Looking for Alaska post #4

I wanted to read Looking for Alaska because the book cover and title pulled me in.  When I think of Alaska, I think of a state, not a girl.  On the back of the book it says “after… nothing is ever the same.”  That really pulled me in because I started question what “after” is.  Looking for Alaska isn’t told in the classic chapters.  It is told in days.  For example: “134 days before” or “30 days after.”  I don’t see any similarities between Miles and I because Miles smoked, broke all the rules, drinks, lives in Arkansas and has almost drowned his first week of school.

I would recommend this book to anybody that likes books about teenagers and their problems.  Readers that like PG-13 rated humor and suspense could also enjoy reading this book.  This is a good book for readers who like a mystery book because they have an investigation in the “after” part of the book.  This book is great for readers who like love and drama because of the more graphic love sections of the book.  I would rate this book a 3 out of 5.  It was a good book, but it just wasn’t in the genre of my choice.

Looking for Alaska post #3

“We left. 

We did not say: Don’t drive.  You’re drunk.

We did not say:  We aren’t letting you in that car when you are upset.

We did not say: We insist on going with you.

We did not say: This can wait until tomorrow.  Anything—everything—can wait,” (Green, 132).

 

                This quote is taking place in the main character, Miles’, room.  Alaska is very upset about something and Miles and Chip can’t convince her to spit it out.  Alaska says she forgot to go somewhere important and that she needed to drive there in the middle of the night.  Chip and Miles ask her what’s wrong and they can tell she is extremely drunk.  Miles and Chip finally decide to cooperate with Alaska by distracting the administrator while Alaska starts the car. 

This quote is a thought in Miles’ head as they suit up and get ready to distract the administrator.  This is a big cliffhanger because you don’t know why Alaska is so upset.  I also wondered where Alaska is planning on going in the middle of the night.  This quote is an example of repetition.  This repetition adds a substantial amount of suspense and leaves the reader pondering the thought that Alaska might get hurt, considering she is highly intoxicated.

 

 

Looking for Alaska post #2

Miles Halter is a basic and understandable character.  He isn’t used to the new challenges he faces because he is so used to his air-conditioned life in his Florida home.  I think Miles wants to fit in and have friends.  Miles also wants to be dating Alaska, but she is single.  Miles wants to have a fun time while maintaining good grades while he is at this school.

Chip wants to be loyal to the ones he trusts and seek vengeance on the ones who have hurt the people that he is loyal to.  Chip wants to be a better boyfriend to Sara because all they do is fight.  Chip also wants to find out who ratted out his friends.  Ratting somebody out is the worst thing you can do at the school, and he wants to find out who ratted his friends out.

Alaska wants to be loyal to her boyfriend, Jake.  She also wants to be friends with Chip, Miles and Taksumi.  Alaska wants to be loyal.  She also wants to know the solution to the Labyrinth. 

The structure of this book is odd because there are no chapters.  The book is based on a single event that I haven’t gotten to yet.  The book is told by days.  An example is 48 days before.  I don’t know what the event is but I hope the event is well.

 

Looking for Alaska post #1

The main character is named Miles Halter.  He is a junior and lives in Florida.  Miles isn’t that popular at school and wants to leave home to go to a boarding school called Culver’s Creek.  Culver’s Creek Boarding School is located in the middle of Alabama and Miles must adapt to no AC anywhere on campus.  His new roommate: Chip Martin or ‘The Colonel.’  Chip is from California and it is his 3^rd year at Culver’s Creek.  The last important character in Looking for Alaska is Alaska.  This is her 3^rd year at Culver’s Creek.  Alaska and Chip are best friend because they bonded through pranking kids and teachers at the school.

Some of the conflicts in my book are person vs. person.  The rich kids at the school always think they are better than all the other kids so Chip and Alaska have pulled pranks on them before.  Miles is faced with peer pressure because he is offered beer and cigarettes.  He gives in to cigarettes and this is person vs self.  Another example of a conflict is that Alaska thinks Miles is cute but Alaska has a boyfriend so they can’t date.

This book reminds me of the Alex Rider series (Stormbreaker, Crocodile Tears, Scorpia, etc.)  Alex Rider was faced with a whole new challenge, being the first teen of the British intelligence agency MI6.  Just like Miles was faced with the new challenge of being the new kid at Culver’s Creek Boarding School.

Book Review on Divergent

Divergent is a masterpiece.  The book has so much suspense and action in it, and it just wants to make me keep turning the pages.  Each chapter comes with it's own surprises and obstacles that get in the way of Tris.  The book is pretty long and has elevated vocabulary.

I recommend this book to anyone that enjoys reading action-packed, suspenseful books that have cliff-hangers on every page.  I also recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in dystopian society books like the Hunger Games series.  This book is so action packed I can't give you any quotes because it would give too much away. 

Near the end of the book Tris watches and commits several murders of the ones she loves.  For people that read the last page before you read the book; here is the last sentence in the book: "I am no longer Tris, the selfless, or Tris, the brave.  I suppose that now, I must become more than either," (Roth, 487).  It doesn't give away anything for those who read the last lines of the book! 

If you actually read the book, you will see that this is a HUGE cliff-hanger and I can't wait to start reading Insurgent!  The first 2 chapters of the book were at the end of the Divergent book and they are not that great because the book hasn't picked up yet.  I rate this book a 5 of 5 because of its non-stop action and suspense (for the 3rd time).

What I Plan to Read Next

I'm currently reading Divergent, so what do you think I'm going to read next?  Well, I'm going to read the next book in the Divergent series: Insurgent.  I haven't heard much about this book yet, but I'm thinking it is going to be the Mockingjay equivalent of Hunger Games, considering that she is already captured by the Erudite.

I'm really excited to see what is going to happen in Insurgent because the ending of Divergent didn't give me any closure.  The Divergent series is definitely in my top five series I have read.  I think I like the Divergent series so much because I like Utopia books like the Hunger Games series.  I am really excited to see what is coming up in my book next. 

The best thing about Divergent

I think I like Divergent because it is such an action packed book.  It has cliff-hangers at the end of every chapter and the book is filled with so many surprises.  The main character of my book, Beatrice Prior, has many internal and external conflicts going on in her life that just adds on to the things that are going on around her in her current Dystopian society.

Veronica Roth really knows how to cram the maximum amounts of action, suspense, romance and conflict into one novel.  I am currently on a really good cliff-hanger at the end of the chapter.  This quote is right after Beatrice comes out of a Dauntless leader's fear landscape and the Dauntless leader's fear turned into her own fear: "Something within me snaps.  My tears stop.  Heat races through my body, driving the weakness out of me, and I smack him so hard my knuckles burn with the impact.  He stares back at me, one side of his face bright with blush-blood, and I stare back," (Roth, 345).

This quote is amazing because it leaves such a cliff-hanger for the reader to ponder about what might happen next if they turn the page!  I like how Veronica Roth added the detail in-between the lines 'He stares back at me' and the line 'and I stare back at him.'  It just gives the moment more detail for the reader to imagine what is going on.  This is why I like Divergent so much.