Two weeks ago I read
The Fault in Our Stars. It was a little slow to get started and I didn't love the protagonist from the very beginning, but I
was stuck on an airplane, so I persisted. Holy shit, what a great book! The ending hit me with so much force - not the events, which I saw coming a hundred and fifty pages away, but the message. It's stuck with me to the point that I bring it up in conversation now, and I've really reconsidered my opinion of 'leaving an impact' on the world. I'll leave it at that to not totally spoil the conversation for those who haven't read it, because this forum doesn't have spoilertext.
So of course I went looking for
Alaska another John Green book. I settled on
Looking For Alaska on the basis of a positive recommendation from a stranger who saw my copy of
The Fault in Our Stars. What a deeply uninteresting book! I loved
Stars because it taught me more about suffering, love, and loss and allowed me to reexamine my own experiences. In
Alaska, the characters are flat and uninteresting, and I saw nothing that made me think, much less anything that made me relive or reexamine my experience with (others') mental illnesses in high school. At least it was over quickly and the pacing was fast.
Anybody else share my ennui with
Alaska?
Did anyone get as much out of it as the numerous book award committees?
Where can I find the next
Fault in Our Stars?