LOOKING FOR ALASKA
By John Green
Dutton, 2005
Okay. So, you wouldn’t know it by looking at my blog entries for the last month, but I have been reading a lot this summer. I now have an extensive backlist of books I want to blog about. But somehow summertime and blogging haven’t mixed well for me. Too much entertaining and visiting and gardening and playing in the yard and playing on the water and playing on the tennis court and, well, you get the idea. I’ve been busy having fun. It is high time, however, that I got back to work.
One of my recent favorites is John Green’s young adult novel LOOKING FOR ALASKA. I won’t spend much time with a formal review, because my good friend Eric Luper has already posted a super review. I will tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The mysterious chapter headings drew me in from the opening line and the odd characters appealed to me. Mostly, though, I was swept up in one teenaged boy’s search for a Great Perhaps.
Miles Halter, the protagonist of LOOKING FOR ALASKA, is intrigued by last words. Some of his favorites were uttered by a dying Fracois Rabelais’: “I go to seek a Great Perhaps.” The words inspired Miles to leave behind his less-than-ideal life in a traditional Floridian high school and enroll instead at a boarding school in Alabama … where he hoped to find a Great Perhaps. The words inspire me, too. Aren’t we all, particularly us writer types, in search of a Great Perhaps? Perhaps I can write this story in a way that will fully express the humor and sadness I am longing to share. Perhaps what I have to say will be important to someone else. Perhaps I can tell a story that will capture the imagination of a child. Perhaps I can convey awe, ignite passion, connect with someone–or many someones–through the words I put down on paper. For me, it is definitely a Great Perhaps that keeps my alarm clock set for the wee hours, keeps me pecking away at the keyboard, keeps me striving to place my manuscripts.
Goodbye summer. I am off, once again, to seek a Great Perhaps …
Best,
Loree