~Sandee*Stuck in Wonderland~

“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.”

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I have had this book for so long but didn’t really have the urge to read it until after I read The Fault in Our Stars.
That book was fantastic.
So after reading that it pushed me to read more of John Green’s books and one of which was Looking for Alaska.
I actually have to reread it because the first time I did, it didn’t appeal to me that much.
As they always say, “second time’s the charm.”

Miles wanted a change.
He wanted to move to boarding school.
He wasn’t running away from his family, he just wanted to have friends and fit in for a change.
He was also determined in finding out what Francois Rabelais called the “Great Perhaps”.
He was sure that he will find this in boarding school.
He was right.
He found Alaska.


The thing I liked about John Green’s books is how easily he creates relatable and realistic characters.
John Green has this ability to make hard sensitive topics very easy to read.
When I first read it my initial reaction was all negative.
I didn’t like it at all.
There was nothing there that I could connect to.
But when I reread it I started to see things differently.

Being a teenager is not easy.
To adults it may seem that teenagers didn’t have much to think about but they do.
Adults may have work, money and personal relationships to worry about and teenagers have those too just not in the same level.
Teenagers worry about fitting in and making friends.
Honestly, not having friends at school would really put you down.
Not having any friends may lead you to think that you are nothing because no one wants to be friends with you.
You may say that it’s a very shallow reason but it isn’t.
Fitting in and being with other people helps a lot.
I didn’t mean just being with people but being with the right people.

At first, I didn’t really like Alaska.
I didn’t like her for the reason that she was reckless and mostly don’t think of what she was doing.
But as I reread this book again I found myself empathizing for what she has gone through.
Alaska might seem carefree at first glance but she was not.
She hides behind this façade.
She lets everyone see she’s this fearless girl who loves to play pranks, have sex and drown in alcohol.
But deep down you will see that there was this other side of her that had to be kept hidden away because of what happened in her past.
I felt her pain and how she kept drinking and smoking herself to death just to forget all her worries for a little while.
Why didn’t I like her the first time?
Because somehow I saw myself in Alaska.

Miles was a different story.
I liked Miles the first time I read him.
He was the new kid and immediately got along with his room mate.
Since he never had many friends back in Florida when he got some in boarding school he decided to try some of the things he never done.
I liked his POV.
There were no barriers in how he tells the story and I liked it.
Miles was the typical new kid who would do anything to fit in.
He desperately wants to fit in that he’d join in the stupid pranks that Alaska, Chip and Takumi had planned out eve if he doesn’t really want to.
He was a little gullible which was cute.

I don’t know how Mr. Green does it but all his characters were three dimensional that it’s pretty possible I might meet one of them on the street.
Everyone was whole and complete.
You’d know each and every character in this book and its one of the strengths of this book for me.

There were however parts in this book that I hoped weren’t included.
It was a bit dragging on the initial part of the book which I didn’t really appreciate.
I am okay with slow paced books but only if its necessary and in this case I didn’t feel like it was.
I was okay with this book being cut in the before and the after of Alaska’s death but again so many unnecessary stuff here and there.

All in all I think it was still a good book.
Not as good as The Fault in Our Stars though but I still liked it.


I have to change the rating from 3 stars to 4 stars