A wise man once said, "The only normal people are the ones we don't know very well." Having found it recently, I believe it might be my favorite non-literary quote ever, which says a lot, since I adore quotes as much as the next person. I have come to find it true. As soon as you start paying attention to any given individual, you will find they are less happy than they made out to be. Once you know this, it hurts. It will always hurt, for various reasons for various people. Whether you notice that a supposedly perfectly happy girl is at a loss as soon as she's parted from her two friends or witness an outburst from the normally so calm boy, it stings in a way I can't explain. Maybe it's the way I see myself in that girl, and my brother in that boy. Maybe it's because neither of the two will ever know I saw or cared. Maybe it's the way I can only think of Alaska with the picture of my self-harming friend inhabiting the back of my mind, who wears long sleeves even in the heart of summer. And because I can't muster the strength and bravery to tell anyone that I saw and cared, I pray. And I just hope that God makes them feel a tiny bit better the next day. But I'm happy I see it now, too, because the knowing has flooded my mind with little bells that ring at the touch of an individual I dislike. They warn me he or she suffers or will suffer or has suffered, and I have no right to judge him/her.
Justification: Not granted
Anthem: Off I Go by Greg Laswell
Rating: *****
Risk: XXXX. I'm not brave enough to recommend this to my formerly depressed, smoking, drinking friend.
Review: I already wrote a review of my first read
The following will contain spoilers for Looking For Alaska
Drugs/alcohol/smoking
As I already wrote in The Perks review, I love raw YA contemporaries most because they embody the life I did not choose and will never choose. And every time I read one, I consider toughening up my lifestyle, too. However, I soon regain common sense and a strong regard for my parents' fragile serenity, and the will discard the idea. A book won't tempt a child into smoking, drinking, or doing drugs. If anything, the teens most likely to do this might actually consider quitting after reading a book that portrays it. The popular regard that books are 'nerdy' and 'boring,' will protect us all from being influenced by them very strongly.
Still, I do not trust my presumably mentally-ill with Looking For Alaska because I'm afraid it will trick her into thinking that smoking and drinking and being reckless and a little bipolar will make her a mysterious, attractive girl. I know John Green never intended this message to be conveyed, he even wrote a Tumblr post in which he defends himself. One of my greatest fear as an aspiring author is the idea that people might take away the wrong things from my books and harm themselves doing so. It scares me to know that there will always be misguided, ill, lonely teenagers in this world that might make great mistakes if they read a story of mine. But, John, we both know that's no reason to shut our typewriters down and pack up our beloved writing kits.
Offensive language
Unnecessary cursing can really bother me in a novel, especially when it's pretentious and doesn't fit the characters. But I like the swearing in LFA. It serves a purpose, and we (high school students), do talk the way Miles and Alaska and Chip do. Only we don't have cool nicknames to suit awesome adventures and drinking games. I feel like our friend group resembles more of a younger, female, less intelligent Big Bang Theory.
Sexually explicit
I can't top the author's explanation, obviously, so time for your interrogation, Alaska Young. Your lawyer is Mr. John Green.
Old video
Recent video
Unsuited for age group
I am a huge advocate of the permission slip system. No one knows what a kid can handle better than his/her parents. (This coming from me, a girl whose parents tend to underestimate what she can and cannot handle.) I definitely think no one under the age of thirteen should read this book because the themes are pretty heavy, and the s#x scene is pretty graphic, but the average YA reader should be able to stomach it. (Not without crying, of course.)
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