Looking for Alaska

Published 2005, Author John Green
"Miles Halter is facinated by famous last words -- and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Fancois 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."

I was surprised at how good this book was, because usually usually when I randomly pluck novels off shelves in the library I end up reading crap. But this one, freshly plucked off the new arrivals section, actually kept me awake from 3am-6am (this morning). I usually like to read those novels which talk about life in school, and this is one of them, written from a first person narrative.

The writing style is more crude and in your face kind, sort of a like a rock song maybe. It's a breath of fresh air from those lengthy and "elegant" descriptive novels that i like to skim thru. The words come quickly seldom giving you time to breathe or blink, but the overall impression of the book is one of raw beauty. Yeah it's a beautiful story.

This is the author's debut novel and one of the O.C. writers is going to direct it into some short movie. I'll definitely watch out for this author in future.