Age: High School

Pudge is fascinated with last words. In an attempt to leave his boring hometown and uneventful life, Pudge follows the last words of the poet Francois Rabelais, "I go to seek a Great Perhaps." His Great Perhaps begins at Culver Creek where a few good friends he's never had, including Alaska the mysteriously sexy and clever love interest, introduce him to enjoying his life by being daring and spontaneous. When Alaska drunkenly dies in a car accident, Pudge and his friends must solve her mysterious death to relieve their guilt for letting her go.

Green's first book shows his authentic insight into the lives of teenagers and his ability to present thoughtful and challenging questions in life. This is where he excels. However, I didn't feel the connection between Pudge and Alaska and how she showed him the Great Perhaps. Was it because she herself was such an individual? Because she had an opinion and wasn't afraid to voice it?

The last letter from Pudge is a beautiful, introspective look at what happens to people when they die. "We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken" (220). When we die and our bodies and minds are no longer present, our memories and past actions and relationships live on in others, whether knowingly or not. Therefore, we can never be broken and this should give us hope.