Looking for the "Great Perhaps"

Miles lives with his parents in Florida. He is an intelligent, quiet guy, maybe a little too sensitive for this world. He has friends not really, but that bothers him only in passing. He appears with the lives of others in any case more to start than with his own, he read biographies of famous people still like. Particularly fascinated by him, with the last words of this people. One of these last sentences is about the "Great Perhaps", after which he would like to make clear on the search because he decides to spend the last two school years on a Internet in Alabama. He finally closes actually a few friends, especially his roommate "The Colonel" and Alaska. While he experienced with the Colonel for the first time what it means to have a best friend, his relationship with Alaska is much more difficult (that of others too).
Alaska is beautiful, sexy, intelligent and always seems to have a bit to walk the fine line between genius and insanity. The motivation behind the things they do and say is not transparent. Can not assess whether this is the supposedly cool spell of a teenager or a somehow their genuine statement about when they claimed to smoke to kill himself so that one. If she claims left alone to want- they will then actually the opposite? If you repeat this step until handed drunk: Expression young Leichtsinnig- and carelessness or an attempt to endure the life better? When the boys will change as other your socks off, want to enjoy the youthful freedom or she hopes that she holds a? Yes, Alaska converts on the brink, and the big question is: she wants to fall into it?

And there is of course how it must come: Miles falls for her. But she sees him only as a good friend. Probably. So surely you can also be inhibited during its. And in all of its infatuation takes Miles the big pink elephant in the room, namely Alaska penchant for self-destruction is not it. For him it is an expression of all that what he wants: Beautiful, sassy, ​​bold, intelligent and constantly knocking on the severity.
But is being friends with Alaska having to cope with the unexpected. And the unexpected is a real tragedy in this case. A tragedy that changes lives and Miles can finally realize that he has found his way away from the last words of dead people to life.

John Green wrote with "Looking for Alaska" a young adult novel that moves, touches, is funny and sad. He created characters that are so versatile that they Video- almost tangible, and then (from deliberately) not again. The novel is told from Miles vision in the first person, so you can understand his view of the world, his actions, omission, thinking and feeling at any time. You can not always him Agree, sometimes you would otherwise gehandelt- but I understand you always.
Alaska is finally the second main character. And even if one in its character bekommt- endless insight you do not know it, and that's by design.
But one thing is clear: Alaska has a strong personality, to dislike virtually impossible (for the characters in the book) and it has changed the lives of many people. Maybe she could not better their own machen- but that so many other, led by Miles.

While reading, I came back and back to passages that bit lengthy, sometimes seemed to me unimportant. After the last page I was disabused: At this point not a word was wasted.

"Looking for Alaska" is a novel that I have- then liked to read in school material for discussion, it offers safe enough!