and suddenly it’s love, and she’s perfect, and no one else could ever understand her or their love.
I did like Lara, Takumi, and even Chip. Lara is impressive – she knows what she deserves and stands up for herself when Miles is an ass. I felt terrible for her and Takumi – Chip and Miles huddle in the ‘after’ and exclude them, even though they were a real part of the group in the ‘before’. I liked that Chip seemed to be the only guy immune to Alaska’s charm – maybe because he’s a bit of a dick as well? Instead of expecting to get by on looks, though, he has more of an awareness of the real world and how to cultivate and maintain relationships, whereas Alaska expects everyone to put up with her shit.
On a side note, Alaska and Miles snooping through everyone else’s belongings over Thanksgiving is a pretty shitty thing to do. Everyone is entitled to their privacy, regardless of how you may feel about them. It’s only a small part in Looking for Alaska, but it just cemented my opinion of Alaska and Miles – not only did they disregard their classmates’ privacy, but they preceded to judge them on their belongings – and it bothered me.
I love John Green, his writing style, his many projects, his view of the world, and how open he has been when discussing his mental health. Despite this, I do find some of his early work, particularly Looking for Alaska, problematic. This is the first of his books I’ve reread in a while so I’m hoping I haven’t imagined the evolution of his writing over time. I find it hard to marry the tone of this narrative to the person I believe Green to be, especially with the years of accumulated evidence (from Vlogbrothers to The Anthropocene Reviewed podcast, to name a few examples) supporting my view. It’s hard to deny that some of my favourite authors have published work much earlier than Looking for Alaska that have aged much better, but I’m not ready to give up hope just yet.