I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words—and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet François Rabelais called “The Great Perhaps.” Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young, who will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

Short and Sweet Review

This book goes from past tense to present so lets start with Before.

Miles “Pudge” is starting his first year at Culver Creek, where he meets his new friends Chip “Colonel”, Alaska, Tukami, and Lara. Pudge has a crush on Alaska but she’s already taken so that’s obviously not going to work out. Alaska is a wild card sometimes she’s okay other days she’s not. During this time we see the group do a lot of drinking and smoking and going to class. One night Pudge is taken out of his room and is thrown in the lake and that’s when Pudge and his group of friends decide they’re going to do a prank war. The before is basically a count down to the after.

In the After we see that Alaska has passed. The group tries to deal with it but Pudge, Colonel, and Takumi are taking it hard. They try to figure out what was going through Alaska’s mind in her last moments. I think they eventually get closure but its up to the reader to decide what Alaska was really doing when she died. 

Looking for Alaska is a short book but there’s a lot packed into it. I think that some of the things that happened weren’t realistic. I also know that Pudge liked Alaska but after her death he painted her in a light that didn’t represent who she was at all. This was a good book but not one I would read again.