The Fog Is Rising: About Looking for Alaska
From the jacket:
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 Francois
Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek,
including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska
will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.
Looking for Alaska brilliantly chronicles the indelible impact one life can have on another. A stunning debut, it marks John Green's arrival
as an important new voice in contemporary fiction.
K. L. Going, Printz Honor winner and author of [the excellent] Fat Kid Rules the World, says, "John Green has written a powerful novel--one that plunges headlong into the labyrinth of life, love, and the mysteries of being human. This is a book that will touch your life."
Reviews (SPOILER ALERT!):
"Green...has a writer's voice, so self-assured and honest that
one is startled to learn that this novel is his first. The anticipated
favorable comparisons to Holden Caufield are richly deserved in this
highly recommended addition to young adult literature."
-VOYA
"Like Phineas in John Knowles' "A Separate Peace," Green
draws Alaska so lovingly, in self-loathing darkness as well as energetic
light, that readers mourn her loss along with her friends."
-School Library Journal, Starred Review
"Readers will only hope that this is not the last word from this
promising new author."
-Publisher's Weekly
"The spirit of Holden Caulfield lives on."
-KLIATT
Questions Frequently Asked By Readers
Q. Do you really know all those people's last words?
A. Yeah. I'm sort of obsessed with last words. Like up there in the title, I was going to say just, "About Looking for Alaska," but then I started thinking it would be an excellent opportunity to use Emily Dickinson's last words, so I did. I'm currently trying to write a book that contains no last words, and boy is it hard.
Q. How long did it take to write Alaska?
A. About three years. But for one of those years, I was in the process of breaking up with a girl (well, technically, she was in the process of breaking up with me), which is not a situation conducive to writing well.
Q. How did you come up with the countdown chapter titles?
A. Well, the fancypants answer is that I was thinking about the way we count within the framework of important events--in the Christian world, we date from what the birth of Christ, for instance; the Islamic world dates from the Muslims' move from Mecca to Medina; etc. But the less fancypants answer is that I thought it was neat.
Questions Frequently Asked By My High-School Friends
Q. Am I in the book?
A. No. It's fictional.
Q. Don't shit me, dude. Am I in it?
A. Eh, maybe.
Questions Frequently Asked by My Relatives in Birmingham:
Q. Don't say anything about the family.
A. I didn't!
Q. Does this book of yours contain any foul language?
A. Oh my, yes.
If you have a question that was not answered above, feel free to email
me.
