The book was ok. As always, John Green is a fantastic writer. He is funny and his characters are richly developed, for the most part. I really loved reading about Miles and his new friends at his boarding school. The story, however, was very predictable. Wild, angry, sexy teen captures the heart of the new boy, Miles. Alaska was not a likable character for me and partly because she was SO OVER THE TOP in her rebellion, attitude, genius, sexiness, worldly experience, etc. I'm sure she is supposed to be over the top and so I probably missed something genius in the story. Miles starts boarding school away from his loving but clueless parents because he is in search of a Great Perhaps (I love that idea). He meets The Colonel and Alaska. The three become best friends as they try to navigate their junior year together. Alaska's moodiness and unpredictability come to a head when she is very, very drunk one night and leaves in a panic (after making out with Miles, of course). ***spoiler alert...she dies in a car accident. The rest of the book is the boys trying to make sense of her death and move on. 
 I think it's clear that an author failed to do his/her job in making you love their characters when you really don't care if one died. That's how I felt when Alaska was killed. I was over it. I think the book tries to be deep and universal in its search for meaning and making sense of the adolescent coming of age, but it really feels forced. 
 I wanted to give it 4 stars because I have a huge bias in favor of John Green...but it's really not that well-done of a book.