Looking for Alaska

As the second John Green book under my belt, I bounced between charmed and incredulous as the story progressed. On the one hand, the character's are real and highlight John's insight into the depth of the adolescent mind.

We have a normal group of high school friends in a mostly abnormal setting of a boarding school. We have neurotic girls, confused boys, mischievous pranks, and deviant behavior. Authority is mocked, then respected, and the cycle continues.

Written for the YA audience, John Green seems to have taken it upon himself to introduce teenagers to complex concepts. This book included such heavy topics as deity, after death, grieving and mourning, memorial, and loneliness. On the flip side, we also see fun and excitement in friendship, pranks, young love, and boring lecture classes.

Finally, John absolutely perfected a particular scene, wherein two naive 17 year-old kids experiment with a physical manifestations of a romantic relationship. I nearly died laughing.