Welcome back, CdM Students, to one of the most aesthetically pleasing times of the year—Fall. Study at the library, light that Yankee candle, and, most importantly, read as many books as possible to have the quintessential autumn persona. While browsing your local Barnes and Noble and searching for a book that fits the autumn standard, consider picking up Looking for Alaska by John Green.
Looking for Alaska follows Miles Halter, a Sophomore in high school from Florida, attending his first year at Culver Creek, a boarding school in Alabama. Obsessed with people’s last words before they die, Miles is fixated on Francois Rabelais’ last words: “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.” Miles doesn’t want to wait until he’s on his deathbed to seek his “Great Perhaps”—the world has so much to offer, and Florida isn’t offering him much. Boarding school may just be the side-quest he needs, and give him the teenage experience he’s yearned for after being a loner for years in Florida. At Culver Creek, he meets the fascinating Alaska Young through his roommate Chip (aka the Colonel), and together with their friend group, they face the catastrophic time of being a teenager and the challenges that come with being young and feeling invincible.
Looking for Alaska encapsulates the experience of being a teenager to a T. It’ll be a book to relate to as you read about Miles and his friend group setting pranks, messing around past curfew, and tuning into each other’s personalities. Along with the fun side of teenagehood, Green also emphasizes the hardships of being a teenager. Sidney Smith (‘29), a reader of Looking for Alaska, says she, “would highly recommend this book because of the impact it can have on high schoolers,” highlighting specifically “learning about mental health, along with the new perspective of life you get that applies to how you think every day.”
Reading Looking for Alaska can put a lot of complicated feelings about being a teenager into perspective. One day, teens can feel invincible, and the next like a cracked glass cup, barely going through everyday life and trying to figure out who they are. “When you’re a teenager, you’re doing all kinds of important things for the first time, and in Looking for Alaska, I wanted to deromanticize some of those firsts,” commented John Green during an FAQ for Looking for Alaska. Everything Green wrote in this book is raw and unfiltered, making the story more realistic and relatable.
