After hearing about this novel for years, I was almost certain that I would love it. Glowing reviews? Check. Won some prizes? Check! It sounded like it had an interesting premise : A 16-year-old boy, Miles Halter, leaves his family to attend a boarding school to seek his “A Great Perhaps.” He meets Alaska Young, a beautiful girl who is irrevocably screwed up; and then there’s the idea of a countdown to an event that happens in Miles’ life. Sounds like a winner, right? I thought so, too … Until I actually started reading it.
The characters. Are boring! As dull as blinds & shades. There is little to no development of very two-dimensional people. Miles didn’t seem like he had much of a personality, he just exists. His eccentric obsession for ’Famous Last Words’ was pretty cool though. And then there’s Alaska, this dream girl that all the boys pine after. But why? Just because she’s a bosomy blonde? She’s very ‘intelligent’, but she’s also clinically insane (which no guy IRL would put up with for long).
The “event”. Was so anticlimactic! I had to double back and make sure I didn’t miss anything; I was tempted to even just put the book down right then.
The book. Tries too hard to be cutting edge! I think the worst offense of this novel (besides being uninteresting and pretentious) is that it’s totally unrealistic. One character - The Colonel - consumes enough alcohol and cigarettes to represent probably a high school full of kids. If that’s called realism, I’m surprised we have a teenage population at all.
Overall. There was just TOO MANY WORDS! The thin, pointless plot does not justify more than 50. I can’t think of any reason you shouldn’t read a much better written book about tragedy; there are literally hundreds. My favorite is Perks of Being a Wallflower. There is also Bridge to Terabithia and a few others I can’t think of.
In conclusion. Run like the wind when you see this book!
