Miles leaves behind his boring life in Florida in search of the “great perhaps” at a boarding school in Alabama. As he begins his junior year, discovers cigarettes, alcohol, pranks, friendship, and what it’s like to be in love – all things he has never experienced before. Miles’ falls fast for his new friend Alaska. Just when he thinks she is falling for him too Miles learns a hard lesson, one he may never be able to forgive himself for learning.
OK, so I am completely in love with John Green…well, his books anyway. J If I’m being completely honest, I hated the first half of this book. Yep, really hated it. I wanted to give up on it, but I had just finished Paper Towns, and it was super amazing. Plus one of my favorite students (shout out to her) told me this year that this was her “favorite book ever” so I felt compelled to finish it. I’m so glad I did.
So here’s the thing…The first half of the book involves LOTS of student smoking, drinking, pranking, and sex talk. Personally, I don’t really care for all that in a book – YA or adult. That’s just me. I will not play the we-should-not-expose-our-youth card because, frankly, I remember high school. They are exposed people; get over it. I just think a book about people “hanging out” is stupid and pointless. So, the first half of the book wasn’t that impressive UNTIL I read the second half. Then the genius called John Green made sense of the world. He set up this safe little world in the first half of the book only to tear it down in an instant and really expose the characters’ humanity. Although I could have done with much less smoking (because smoking really is disgusting), overall, this was an amazing book and deserves to be read by all. 4 out of 5
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