Looking For Alaska Summary | John Green

Looking for Alaska by John Green is a contemporary young-adult novel about love, loss, and youth. The book follows the narrative of Miles Halter. He has always lived the life of an introvert with a very ordinary life. In order to find his ‘greater perhaps, he joins the Culver Creek boarding school. His life changes thereon.

He is navigating his new life at the school when he encounters the beautiful Alaska Young. She is eccentric, gorgeous, and weirdly fascinating. Once he sees the gorgeous and chaotic Alaska, he can’t un-see her. Miles is drawn towards her like a moth to flame. However, Alaska has a boyfriend and her own trauma to deal with. She might look okay, but she has deep childhood trauma. As time goes on, Alaska and Miles become close friends. They, along with their other friends, pull many pranks and have a great time as high schoolers.

Things go downhill when, one day, Miles, Alaska, and the Colonel are drunk out of their minds. They commit a drunken mistake that they’ll regret for life. The next morning, when Miles wakes up, things take a wild turn. Where will his young love take him? Can he ever forget Alaska Young? A story about young love, mistakes, loss, and life.

Spoilers Ahead!!!

In search of a ‘Great Perhaps’, Miles Halter makes the decision to go to Culver Creek in Alabama. He meets his roommate, Chip Martin, or Colonel. Taking in Miles’s lanky frame, he is nicknamed Pudge. After the basic orientation, Pudge meets Alaska Young.

She is from Vine- Station and is well-known for causing trouble, selling cigarettes, and reading books. She has a boyfriend who is a musician at Vanderbilt.

Pudge is also introduced to Takumi, a Japanese guy. Over time, Pudge manages to fit in with the group. They all become close friends and pull up many rendezvous. When Thanksgiving is around the corner, Alaska always stays back at school.

To avoid boredom, she convinces Pudge to stay back as well. Pudge, being the lovesick fool, agrees. Over the holidays, he spends a great deal of time with Alaska, reading poems, making candles, drinking wine, etc. During this time, Miles falls even more for Alaska, and they come closer. 

As the story progresses, their lives remain normal: planning pranks, drinking, studying, and smoking. Except for a few ups and downs, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Until one night, on January 10th, Alaska, Colonel, and Pudge are hanging out. They are all drunk into the next week. On a stupid whim, a game of truth and dare begins. But the game soon ends as Alaska kisses Pudge while Colonel is too drunk to notice.

Alaska shuts down Pudge when he asks about Jake and Lara. After some making out, Alaska says “to be continued,” and both of them fall into a deep slumber. Pudge and Colonel are awoken after some time by a troubled Alaska. She asks for their help in getting out of the school.

They are too drunk to make sense of anything, so they do as she says. They distract the Eagle (the warden), and Alaska leaves in her car.

The next morning, all the students are summoned by the Eagle. An announcement is made that Alaska Young died last night in an accident. Both of them are caught in a guilt trap. They let Alaska go. Even amidst the sorrow, a single question lingers: What really happened? Where was she going?

Colonel comes up with the theory that maybe Alaska had a fight with Jake and she was rushing to him, and she willingly killed herself. On the other hand, Miles is trying to make sense of Alaska’s last words to him.

He doesn’t know what that kiss meant, what he meant to Alaska, or whether he even meant anything to her. Was that kiss a classic-impulsive-Alaska move, a drunken mistake, or a time pass? It doesn’t matter, because Alaska isn’t there to resolve his doubts. She is gone forever.

Colonel Pudge and I begin to investigate Alaska’s death. They interrogate everyone who knows anything and collect every piece of information they can get. They take every desperate measure to know the what, why, how, and when. But nothing helps. The investigation halts, and life goes back to normal, at least to some extent.

Looking for Alaska Ending Explained

Before the summer break, Colonel and Pudge discover the truth behind Alaska’s death. Takumi narrates that Alaska’s mother died on January 9th, and every year she went to her grave.

Suddenly, everything clicks in. Alaska was talking to Jake on the phone, doodling something, when she remembered she forgot her mother’s death anniversary.

Suddenly, she remembered the accusing words of her father. Scared of being a failure, she panicked. She ignored her inebriated state and just rushed out.

That was the simple truth about Alaska Young. A girl scared of being a mess does the first thing that comes to her mind. Disregarding care for anyone or anything, thinking she was invincible, she drove away.

She didn’t reach her destination, but she met the person she always wanted to: her mother.

Gradually, Pudge makes peace with the truth. He doesn’t crave for answers anymore. Maybe she never felt anything for him; maybe she did; maybe they could have been together. The maybes are endless, but he knows one thing: He’ll never forget Alaska Young.

Before Pudge leaves for the summer break, he receives a letter from Takumi. Takumi makes a bewildering revelation in the letter, which I will leave for the reader to discover.