{"id":669,"date":"2011-12-02T06:00:27","date_gmt":"2011-12-02T14:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=669"},"modified":"2011-11-28T11:52:39","modified_gmt":"2011-11-28T19:52:39","slug":"mark-reads-looking-for-alaska-seventy-seven-days-through-fifty-eight-days-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2011\/12\/mark-reads-looking-for-alaska-seventy-seven-days-through-fifty-eight-days-before\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads ‘Looking For Alaska’: seventy-seven days through fifty-eight days before"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventy-six days before it happens, the prank war becomes more intense, and Miles experiences his first bout of homesickness. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Looking For Alaska<\/em>.<\/p>\n

seventy-six days before<\/strong><\/p>\n

I will admit that I am kind of distracted by the casual use of the word “bitch” so often from the Colonel without anyone telling him to knock it off. To be fair, he only says it when Alaska isn’t around, and I imagine she’d tell him to shut the hell up if he did<\/em> use it in her presence. Truth is, despite how gross that word is, there’s a better word to describe what’s going on with Sara and the Colonel: THEY ARE BOTH ACTING QUITE IMMATURE. The fact that they based the vast majority of their relationship on fighting<\/em> is sort of beyond me, and I genuinely don’t understand how a person can miss that.<\/p>\n

But that’s just my upbringing; my mom taught me to never call a woman that word or she’d slap me into a parallel universe.<\/p>\n

I like that the Colonel is now starting to enjoy Dr. Hyde’s class as well, and it’s also neat that Green includes a bit of the man’s lecture in the text, too. The topic for that class’s final does seem a bit obvious, though. I mean that in the sense that like Miles’s obsession with the labyrinth, I think the topic of his exam will play heavily into the narrative. I don’t get the sense that Green just drops all these random things into the story without answering them.<\/p>\n

And then this “chapter” ends on one horrific note: Kevin and his buddies re-routed the gutters to flood Alaska’s room, ruining most of the books she owned as well. I’m starting to get the sense that whatever the “prank” is that opened the book is going to be unbelievably risky and dangerous. Kevin is grossly escalating his attacks on this group, and they’re clearly not meant as gentle prods or moments to inspire a good laugh. They’ve all jumped straight to property destruction, and they are downright mean<\/em>. It’s disturbing to me because they all take this culture of ratting so seriously that they’re willing to do horrible things to one another to send the message home: do not ever go to the Eagle.<\/p>\n

God damn<\/em>.<\/p>\n

sixty-seven days before<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s nice to get more of Takumi in this chapter, especially since he’d always been the fringe member of the group. I knew the least about him, and he was involved the least in everything except eating bufriedos while talking. Plus, this marks the very first time that Takumi has ever spoken to Miles alone. Of course, I’d like to spend time in the heads of all the members of this group, but I’ll take what I can get.<\/p>\n

Even right off the bat, Miles acknowledges just how weird this is:<\/p>\n

And then I didn’t know what to say. Takumi knew a lot about hip-hop; I new a lot about last words and video games. Finally, I said, “I can’t believe those guys flooded Alaska’s room.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At first, I just assumed that Alaska and the Colonel were busy, and I’ve not heard of Miles ever hanging out with anyone else, so he sought out Miles. But when he hesitates before taking Miles to a new<\/em> place to smoke, it was clear that there was another motivation for this.<\/p>\n
“Alaska ratted out Marya,” he said. “So the Eagle might know about the Smoking Hole, too. I don’t know. I’ve never seen him down that way, but who knows what she told him.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And so Takumi, overwrought by the guilt of what he knows, begins detailing out all the “proof” he has that Alaska is partially responsible for a lot of what is happening to all of them. It explains why Alaska made that snide remark to him about getting his own life and scorning him for thinking everything was a “mystery.” I bet she knew he’d figured it out. But what I’m fascinated by is how so many people all play a part in this, how the complex the network at Culver Creek is. Alaska, first of all, was the one trying to sneak off campus and got caught by the Eagle, and she’s the one who chose to rat on her friends rather than get expelled. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that, as Takumi says, the Eagle “needs rats to do his job.” I wonder how aware the Eagle is of the culture he’s created, which spawns a healthy dose of mistrust of him and caused the students to develop a social contract for how to interact with one another because of it.<\/p>\n
Of course, now Miles’s perception of Alaska has changed, and I’m worried where this is going to go from here. The Colonel has no idea his best friend was the catalyst for this prank war, and Takumi insists that Miles should never tell. But this means something different for Miles, though:<\/p>\n
I finally understood that day at the Jury: Alaska wanted to show us that we could trust her. Survival at Culver Creek meant loyalty, and she had ignored that. But then she’d shown me the way. She and the Colonel had taken the fall for me to show me how it was done, so I would know what to do when the time came.<\/p>\n
Well, that’s not good. “The prank” is going to be terrible, isn’t it?<\/p>\n
fifty-eight days before<\/strong><\/p>\n
“Pudge<\/em>,” she said, faux-condescending, “the sound is an integral part of the artisitic experience of this video game. Muting Decapitation would be like reading only every other word of Jane Eyre<\/em>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
THIS IS MY KIND OF FRIEND.<\/p>\n
Given the reveal in the chapter before, I thought I had a better understanding of Alaska, or at least her behavior towards Miles. But one of the very first things she says to him when he wakes up to her playing video games is that she already knows Takumi told Miles that she ratted out Marya. Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6.that’s unexpected. And perhaps her moodiness could partially be tracked back to this: she’s conflicted about her actions, and her emotions are directly tied into that.<\/p>\n
I also don’t think it’s necessarily that simple, and Green’s painted Alaska in a much more complex way than that. I admit that I simply don’t understand what it is that Alaska really wants from Miles. It’s hard to ignore that she’s flirting on some level with him, and it’s impossible to deny that they’re friends. I like how Miles frames it, uncertain of what he should do: he cares enough about her to alleviate that uncertainty.<\/p>\n
And so, after Alaska presents a comprehensive list of why Miles should stay behind with her on the Thanksgiving break. I will say that I enjoy when the two of them are just being nice<\/em> to one another, but I’m also biased towards puppy dogs and kittens, so who cares what I think? But it’s why I was just so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6grossed out? Yes, grossed out by the inclusion of the erection line. THIS IS A PUPPY DOG MOMENT, DO NOT BRING BONERS INTO IT<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Miles does decide to agree to Alaska’s list and calls his mother later to ask if he can stay for Thanksgiving. And this happens:<\/p>\n
I hated cranberry sauce, but for some reason my mom persisted in her lifelong belief that it was my very favorite food, even though every Thanksgiving I politely declined to include it on my plate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
THIS IS ME AND STUFFING<\/strong>. Y’all, this was the first year ever<\/em> that I was not offered stuffing. IT’S A GODDAMN BREAKTHROUGH, I TELL YOU.<\/p>\n
Anyway, Miles’s decision to stay behind is immediately<\/em> questioned, and this made me laugh. How long had it been? Like two hours? Then the Colonel strolls into the room and in a matter of a minute or two, he determines that the primary reason that Miles is staying for the Thanksgiving break is because he wants to make out with Alaska, which he strongly, strongly advises against.<\/p>\n
“It’s not because I want to make out with her.”<\/p>\n
“Hold on.” He grabbed a pencil and scrawled excitedly at the paper as if he’d just made a mathematical breakthrough and then looked back up at me. “I just did some calculations, and I’ve been able to determine that you’re full of shit.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Bless<\/em>. I mean, it is<\/em> that obvious to me, too. So Miles, awash in a weird sense of regret, calls his mother later in the day, looking for some sort of affirmation that can give him another reason besides Alaska for him to stay, and he does get it: his parents are going to England for their second honeymoon now that Miles won’t be around. Well, fuck, that was fast<\/em>. And I get how that can seriously uproot Miles, and I understand even more how that makes him feel instantly homesick. Of course, his parents would have had no idea what their son was going through, and I’m sure they were ecstatic to be able to take the time to do something just for the two of them. But it hurts Miles because now he’s not sure what<\/em> he’s doing.<\/p>\n
And while Alaska’s portrayal is odd, and I haven’t quite figured out what John Green’s point is with her, I think I do get<\/em> one aspect of her: she can be a damn fine friend. While I’m starting to think her characterization might be flawed in its execution, I’ll love the image of her coming to Miles’s side after the phone call and assuring him that things will be just fine at Culver Creek, because she’ll be there.<\/p>\n
That’s nice. I’d like more of that, please.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seventy-six days before it happens, the prank war becomes more intense, and Miles experiences his first bout of homesickness. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Looking For Alaska.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[125,23,123],"class_list":["post-669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-looking-for-alaska","tag-john-green","tag-mark-reads","tag-mark-reads-looking-for-alaska"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}