LOOKING for ALASKA (audiobook) by John Green

 


Originally published in 2005.
Audible audiobook edition published in 2019.
Read by Wil Wheaton
Duration: 6 hours, 40 minutes.
Unabridged.

Set in a boarding school in rural Alabama, this book features a diverse group of friends who are trying to figure out the big things in life - where to get cigarettes, where to get booze, where to get fireworks, the meaning of life, where to find a girl or a boy, how to hide your violations from the adults at the school and what is going to be the next big prank.

Miles Halter is the new kid at school and he is desperately in love (like a lot of young men) with the lively and enigmatic Alaska Young. Alaska is as unique as her name. She is a fervent defender of women's rights, she smokes and drinks whenever possible, she is an A student and yet she insists on carving her own way.

The book follows this group as they go through Miles' first year at the school, all the while counting down to something as indicated by the chapter titles...

Wil Wheaton did a good job reading this novel (as always.) 

I rate this novel 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: LOOKING for ALASKA  by John Green.

The author, John Green
***Blogger commentary:

This is a multiple award-winning book and it is also listed on several school book ban lists, including the infamous 850 book list from a legislator in Texas. It was also the most banned book in 2015. I am a fan of John Green, but a relatively new one, having only read three of his books before this one. At first I thought it was because of all of the drinking, smoking and general sense of irreverence towards authority that is exhibited throughout the book.

But, there is a hilariously uncomfortable sex scene that this veteran teacher would hate to teach in a classroom. As an adult, I found it laugh out loud funny, but I would hate to discuss it with 30 kids in a classroom. John Green makes an interesting comment in this article about how this sex scene fits in thematically and the point it does make. He's right, but I'd still hate to discuss a sex scene with a bunch of high school students.

That being said, if it were up to me, the book would be welcome in a classroom library or a school library. 

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