Monday 28 April 2014

Looking For Alaska by John Green Book Review


Ayee this is the review I wrote for Looking For Alaska about one and a half years ago. Quite a long time, yeah, and it's an example of one of the worst reviews you'd find. But whatever. Might as well check it out if you want to have a good eyebrow-raising YA review.


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Great cover, isn't it?

Summary:
Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.


So guys, I just finished this book called Looking For Alaska by Mr John “mysterious girls lover” Green. Then straight to what I’ve got to say, I like the book. A lot but not quite that lot. Maybe because it’s my first (one of the first) time reading a full young adult book. Usually it’s something like Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia or self-help book and Agatha Christie’s mystery.

I think the version of the cover I have is the best, considering it has cool taglines, and the daisy Alaska doodled. And it’s black and realy tumblr-ish, so I felt really thankful. Tumblr girls thank quite much.

Urn, when I started out reading this book I think I didn’t have a lot of expectations. Cool taglines ended up making you disapointed. Remember Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix movie tagline? “The Rebellion Begins” or something like that. Turned out it was the worst Harry Potter adaption ever. Seriously, where is the rebellion? Even my heart pounded harder when I read the book half-sleeping than when I watched the movie with giant sound system in theathre. Sad reality.

Back to the book. When you start reading the book, you’ll meet Miles Halter, that (from what I’ve read in the book) gawky, geek boy who moved from his old public school to Culver Creek where he met Chip Martin, Takumi Hikohito, and a young lady called Alaska Young. Together they set off a journey of life in mischievousness of teenager and Miles had the time of his life with new friends, pulling pranks,  good-looking Romanian girls, and so on.

Wednesday 2 April 2014

Sebelum Aku Terjun

Purnama berpendar di sudut malam
Di atas selembar kelir biru kelam
Luruh, rendah hati, ringan, lembut, temaram
Memandang dunia yang berbaring dengan mata terpejam

Jembatan tua terbentang di atas ular air
Pepohonan bergeming, tak terusik angin
Tempat berabad lalu wanita tua merangkai syair
Alis bertaut, bermantel panjang penahan dingin

Selembar kerudung kuning terbang
Pemiliknya hanya tinggal bayangan
Letih, sang hamba Tuhan terus mengenang
Meratapi dunia yang penuh ketidakadilan

Untaian bulu aneka warna
Merak, merpati, elang yang perkasa
Cita-cita sang kakak tak pernah sirna
Hingga tubuh dimakan usia

Sepatu yang ditukar bulu ekor merak
Kerikil di bawah kaki berderak-derak
Jejak darah di jalan tanah
Terkenang sang kakak akan rumah

Peri kecil di naungan pohon kertas
Di manakah engkau berada?
Sang hamba Tuhan mendongak ke atas
Menangkupkan tangan, berdoa

Alur hidup ini, adikku, siapa yang tahu
Sang kakak mengirim pesan lewat kerudung kuning
Berharap si empunya mendengar bisikan itu
Meski kenangan telah menjadi puing

Pesan itu tak panjang, tak mengharap jawaban:

Mereka bilang aku akan masuk ke air,
yang tak lama lagi akan menenggelamkanku.
Sebelum aku terjun, aku meninggalkan ini
di tepian untukmu.
Semoga kau menemukannya, adikku,
jadi kau akan tahu apa yang ada di hatiku
saat aku tenggelam.


c, b. e. w~
April 3rd, 2014