“That didn’t happen, of course. Things never happened
the way I imagined them.”
Miles Halter, also addressed as ‘Pudge’ in the entire
novel, is the main character and an average teenager. Apart from his weird
obsession of people’s last words, he was pretty much normal until he met her…
Alaska Young – A beautiful young girl, rebellious, with an ego and aura of
self-confidence. Without meaning to, he starts falling for her, hard &
fast. But what if they were never meant to be together? Read ‘Looking for
Alaska’ to dive headlong in the messed up lives of Miles Halter and Alaska
Young.
Another John Green novel… After reading two of his
novels, I was practically trying to get my hands on his few other books. I had
already established that John Green is a pro in describing teenage life and the
struggles which come along it with great sincerity and diplomacy.
So, this is another book which left me digging for
words and trying to form coherent sentences. Reviewing this book is a very
difficult task because I suppose that whatever I say, will not give justice to
this book. It is practically impossible for me to describe the book. But oh
well… so here goes nothing…
You know, there comes a time in life when we become
overly conscious. We put our focus and observe things minutely – our looks, our
behavior, our way of handling ourselves, our relationships, our beliefs, our
fears – everything. Every single detail about ourselves. We become self –
conscious & this happens during our high school age. We change, a hell lot
for that matter. Not just physically, but emotionally as well.
This is the change which John Green has mentioned in
his book. One of the many best parts of the book was that everything he
described was in the brutal and proper light without anything lingering in the
shadows. This is what a teenager will expect to read in order to understand
himself better. Also, despite this being his first book, John has it flawlessly
perfect!
I loved the story. The writing, the plot, the twists
& don’t even get me started on the characters. One best thing about John
Green is that his characters feel alive. They feel real. While reading the
book, I could not read it as a fiction. For all I know, there is some Miles
Halter & there is some Alaska Young whom I know nothing about. And yes!
They are somewhere out in this very world. They might me living their messed up
lives in the same way the story portrays.
Out of all the very wonderful characters, I felt
myself connected to Miles and Alaska the most. It was as if I understood them,
understood their lives, understood their conditions & moreover, understood
why they see life the way they see it. The characters more or less made me see
my very own replica.
John has an agonizingly beautiful way to carve out his
thoughts. The way he understands teenagers is unbelievable. I mean, he knows
what happens to teenagers in which situation. The way he understands the mental
status of a teen is beyond my understanding. One part of the book was where
most of the characters ended up blaming themselves due to certain
circumstances. That feeling of guilt and excruciating pain can practically be
felt whilst reading.
You know, it is the tendency of any teenager to blame
himself for any action – whether it is his fault or not! He twists & turns
the scenario, think too much and then BAM! ‘It is all my fault!!!’ Yeah! It’s
true. We teenagers blame ourselves for every single thing that happens in our
life. We think way too much and even if the problem was never in our control to
begin with, we still find a way to blame ourselves. This is what John depicts
via this novel. The constant guilt consuming a teenager. We are way too naïve
to even understand that we had no hand in whatsoever we are facing right now.
Apart from all this, some stereotypes are also
triggered in this story based on religion which, I must admit are astonishing. “People believe in after life just
because they couldn’t bear not to…!” Yeah!
This is one of the many lines which touched my heart and I ain’t forgetting it
any time soon. The concept of religion was pretty much relatable with the plot
and had a significant part in the building of the story.
“You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth,
thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and
imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the
future to escape the present.” The labyrinth… The most beautiful metaphor in the entire novel. I loved
the way John Green used this metaphor. It was superb and moreover, it was true…
We teens have this weird habit of delaying things. We
know that we are stuck in some absurd situation, but rather than facing it at
that very moment, we tend to take our time thinking about what we are supposed
to be doing. Just like in the quote, we use our future to escape our present.
We imagine things the way they ‘ought’ to be but we refuse to face the reality.
And it’s because of this wild imagination, we suffer a lot.
Teenagers are emotionally vulnerable but you know,
John Green quoted “We need
never be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken.” Yes! It’s true. Despite of being
emotionally fragile, we get over things. All we need is to give things time
because time heals things… That’s what John has made us all understand.
Like any other John Green book, this book is also
extremely deep and thought provoking. John never fails to leave me pondering
upon a single topic for days straight. The ideas presented in this book
are fresh and although, this was the debut of John Green and I read it last, I
found myself engrossed in this piece of writing and discovered various aspects
of a teenage life. While sleeping, while eating, while drinking, all I could
think about was ‘What about the labyrinth?’ or ‘What is life?’ and most
importantly… ‘Who am I in this huge world?’ I guess this is what John Green
does to all of us. He makes us question ourselves and our decisions.
A little advice though. This book is insanely awesome
but I don’t think that the people apart from the teens will actually enjoy it.
The elders because they have already crossed this stage and are over their
insecurities. The younger ones because… well there are things which they won’t
understand.
Finally, I would like to say that guys, you might not
weep buckets like you probably must have in The Fault in Our Stars, but I do
assure you that this a story which will stay with you forever… throughout your
life… And remember guys…
“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to
forgive.”
