History Literature / LookingForAlaska

''Looking for Alaska'' is a young adult novel and the debut novel by Creator/JohnGreen, released in 2005 and winning the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award. It is the ComingOfAgeStory of a boy named Miles Halter, who is nicknamed "Pudge" (so called [[IronicNickname because of his infernal skinniness]]) and has a hobby of memorizing the last words of famous people.

* UnresolvedSexualTension: Between Miles and Alaska. ''Oh, so much''. [[spoiler:Remains unresolved due to Alaska's death.]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by the fact that Alaska [[spoiler:ended their hookup with an enticing "to be continued?", which eats away at Pudge after her death]].
* UnusualChapterNumbers: All of the chapters count off the days until [[spoiler:Alaska dies. The rest of the book count forward from her death]].

* BuxomIsBetter: Both Alaska and Lara's chests get complimented by the guys, to the chagrin of the former.

''Looking for Alaska'' is a Printz Award-winning young adult novel, and the debut novel by Creator/JohnGreen, released in 2005. It is the ComingOfAgeStory of a boy named Miles Halter, who is nicknamed "Pudge" (so called [[IronicNickname because of his infernal skinniness]]) and has a hobby of memorizing the last words of famous people.

The book is unique for having UnusualChapterNumbers based around a two-part structure: "Before", which counts down the days to the story's climax, and "After", which shows the characters' reactions. The style was inspired by a habit Green observed of people viewing their histories through the lenses of before and after important events, and by extension newscasters' statements that 9/11 would become such a dividing line for world history.

An official adaptation of ''Looking for Alaska'' was in the works for [[DevelopmentHell quite some time]], with the initial rights to make a [[TheFilmOfTheBook film of the book]] being sold to Creator/{{Paramount}} shortly after the book's release. The project was almost instantly shelved due to lack of interest from Paramount, but after the success of Green's breakout novel ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'' and its film adaptation, the studio reconsidered and the ''Alaska'' film began taking shape. It was slated to be directed by Rebecca Thomas with a screenplay by Sarah Polley and set to begin production early in 2016, but saw a perfect storm of issues, including casting and scheduling problems alongside [[http://papertownsy.tumblr.com/post/139573452996/looks-like-the-looking-for-alaska-movie-has-become tension between Green and Paramount]], that led to it being shelved seemingly permanently.

* ArcWords: A quotations from Gabriel García Márquez's ''The General In His Labyrinth'': "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" And the final words of Francois Rabelais: "I go to seek a great perhaps". "Straight and fast" and "To be continued" play important roles as well.

* DeathByNewberyMedal: This Michael L. Printz Award winning book features a nerdy young teen who [[spoiler:goes to a boarding school and meets a beautiful, adventurous girl with green eyes named Alaska. She has issues about her dead mother, so she drinks and smokes a lot and drives a beat up old car with bad brakes. Need we say what happens to her midway through the novel?]]

* DeconstructedCharacterArchetype / {{Deconstruction}}: Of the ManicPixieDreamGirl trope. Alaska Young is a beautiful, fun-loving, rules-flaunting HardDrinkingPartyGirl [[TheCharmer equipped with a magnetic charisma]]. Her friends encourage these traits in her due to finding them endearing, failing to understand that she is, to quote her, a "deeply unhappy person" who acts out as a way to [[MotivatedByFear avoid being scared]]. [[spoiler: As such, they fail to come through for her when she needs them most, with tragic consequences]].

* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler: It's hard to get the girl when she's dead]]. He doesn't end up with [[spoiler:Lara]], either. The two drift apart after [[spoiler:having a deeply unsatisfactory sexual experience together and Alaska's subsequent death]].

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Alaska. Maybe. It's the ongoing question of the 'after' section.]]

* DrunkDriver: [[spoiler: Alaska's death is this. She tries driving while drunk and ends up getting in a fatal car accident. Though it may have also been on purpose, the alcohol didn't help]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[MinorMajorCharacter Jake]]. He calls Alaska just after she and Miles almost have sex. While taking the call, Alaska sketches a white flower [[spoiler: which reminds her she forgot the anniversary of her mother's death (she would put white flowers on her grave every year). The realization that she was cheating on her boyfriend rather than mourning her mother sends her into a fatal FreakOut]].

->''"I wanted so badly to lie down next to her on the couch, to wrap my arms around her and sleep. Not [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex fu]][[PrecisionFStrike ck]], like in those movies. Not even have sex. Just sleep together, in the most innocent sense of the phrase. But I lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and I was gawky and she was gorgeous and I was hopelessly boring and she was endlessly fascinating. So I walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane."''

* AmbiguousDisorder: Due to her risky behavior and MoodSwinger tendencies, Alaska having UsefulNotes/BipolarDisorder or Borderline Personality Disorder is somewhat of a popular fan speculation. Of course, it's equally possible - likely, even - that these symptoms were simply brought about by [[spoiler:[[DarkAndTroubledPast deep emotional trauma]]]].

* DrunkDriver: [[spoiler: Alaska’s death is this. She tries driving while drunk and ends up getting in a fatal car accident. Though it may have also been on purpose, the alcohol didn't help]].

* NiceHat: Takumi's... fox-head thing. He calls it ''The Fox''.

Pudge has had it with his boring Florida high school, where he has no friends, and has decided to take a chance on the more prestigious Culver Creek high school in Alabama, inspired by the last words of French writer Francois Rabelais: "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." There, he picks up a smoking habit, thinks about God, and makes friends -- the bossy but jovial Colonel, the dry Takumi, sweet and withdrawn Lara, and the beautiful, dangerous Alaska, for whom Pudge falls quickly and soundly.

''Looking for Alaska'' is a Printz Award-winning young adult novel, and the debut novel by Creator/JohnGreen. It is the ComingOfAgeStory of a boy named Miles Halter, who is nicknamed "Pudge" (so called [[IronicNickname because of his infernal skinniness]]) and has a hobby of memorizing the last words of famous people.

* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:Accident or suicide?]] We also never learn [[spoiler: what her last words were]]. Miles and Colonel try to conduct some scientific experiments to figure out if [[spoiler:Alaska could be been too drunk or driving at an uncontrollable speed]]. They determine [[spoiler:no]], which only adds to the mystery.

%%** They almost grounded this book because of the swearing, drinking, and sexual behavior of the characters, which indicates possibly that they have never met real teenagers.

%%* MoralGuardians:

%%** Also, the US bookcover originally only pictured a stream of cigarette smoke, but bookstores objected and Penguin added a candle underneath. That candle was expunged in future editions until the cover was [[FollowTheLeader redesigned to look like that of]] ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars''.

* MoralGuardians:
** They almost grounded this book because of the swearing, drinking, and sexual behavior of the characters, which indicates possibly that they have never met real teenagers.
** Also, the US bookcover originally only pictured a stream of cigarette smoke, but bookstores objected and Penguin added a candle underneath. That candle was expunged in future editions until the cover was [[FollowTheLeader redesigned to look like that of]] ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars''.

* FanDisservice: After [[spoiler:learning of Alaska's death]], Pudge has a [[EroticDream nightmare where she appears to him naked]]... only to [[spoiler: collapse onto him and trap him under her cold dead weight. Oh, and and [[BodyHorror her head cracks open]]]]. If anything, the inherent MoodWhiplash and gross inappropriateness of the sexual part of the dream is FanDisservice on its own.

* FeatheredFiend: There is an [[KillerRabbit evil swan]] that lives in the lake near Culver Creek and is unanimously considered the most terrifying thing on campus.

Pudge has had it with his boring Florida high school, where he has no friends, and has decided to take a chance on the more prestigious Culver Creek high school in Alabama, inspired by the last words of Francois Rabelais: "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." There, he picks up a smoking habit, thinks about God, and makes friends -- the bossy but jovial Colonel, the dry Takumi, sweet and withdrawn Lara, and the beautiful, dangerous Alaska, for whom Pudge falls quickly and soundly.

''Looking for Alaska'' is a Printz Award-winning young adult novel, and the debut novel by Creator/JohnGreen. It is the ComingOfAgeStory of a boy named Miles Halter, who is nicknamed "Pudge" (so called [[IronicNickname because of his infernal skinniness]]).

Pudge has had it with his boring Florida high school, where he has no friends, and has decided to take a chance on the more prestigious Culver Creek high school in Alabama. There, he picks up a smoking habit, thinks about God, and makes friends -- the bossy but jovial Colonel, the dry Takumi, sweet and withdrawn Lara, and the beautiful, dangerous Alaska, for whom Pudge falls quickly and soundly.

The book is unique for having UnusualChapterNumbers based around a two-part structure: "Before", which counts down the days to the story's climax, and "After", which shows the characters' reactions. The style was inspired by a habit Green observed of people viewing their histories through the lenses of before and after important events, and saw most directly in newscasters' statements that 9/11 would become such a dividing line for world history.

However, in May of 2018, Green announced that an ''Alaska'' adaptation would finally see the light of day -- but for the small screen instead of the big, as [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/john-greens-looking-alaska-tv-series-josh-schwartz-set-at-hulu-1110571 an 8-episode limited series]] based on the novel was optioned by Paramount. It was released through Hulu on October 18, 2019, and was helmed by Josh Schwartz (creator of ''Series/TheOC''), who had been trying to negotiate an adaptation of the novel for over a decade. You can find the miniseries' page [[Series/LookingForAlaska here.]]

* FamousLastWords: Collecting these is Pudge's hobby, which later turns very symbolic as he never learns [[spoiler:what Alaska's]] were.

* ArcWords: A quotations from Gabriel García Márquez's ''The General In His Labyrinth'': "How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!" And the [[FamousLastWords the final words]] of Francois Rabelais: "I go to seek a great perhaps". "Straight and fast" and "To be continued" play important roles as well.

''Looking for Alaska'' is a Printz Award-winning young adult novel by Creator/JohnGreen (his debut novel, in fact). It is a charming ComingOfAgeStory about the main character, Miles, who is nicknamed "Pudge" (so called [[IronicNickname because of his infernal skinniness]]). Pudge has had it with his boring Florida high school, where he has no friends, and has decided to take a chance on the more prestigious Culver Creek high school in Alabama. There, he picks up a smoking habit, thinks about God, and makes friends -- the bossy but jovial Colonel, the dry Takumi, sweet and withdrawn Lara, and the beautiful, dangerous Alaska, for whom Pudge falls quickly and soundly.

It's unique for UnusualChapterNumbers based around having a two-part structure titled "Before" and "After", the "Before" part counting down to the story's climax and the "After" part showing the characters' reactions.

In May of 2018, however, Green announced that [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/john-greens-looking-alaska-tv-series-josh-schwartz-set-at-hulu-1110571 an 8-episode limited series]] based on the novel was optioned by Paramount. It was released on Hulu and helmed by Josh Schwartz (creator of ''Series/TheOC''), who had been trying to negotiate an adaptation of the novel for over a decade. [[Series/LookingForAlaska You can find the miniseries' page here.]]

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: Alaska’s death is this. She tries driving while drunk and ends up getting in a fatal car accident. Though it may have also been on purpose, the alcohol didn't help]].

* HateSink: The book lacks a true villain, but it does have Kevin, a horrendous JerkJock who is perfectly okay with playing potentially lethal "pranks." [[spoiler: Even he is affected by Alaska's death, however]].

* LeftFielder: When Lara asks Pudge if [[spoiler:he's ever gotten a blowjob.]] Pudge immediately lampshades this.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Dean Starnes's reaction to the junior prank with Maxx the Stripper, especially with Maxx saying, "This is for Alaska Young!" before dancing. He does tell the boys he knew they orchestrated it and not to do it again, but can't help remark that it was as if he got to hear Alaska one last time.

** Kevin. Miles could have died being thrown into the lake duct-taped, and the only reason they messed with him is because the Colonel is his roommate.

** Kevin and his "[[RichBitch Weekday Warrior]]" posse [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduce themselves]] to Miles by tying him up and throwing him in the lake simply as RevengeByProxy on the Colonel for pranking them.

* MoodSwinger: Alaska, who can go from wild and flirtatious in one moment to hysterically sobbing the next. Pudge experiences it early on when he goes to her soaking wet after being cruelly thrown in the lake by some bullies, only for her to coldly make fun of him - despite being warm and inviting earlier that day.

* RealityEnsues: [[spoiler: Alaska’s death is this. She tries driving while drunk and ends up getting in a fatal car accident.]]

* RiddleForTheAges: [[spoiler:Accident or suicide?]] We also never learn [[spoiler: what her last words were]].

* MsFanservice: Alaska, in Pudge's eyes. Her [[InformedAttractiviness physical features are deliberately brought to attention]] to set up Pudge's [[LustObject persistent attraction and obsession with her]], [[spoiler:to the neglect of her vulnerable and troubled side]].

* {{Adorkable}}: Pudge's quirky awkwardness is considered endearing by the other characters, including Alaska, who calls him adorable.
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: The generally humorless Eagle's reaction to [[spoiler: Alaska's prank]].

* [[spoiler: DeathByNewberyMedal: This Michael L. Printz Award winning book features a nerdy young teen who goes to a boarding school and meets a beautiful, adventurous girl with green eyes named Alaska. She has issues about her dead mother, so she drinks and smokes a lot and drives a beat up old car with bad brakes. Need we say what happens to her midway through the novel?]]