left me guessing and wondering after the book was finished. Thirdly, some of the things Alaska said were really meaningful and had several layers of meaning behind it. This book will stay with me forever.