Young Adult Literature without Apology
Amy's assessment of contemporary young adult literature, organized by author and title, censored by noone.
Realistic | Romance | Science Fiction | Historical Fiction | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery
Green, John (2005). Looking for Alaska. NY: Dutton. ISBN: 0525475060. 160 pages.
Skinny, bookish and a loner, 16-year-old Miles prides himself on his mental library of famous people's last words. Honest about his social ineptitude, Miles holds out hope that by leaving his Florida home for an Alabama boarding school, he might finally break out of his shell and enter what he calls (quoting Rabelais) "the great Perhaps". Prejudices about Alabama boarding schools aside (can you say "Deliverance High"?), Miles begins to find his place among the students until tragedy strikes and Miles struggles to find sense in the words of the living.From the start, you know this book is going to be of the adolescent tragedy variety: the blown-out candle on the cover, the foreshadowing in the narration are all obvious tropes. Even my initial question--who's gonna bite it?--was pretty much answered when Miles meets the Alaska of the title, a headstrong, smart and beautiful coed with a troubled heart and past. In spite of the seeming triteness of the well used plot, I found myself drawn into Green's narrative. The characters, are well drawn and realized and Miles proves to be a caustically witty narrator. Conspicious parallels could be drawn to a number of the "boarding school classics" (think: A Seperate Peace, The Catcher in the Rye); however, this is a readable, decent and engaging novel.
Throughout the novel, Miles entertains us with the often hysterically appropriate last words of famous people; a good booktalk hook might involve a recitation of some of them followed by a brief (1 sentence, max!) plot summary (leave out the death--it will be obvious to anyone who picks up the book).
