So, I have finally picked up reading 'Looking for Alaska' again after stopping at page 27 for weeks. I finished the rest of it within a day, and I'm not sure if it's because I've had really high expectations of this book after reading 'The Fault In Our Stars' by John Green, but I was really disappointed at how this book turned out for me.
*puts up a 'Spoiler alert!' sign*
There were bits and pieces in the book that I enjoyed, but for the most of it I found myself rushing through Miles' incessant thoughts about school and things I didn't really care for. I guess his character didn't grow on me at all, even if the entire book was from his point of view. The only character that I kind of liked was Alaska Young. She was unpredictable, and somewhat the life of the book (for me), although she did annoy at the same time while she was at it.
As to why the book is so highly rated by book-lovers and John Green lovers all around the world, I still haven't figured that out, and I'll definitely return to this book in the future for that sole reason. A few quotes did get me right at the heart, but that was the most to it. I felt like the characters not just didn't grow on me, but they didn't grow themselves by the end of the book. They dealt with grief and loss, okay, and they developed a great friendship (Miles, The Colonel, heck, Takumi and Lara even), but as characters themselves they didn't turn out into better characters, and by the end of it, I had to ask myself, what was the point of it? It was a painful drag during the second half, and the way they dealt with the death disappointed me most. Maybe that's how John Green wanted to write it.
Miles, Miles, Miles. He had an interesting character background, okay, a boy who seeks for The Great Perhaps (whom Alaska becomes the embodiment of) and he memorises famous last words, which I genuinely thought was a cool touch. However, the way John Green characterised him throughout the book made him come off as a bratty, and to say the very least, annoying. The very first protagonist that I couldn't empathise with.
I was pleasantly surprised when The Colonel turned out to be living in a trailer truck, and I also loved the part when he dedicated his 'Best Day of My Life' to his hopes of providing a better life for his mom in the future. All in all, the writing was good, like, John Green good, and I'm positive it was the characters that didn't appeal to me. But as I've mentioned earlier, I'll definitely give this another try in the future, and hopefully form a different perspective of 'Looking for Alaska'.
Anyway, I had a mix of an infuriating and enjoyable time doing up this poster, but I really like how it turned out! I had to do the words one by one on Illustrator, which I am still not very good at using, and I almost gave up halfway because I couldn't get 'Alaska' to look the way I wanted it to. I usually settle for pre-set downloaded fonts but I wanted to do something fancier for this book review! Hope y'all like it :)
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