Looking For Alaska, by John Green

What is this madness? I seem to be on some sort of blogging roll this week. Maybe the new year has provided me with lots of blogging power. No, that's actually very incorrect. I would not be writing a post today if I hadn't just finished reading the incredible book that was "Looking For Alaska" by John Green. I really want to write a detailed review right now but anyone who stumbles across this review hoping to find a good book to read won't appreciate me giving anything away. There is no greater evil in book reviews than spoilers but I think the term "book review" is generally understood to apply to something a person consults to find out whether or not a book is worth reading. So here goes nothing...


I'll start by saying there's so much more to this book than meets the eye. I found, upon finishing the book, that it felt more meaningful to me than I ever thought possible when I first picked it up. It's enormously shocking, wonderfully deep and very unique and I recommend it to adults as well as all teenagers. Yep, all teenagers. I'm not going to rule out certain people within this age group because I believe all teenagers will enjoy this book and hopefully will think a lot after reading it. Lastly, I am sure teenagers who read this will learn something new from this book. And I'm not making that last statement to distance myself from the typical teenager stereotype and try to imply that I know everything there is to know, rather I feel as if I, personally, have learnt from this book and that others can too. Now, I don't want to put you off "Looking For Alaska" by going on about "learning" too much because no teenager wants to be told "read this book because you will learn". That's way too much like school. 


This is what I am saying. 


Read "Looking For Alaska" if you love to think and reflect 
Read it if you want to read a decent YA book 
Read it if you like admiring an author's skill when they use a technique which blows you away
Read it if you don't see why a novel can't be funny and sad at the same time
Read it if you want to do yourself a favour...basically 


Trust me, you won't regret it! OK, I think that's all I can say without spoiling the plot. So good day, internet and I leave you with a random, non-spoiling quote from the book. 


"Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia ... 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."