The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.
John Green, Looking for Alaska
This weekend I spent a day watching the new Hulu adaptation —not sponsored, I wish— of John Green’s first novel “Looking For Alaska.” I read this book in a moment of my life in which every single word there felt, true. As teenagers, we tend to fall somewhere between feeling that the world hates us and feeling that the world isn’t aware we exist. As a skinny guy myself, Miles aka Pudge’s life became somehow the life I wished I was living. I have got to admit this was the first time I truly wanted to cry after reading a work of fiction, John’s excruciatingly well-described scenarios made me mourn for Alaska as if she was my friend. After a few days of re-reading parts of the book, I started thinking about how much I would hate a movie of this wonderful novel, two and a half hours wouldn’t even make a dent in the underlying subjects of the book. When John announced this series I was terrified yet hopeful, if done right this would easily become one of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations ever. So, I eagerly waited for the release for months. The trailer didn’t cut it for me, I feared the novel would be dumbed down for newer generations or even worse, make the characters and the dialogue cheesy, but it didn’t. Although Alaska wasn’t how I imagined her —we all have our own version of Alaska and that’s fine— Kristine did a fantastic work, not to mention the admirable performances of Charlie, Denny, and Jay. They all felt real. The 8-episode limited series nailed the screenplay. Staying true to the source material while adding some little things here and there. Those additions felt natural and believable. Exploring deeper all the main characters as well as secondary such as The Eagle, felt awesome. Just seeing Culver Creek in real life, outside my head was —for lack of better word— magical. So, the “Looking for Alaska” series made me feel at high school again and revived in me every little emotion from the book. When Alaska said “To be continued” I believed it again and hoped she would somehow, come back. This article’s last words will be: beautifully portrayed.
© Gabriel Berm
Gabriel Berm 