Looking for Alaska

Green, J. (2005). Looking for Alaska. NY: Dutton. Miles, nicknamed Pudge for a lack thereof, starts a boarding school in Alabama in his junior year of high school. His roommate who gave him the nickname comes with a best friend who Miles falls in love with or at least the idea of, Alaska. Miles is thrown into a lake by the Weekday Warriors.  This opens up to antics played back and forth in pranks on the group as well as the dean of the school. The plot continues to build with Miles almost having sex with Alaska only for her to be called to something and getting in a fatal car accident. There is self-blame for her death to the level of her intoxication but there is also speculation it could have been a suicide. This is a very multifaceted book that I feel requires an older audience of readers and from Green’s commentary on his book, he would agree as well.  I say this not for obvious reasons of the sexual content and arrangements but for the personal issues of guilt and suicide as well as comprehending the moral development of the characters.  Late high school and early college might really enjoy this book. Looking for Alaska may be contemporary realistic fiction but there is a large sense of autobiographical information about Green that he relates to in this story that he has created. It would be worth the discussion of weather or not finding a lot of the author's personal experiences makes a book more realistic or boarders on a memoir.