Mundie Moms

Friday, August 26, 2016

Looking for Alaska by John Green / Flashback Friday Audiobook Review



By: John Green
Published by: Speak
Audiobook by: Brilliance Audio
Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
Released on: December 28, 2006
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound | iBooks | Book Depository
Add it to: Goodreads
Source: Purchased
Rating: 5 stars - I loved it!!!!

Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

If I'm being truthful, I will share with you that this is the last John Green book that I read. I came across his work because of all the hype (well earned) over release of The Fault in our Stars. A book that this mama was never, ever, ever going to read. But, when I finally steeled my heart and read it (link to my review on goodreads), I fell so very much in love with Hazel and Gus, and you guys know the rest of the story because many of you fell in love with them in just the same way. What you don't know is that while I was going through my "never, ever, ever"s, I read all of his books, but TFioS and Looking for Alaska. Why didn't I read Alaska? I truly don't know. Perhaps, I wanted to save the best of his works for last.

John has a way of crafting characters that are geeky, awkward, memorable and sweet. Miles is just that character. A fish-out-of-water sent to a progressive Southern prep school in Alabama at the start of his junior year in high school. He meets a group of friends, who are character studies in bored, privileged boarding school kids. But, John's plot makes this book far from a predictable coming-of-age story.

The plot unfolds in a backwards timeline. A trick that I love because the characters know what's happened and the reader doesn't, so you are left with the trickiest of tensions. One that begs that moment all readers struggle with -- do you cheat and take a peek at the ending or do you take that journey and let the words lead you to the conclusion? I chose the latter, although I was very tempted to take a peek at the ending. There is a sense of sadness and of foreboding especially as you near the climactic moment. And when it happens, you are mirroring all the emotions that Miles feels. Good writers lead you to those moments and you love them all the more for it.

The narrator of the audiobook, Jeff Woodman, brought all the colorful characters to life. I am notorious for putting audiobooks on 1.25 speed, and in this case, I didn't have to do any of my usual tricks to speed up the narration. Jeff acted out the words beautifully and his delivery made the most powerful moments in the book stand out even more.

Looking for Alaska was released with a new Tenth Anniversary cover last year. If you've waited to read it, now's the perfect time to pick up this new edition. School has started for most of us, and while some of us are no longer worried about pre-calc, it's interesting to go back and re-visit that particular year of high school where so much happens. Miles' junior year was not like mine, but it does explore some of the common themes in that particular age group. For most of us, that year was filled with getting to know ourselves and how we fit in within our own social structure. I encourage you to read Alaska and see what the hype is all about. This is a story that lives up to the buzz.

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