Published: 2006
Pages: 231
Genre: Young Adult/Coming-of-Age
3.5 stars: 3 stars for the first half, 4 stars for the second half.
Miles (or Pudge, as he becomes known) is headed to Culver Creek Boarding School in Alabama this year. Up until that point, his life had been pretty boring, but at boarding school he meets a girl named Alaska through his roommate, Chip. They act like stupid teenagers for a while (drinking, smoking, sneaking off school property, pulling pranks on other students) until "the event" happens in the middle of the book. I didn't read any spoilers, so I had no idea what was going to happen although the book does allude to it with a sort of countdown with each chapter. I won't spoil it here, but it completely changes the second half of the book (which was my favorite and definitely the stronger part of the book).
I didn't get the hype over this book (it has won a bunch of literary awards) while I was reading the first half. It didn't seem to have much of a plot and was kind of just the aimless wandering of a few teenagers. I'm glad I stuck with it though...the second half definitely packs a punch and earned those awards.
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