Looking for Alaska is perhaps one of the most boring and pointless books I have read. It tells the story of emotionally distraught teenagers with raging hormones and access to alcohol, so basically it is just like any other teen drama. I guess if you’re into that, give this book a go, but, if you have any sense, you should probably stay away.


First we meet Miles who is a rather depressing fellow. He is leaving for a boarding school and his going away party is comprised of his parents and two “friends,” and he sure has that attitude of “no one loves me and I have no friends.” Basically, readers get to listen to him whine and complain, and then go into unneeded detail of a dip his mother makes. With Miles, it was as if Greene was trying to make a dark, cynical character but he didn’t necessarily come off that way, and what seemed like an obsession with death was described as a need to know peoples’ last words. He falls for a girl, Alaska, which I’ll talk about later, and compulsively counts the layers of cloth between him and a girl, to gauge how close they are to having sex. By doing this, Greene made Miles’ drive to pursue Alaska sound like raging hormones, even though Alaska is a pretty significant character in the novel.


Next we meet Chip, or, The Colonel; an extremely smart guy, who, as stressed by the author, was very, very short. The Colonel was given this nickname because of his uncanny ability to plan pranks. Any side of The Colonel that could have been interesting was not shown due to constant complaining by none other than Miles.


Finally, there’s Alaska. Alaska can best be described as a drunken feminist with some unresolved emotional issues, and as a cigarette and alcohol fiend. For some reason, people really liked her and became wrapped up in everything she said and did, and this became a major problem for most.


There is, however, one thing that I liked about this book; Takumi. Takumi was perhaps the most interesting character and he was barely in the story. At times, my only motivation to keep on reading was to enjoy another encounter with Takumi, the self-proclaimed fox who had some incredible freestyling skills.


Overall, this book lacked a captivating storyline and is not a book I would, with a good conscience, recommend to anyone.