She pulls him into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. And he finds Alaska – the gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska. He talks about the words of Francois Rabelais before he leaves for boarding school, hoping to find a ‘Great Perhaps’ before he dies. And it is a serious, painful, and genuine journey. That’s when the plot waves goodbye to the mundane and sets off for the momentous.

The after is gloomier and shows how high school students often deal with troubles in life. The before is made up of routine, of monotony, of mundane happenings: kids going to classes, coming up with pranks, drinking, smoking, doing stupid things, hooking up. Instead, the novel begins with an unconventional ‘One Hundred and Thirty-six Days Before’ and gradually counts down to the second part, ‘One Hundred and Thirty-six Days After’, leaving in the reader’s mind, an inescapable sense of dread as to what is going to be the pivotal point of division. There are no chapters, in a traditional sense. It seems at first that the book is about a high school romance, but it turns out to be much more than that. It’s more of a tale of how love isn’t as translucent as it seems. The story is very realistic, especially since John has portrayed the characters exactly as one would expect them to behave without parental supervision.

This story is about Miles, who attempts to reinvent himself in a new school, with new friends and activities, and how his meeting with Alaska Young, a witty and carefree girl, changed his life. Looking for Alaska deals with the universal questions of love, friendship, truth, and the gray areas in between. Looking for Alaska by John Green : Book Review Looking for Alaska by John Green : Book Review

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