Book report Name: Anne-Sophie van der Waal
Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
A. Reading experience:
Answer the following questions:
1. Why did you choose this book?
I chose this book because I had already heard of it. I have wanted to read it for a while and this seemed like the
perfect opportunity.
2. Did you like the subject of the book? Why (not)?
I did like the subject of the book. I think it is a beautiful way of representing how teenagers feel at their age.
From new relationships to searching for the reason why you're actually here. I think there are quite a lot of
teenagers that might struggle with these subjects so it is nice that someone wrote a book about it.
3. a. What have you learnt about the subject?
It might be hard to see why you're here and why things happen to you. Especially as a teenager when these are
some of the biggest thoughts that keep you busy. But in the end, eventually, you might realise the answers to all
your complicated questions. Also, I learned that maybe things look bigger and scarier when you're a child or
teenager than when you're a grown-up.
b. Did this story influence you / your opinion? Explain your answer.
I never really thought about the subject before, so I went into the book kind of blank. But it might have helped
me to create an opinion. I now think differently about my big questions in life. Sometimes I get the feeling that
I need to know all the answers now, but I think the book has shown me that it'll also be okay if I don't know
everything when I am fifteen years old.
4. a. Did the book contain elements (for example: behaviour, opinions, …) you
disapprove of?
The book certainly contained elements I do not approve of. Binge smoking and drinking isn’t something I
would do, or recommend to others.
b. Should/Could the author have left them out?
The author could have left them out, because the author can decide what he wants to write in his book, but even
if he could, I don’t think he should. The smoking and drinking is an important part of the story, because the
characters bond during these smoking breaks in their ‘smoking hole’. And I think that the passage: “You smoke
to enjoy it, I smoke to die.” is an important part of the book. It foreshadows Alaska’s will to die. I also think
that the drinking and smoking symbolises that the main characters are naive teens.
5. What is your overall opinion on the book?
It was overall a good book. It was easy to read and I enjoyed the subject of the book. There were a few themes that I don't
entirely approve of and some parts of the book were a little boring. But I am glad that I finally read the book that I've
wanted to read for a while.
, 6. Summarise the story in your own words ór copy (and check!) a summary and write
down the source.
Before
Miles meets the Colonel (real name Chip Martin), Takumi, and Alaska Young. The Colonel grew up in a trailer park,
Alaska and her dad don't get along (mystery alert), and Takumi is just kind of there for a while. The three take Miles
(nicknamed Pudge because he's so skinny) under their wing and introduce him to the social order of campus, mischief-
making, smoking cigarettes, and drinking. They have to avoid the Eagle—the aptly-named dean of the school—when
they're creating mischief so they don't get brought before a peer jury and appropriately punished.
Miles's favourite class is religious studies, taught by an old man nicknamed… the Old Man. He lectures all the time and
makes Miles think about religion, philosophy, and life, and Miles loves it. Alaska doesn't.
After Miles is hazed pretty hard by the Weekday Warriors (students who stay only during the week at the boarding
school), his new friends vow to help him return the favour. Miles meets Lara, and goes on a triple date with her, the
Colonel and his pseudo-girlfriend Sara, and Alaska and her college-aged boyfriend Jake. The date ends with Miles getting
a concussion from a basketball and ralphing on Lara's shoes. Also, the date doesn't really mean anything, because Miles is
well on his way to falling in love? lust? some combination? with Alaska.
Time passes and Miles continues his involvement in shenanigans and obsessing about Alaska. He stays on campus for
Thanksgiving to try to get with her, but all he gets for his trouble is a sense of homesickness and confusion. Miles, the
Colonel, Takumi, Alaska, and Lara pull an epic prank on both the Eagle and the Weekday Warriors that involves blue hair
dye and fake progress reports, and during their hideout, all the friends find out that Alaska's mom died of an aneurysm
right in front of Alaska when Alaska was eight… which explains a lot about Alaska.
A couple nights later, Miles and the Colonel and Alaska are hanging out in Alaska's room. Both the Colonel and Alaska
are drinking to celebrate the epic prank, but Miles isn't. Alaska and Miles make out a little (dream come true moment for
Miles), but then Alaska gets a phone call from her boyfriend Jake because it's their eight-month anniversary. Ooh—
drama. Then she freaks out and leaves campus in her car. Miles and the Colonel help her go by setting off fireworks on
the Eagle's porch.
After
All students are called to the gym the following morning for an announcement. The Eagle says that Alaska has died in a
horrible car crash. Emotional train wreck ensues for all students… but especially for Miles and the Colonel.
The Colonel and Miles are consumed with guilt. They flail about with each other, in classes, and with their other friends
because they are caught up in how Alaska died, their culpability, and whether or not she committed suicide.
The two friends try to unravel the mystery: they go to talk to the officer whose car Alaska hit, they steal a Breathalyser
from the Eagle's house to figure out how drunk Alaska actually was, and they talk to Alaska's ex-boyfriend, Jake. In the
midst of this, they ignore both Takumi and Lara (she and Miles dated for like, a day). And at the same time, Miles is
trying to come to grips with who Alaska was and who he wanted her to be.
Then Miles and the Colonel, with Takumi and Lara (who have forgiven them for their single-minded grief), plan the most
epic prank ever seen by Culver Creek Boarding School. It involves a class speaker, a stripper, and a lie told by Miles's
father. Dedicated to the memory of Alaska, it is a huge success.
Life marches on. Eventually Miles and the Colonel come to terms with their loss and grief and give up on the mystery of
Alaska; then they throw themselves into their studies. The Old Man assigns a final exam essay that asks how each student
personally gets out of their own labyrinth of suffering. Miles, finally, has some answers for the question and writes about
them in his final exam, thus writing himself out of his own labyrinth of suffering about Alaska.
https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/looking-for-alaska/summary
