Book Review: Looking for Alaska

LOOKING FOR ALASKA
 

 

 “Sometimes you lose a battle. But mischief always wins the war.”

(56)

Pudge is the new student at Culver Creek Boarding School. It’s not that he was a bad kid; he was just looking for something new, like friendship. Little does he know what he’s in for when he befriends Colonel and Alaska, the notorious campus pranksters. The more Pudge spends time with his new group, the more he finds himself learning about what it really means to be a friend and make the most of life. He finds himself becoming less of the timid, anti-social student, morphing into a more appreciated friend, willing to do more, see more, and risk more. The adventures with his friends create a strong bond between the three- until Alaska pulls the biggest prank yet… she disappears. Now it’s up to Pudge to try to find her, putting together the few pieces of the puzzle that only he has.

 

In his novel, Looking for Alaska, John Green (The Fault in our Stars) explores the unique relationship between love, loss and secrecy while leaving his readers on the edge of suspense the whole time. The books’ fragmented, almost diary-like structure leaves the reader to wonder what could happen next, and reflects Alaska Young’s character, a witty yet elusive, rebellious teen. Alaska’s personality combined with Pudge’s innocent curiosity creates a unique and suspenseful atmosphere in the text. As Pudge counts down day by day and memory by memory to find clues to Alaska’s disappearance, the reader is engaged in the thrill of the mystery, as they start to solve the puzzle alongside Pudge.

 

Green develops each character carefully, only giving minimal but sufficient detail to create the cliffhanger and keep the impending question above the reader and Pudge’s head, “To be continued?” (131). Green also paces the novel carefully, organizing Pudge’s memory day by day, allowing the reader to both more easily piece together the puzzle, as well as to create an opportunity to relate to each character. Although the novel may be directed to teens in general, Green does explore the basic and perhaps stereotypical teenage experiences, such as drinking and smoking; experiences that all people have come in contact with or can relate to. Green also creates a parallel to the teenage culture through language. Various swear words and innuendos are mentioned throughout the book; classic teenage behavior. However ‘vulgar' this may seem, it truly does create a connection between the characters in the book and its teenage (or older) audience. Green also explores the hardships that come with being a teen-the struggle with creating your own identity, social belonging, religious values and relationships. As Pudge reflects on each of these conflictions he faces, he seems to go about them in an “I guess,” (69) manner, uncertain but faithful that there will be a definite answer at some point.

 

Looking for Alaska indefinitely earned its place on the New York Times Bestseller list. Green’s ability to create a novel that is both suspenseful and relatable in the creative manner he has is brilliant. It contains a completely unique storyline, so thrilling and intriguing the reader may not be able to put it down. Readers will find themselves on the edge of their seat, laughing out loud, and hoping that Pudge will find what he’s looking for the whole way through. Each character is witty and clever, so much so that it will make the reader feel like and/or wish they were in Culver Creek themselves. In any case, Green has earned ten stars out of ten for his brilliant writing in Looking for Alaska.

Book 2 Trailer: Silver Linings Playbook

Book Talk

Should Fiction and Non-Fiction Be Seperated?

Is this even a question? Fiction and nonfiction, by all means, should stay separate. If we start blurring the lines, there would be no standard to differentiate the two. How could we trust each other, if we were allowed to exaggerate the facts? If we let the two overlap, the future of literary works could be in jeopardy. The difference between the two, for me and almost everyone else, is that fiction is my go to for entertainment. Nonfiction is my go to for all things facts.  If there were nothing to separate the two, I could cite Disney fairytales as a credible source when writing papers on marine biology. (Obviously, this would never happen, but we rely so much on the connotation with the titles ‘fiction’ and ‘nonfiction’ that I wonder how we would react if they were no longer there.) Point being, books that are non-fiction have to be one hundred percent true. We rely on facts for so much of our lives. We learn from each other, and the information given to us should be reliable. Which leads me to think it’s not the genres that need to be changed, but maybe the books that are classified within them. Textbooks, informational books, cookbooks, etc., things that have concrete information; those are nonfiction. As for memoirs, well, if they’re all from memory, maybe they go into realistic fiction, or they get a genre of their own. They can’t be classified as factual if they’re not.  If it’s a good story, great! But if it’s not true, it’s not nonfiction.

Blog Post 4: Movie Adaptations

Silver Linings Playbook Adaptation:

Scenes to keep:

1.       The first scene that is absolutely necessary to keep would be the very first part of the book. Pat’s mother checks him out of the ‘bad place’, or the mental hospital. The audience does not know why he was there, however, this scene is crucial in explaining Pat’s life choices and mentality. This is the basis for the entire book; showing Pat as he tries to resume normal life without any memory of who we was before he was admitted into the hospital. Also, we receive perspective on how Pat feels towards certain people, such as doctors, his ex-wife, and his family.

2.       The next scene that would have to be kept is when Pat meets Tiffany. Because the book revolves around their odd relationship, it is necessary that the audience see the very first interaction with Pat and Tiffany, because it sets the tone for the remainder of the book/movie.  The awkward directness they show each other foreshadows the fragmented friendship they will share throughout the book, while also introducing some important characters, such as Tiffany’s family, and Pat’s best friend from before the hospital.

3.       Finally, the last scene that would have to be kept would be the explanation for Pat’s behavior. This is the scene when the audience finds out why Pat was in the ‘bad place’, but it comes back in a very specific flash of memories. He wakes up on the side of the road, unsure of where he is, and the memories begin to flash back. This really brings home the way Pat sees ‘silver linings’ and how much he has tried to change.  The way that it is introduced and played out would have to be the same because, once again, it explains a lot about Pat and his character.

Scenes to get rid of:

1.       Part of the book that could potentially be cut would be the scene where Pat goes to the beach with Ronnie, Tiffany, Emily, and Veronica. In this scene, Pat takes Ronnie’s kid swimming, and when Veronica finds out, she yells at Pat, and Pat runs away. This could be cut because it holds no real significance to the plot, it is just another example out of various others that show how Pat reacts to some situations, and also how Tiffany responds to Pat.

2.       The other scene that could be cut is the scene where Pat goes to an Eagles game with his younger brother. In this scene, once again, there isn’t much significance. Pat has a broken leg, and it shows how Pat and his brother interact, and how Pat, although he’s older, looks up to his brother, who has his life put together.  We see this in various other scenes in the book, so this is just something that could be easily cut without losing any vital information.

Slaughterhouse Five: The Ultimate Fan Experience

Listen:

When you finished Slaughterhouse Five, were you left wanting more? So were we. In fact, after a long debate over how to bring the book beyond the pages, we decided to bring parts of the book to life. We struggled and debated over what parts of this book we could bring to you; could we create a galaxy for you readers, identical to the one Billy Pilgrim creates? Or should we send you back in time, to Dresden? So it goes.

Finally, we thought of it. Why not bring key artifacts to you, and let you become more involved in the story?  If you were like us, you held this book as near and dear to your heart as Weary held his bulletproof bible. However, you may have been curious about major details of the book. What did the Tralfamadores who repeatedly abducted Billy look like? What did Montana Wildhack’s necklace look like, or the dog tags Billy describes his fellow soldiers wearing? What about the shoes Billy was forced to wear from the Cinderella play after his boots were stolen when he was captured? Vonnegut Industries asked the same questions, and we’re bringing the answers to you. Now you can re-read Slaughterhouse Five, with your complete fan kit with you.  Isn’t that comforting? This kit includes: A plush stuffed animal made to represent Tralfamadores, your choice of necklace (either resembling Wildhack’s locket or Billy Pilgrim’s dog-tag), and a pair of slippers made to look like your choice of Cinderella shoes (“airman’s boots painted silver”) or army boots. No longer will there be a doubt in your mind about what the extraterrestrials look like. Your plush toy comes in a variety of colors; you can choose the best Tralfamadore for you. With personalized dog tags, or a locket identical to Montana Wildhack’s, you can become part of the war, alongside Pilgrim in Dresden with your very own dog-tag, or go to the galaxy of the Tralfamadores with the necklace like the one that hangs around Montana’s neck. And when you’re captured by Germans with Billy and the ‘three musketeers’ and their boots are taken, your slippers  will stay on comfortably on your feet.

As you’re transported through time with Billy Pilgrim and the various other characters through memories of past wars, present day, or to another galaxy all together, you have the opportunity to curl up to your Tralfamadore, slide on your slippers and necklaces and become part of the book with items directly from it. Thrown around in time and space, you have the opportunity to really become part of the book, to see into Billy Pilgrims mind, and now visualize his experiences easier than ever. This kit will make the experience of Billy Pilgrim’s journey more authentic to you, because it allows you to become part of the story yourself. This kind of experience is rarely offered in books, making it unique to Slaughterhouse Five and its true fans. It will enhance the way you read the book and the way you interact with the story and its characters. You will now have a way to carry the book with you at all times, in various forms. We hope this kit will help you become abducted into the story, much like Billy was abducted into the world of Tralfamadores.

To order your ultimate fan kit for the low price of $24.95, please log onto www.vonnegutinc.com or call 1-888-VON-KITS. And for a limited time, if you mention this ad over the phone, or enter the code TRALFAM1 online, you will receive another $10 off! That’s right, a $40 value fan kit for only $15!!

 

Colors: Pink, Purple, Blue, Green

Combat 'boots' come in sizes 6-13, men and women. Womens slippers also available in silver.

 

 

Dog Tags are personalized. Womens locket is not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post 2: What is a Book?

A book is a memory. We live in a world of fast-paced, convenience-driven masses. We rush from one place to the next, only making time for what makes time for us. And while it may have always been this way in our lives, we can all look back to our youth, and remember how slowly it went. It was a time where we appreciated every detail, even if we didn’t know what it meant to do that. We were in awe of the simplest things; the fireflies in our backyard, the birds soaring overhead… we took time to look around. It is not lost on me that the demands grow as we get older. But if we can think back to our childhood, and remember what stimulated this awestruck curiosity with the world, we can remember being read to and our slow evolution from picture book to the A to Z Mystery series. We got this imagination when we opened a new book. We never peeked over our parents’ arm to look at the screen they were reading off of. We looked to see the pages in the book; how many we had left, how many words were littered onto the page. While e-books are more convenient in more than one way, there is a loss of something when a real book is replaced. When we sit down and read a physical book, one with pages and binding, we are able to slip back into that peaceful slowness of our youth. When we look at a screen, it resembles a computer or phone, things we use to get information quickly and efficiently, whether we realize it consciously or not. LaValle may think of my opinion as ‘melodramatic nonsense’, but there is a place in everyone’s heart that craves this nostalgic happiness, when we can reflect on our youth, and perhaps for a while, escape there. As Piazza says, ‘[A book] is a gesture of faith in the future.’ Faith that no matter how old we get, and however things change for us, we still have the simplest constant, and a way to transport ourselves back in time.