I, like many teenagers these days, enjoy the author John Green and his writings. His ever-popular ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ holds a special place in both my heart and my bookshelf; however, one of his popular creations, ‘Looking For Alaska’ did not strike my fancy. Especially since I’d read it shortly after Green’s ‘Paper Towns’. ‘Alaska’ and “Towns’ are essentially cut from the same cloth in my mind: Introverted guy in love with a girl out of his league, friends that invest themselves in smoking or drinking, one wild night where the boy might get a chance with the love interest, and finally the love interest performs an action (whether suicide or simply leaving) that causes the boy and friends to go on a mad trip to find her. End result: He ends up realizing all of the flaws the girl had (very obvious flaws in my opinion). Don’t me wrong there are several comedic scenes in this book that will bring forth a chuckle or a smile to the readers’ lips. But once the reader has read both “Alaska” and “Towns” they will realize that “Alaska” isn’t the “original masterpiece” that they believe it to be.

The book by itself has many flaws even when not being compared to “Paper Towns”. The main character, Miles “Pudge” Halter, does not have concrete characterizations until after his first month at his new school. He has no real opinions on many controversial topics that most teens today have. I think everyone can agree that all teenagers have opinions on smoking and drinking. Miles lacks any real emotion or drive until he meets the girl, Alaska Young. It isn’t until this pivotal moment in Miles’ life does he ever really seemed to care about what he is doing.

Overall, this story had such great potential but the means did not justify the end. The whole extravaganza of hunting down the reason for (SPOILERS) Alaska’s death was simply a waste of time for me. And although “Looking For Alaska” was published before “Paper Towns” it does not excuse the fact that it was poorly written.