Looking For Alaska.

My god.
I opened this book at 1:00 today. 15 hours and 221 pages later, I closed it.
What a wonderful journey. This book was so much. Poignant. Raw. Emotional. Nostalgic. Most of all, sentimental. I listened to music the entire time while reading and I know those songs will transport me back for a very long time coming.
The Before Times, as Green structures it, are amazing. I don’t quite know how to describe it, except with a picture. Sitting against a tree with the girl you’ve known for a few years and deeply adore, laying against one another, and watching the sun set while crickets and the soft hum of the earth rocks you away in waves. That’s what it feels like. They’re so comforting and real and just…alive. I was extremely invested in the characters, the story, everything. So many times I laughed out loud, grinning ear to ear sheerly for how amazingly Pudge, Colonel, Takumi, and Alaska bounced off eachother. It was incredible.
And the after times…god those just tugged at my soul. I didn’t bawl, but I most definitely cried, and the sadness was huge. I’d only known this girl for half a day and yet her loss was just devastating. But, somehow, it ends on a sweet note. The prank was so much fun, and seeing Pudge and Colonel’s grief beginning to wash away to acceptance…ugh.
And the final few pages. Jesus. That was exactly what I was hoping for when picking up this book. Pure, unbridled beauty. Green’s wonderful philosophy, prose, musings, tying this incredible story together neatly. I unwrapped the book this afternoon, and Green rewrapped it prettier than before.
Overall, it was such an adventure. It made me feel the way the game Life Is Strange made me feel, honestly. It was absolutely a Life Is Strange in book form. And the perfect book to spend a rainy Saturday curled up reading. I don’t know that this would have been nearly as beautiful an experience if I had stretched it out. All the beautiful and ugly things about adolescence, all the poignancy, all the friendships and the exploration and the wisdom. All of it. I have so many emotions to process right now.
I used to read a lot when I was in middle school, but then just kinda stopped for many years and have only recently started again. And it made me realize, this YA book is probably the most adult book I’ve ever read, with the most sophisticated themes. Honestly it affected me so much, that even all these words don’t do it justice.

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How will we get out of this labyrinth of suffering?

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Straight and fast.

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SSStraight

by Sausage_fingies