Looking for Alaska

For an audience that grew up with those shows [“The O.C.,” “Chuck”, and “Gossip Girl”], “Looking For Alaska” creates the perfect wave of nostalgia, one that will send those memories flooding back to that time when everything was life and death and your very being was defined by things like your love of specific music or book or art. ... “Looking For Alaska” is your standard, tried and true, coming-of-age story. And for that, it stands out from the rest.

An endearing and often-poignant eight-part adaptation of John Green’s first novel. ... They [writer-producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage] are aided in this mission by performances that are every bit as refreshingly genuine as the writing.

The catharsis feels earned, as does the level of answers that Schwartz, Savage, and company choose to provide about what happened and why. It’s a familiar coming-of-age story, but one executed at a high level, and with far more thought than usual given to all the kids who were forced to grow up long before the main character has to.

Dominated by Froseth and the solid young cast, it's a solid adaptation of a much-loved book, even if its successful adapting can't always fix its problems.

Looking for Alaska feels like a period piece that hasn’t fully reckoned with itself as a period piece, and some of its nostalgic impulses feel out of step with how brutally, gorgeously sad it is. It’s not a happy story, and the final episode swerves a bit too far in the direction of trying to make things feel all better. But for the most part, it’s the rare adaptation that dismantles the original in order to build something that works better.

This is all pretty stiff, predictable stuff, built around the operatic pangs of teen romance and the mystery of Alaska's fate, with peripheral forays into class and racial divides. All told, the eight-episode limited series is a pretty slim if earnest conceit.

“Looking For Alaska” is nostalgic for itself, like it’s admiring itself in a mirror instead of making eye contact. This neutralizes the immediacy and intimacy that can make coming-of-age stories so special.

A teen drama worth watching. It does not has that creepy teen show stuff and simultaneously works on maximum field. It's entertaining, funny, emotional and a little heartbreaking. One of the best show in this genre

When first watching this miniseries back in 2019 when it came out, I hadn't read the book. I followed John Green through social media and saw many ads surrounding the show. It looked excellent so I was excited. The cast's chemistry is incredible and you can feel the emotions being conveyed. Afterward, I read the book and fell in love even more. While the show does take some creative liberties to make it more effective in the format of a miniseries, it was very faithful to the material. I recommend watching this cause it's still one of my favorite shows ever even though it's just an 8 episode miniseries.

Looking for Alaska is such a brilliant adaptation of its source material that even the astronomical expectations of my past teenage self have been exceeded. Earnest, alluring, and the right amount of high school cliché, the Hulu original absolutely nails the living symbolism of Alaska so perfectly that one could be forgiven for thinking it was John Green himself that put his pen to the screenplay.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Although Looking For Alaska was John Green's first novel, is the third adaptation of his books and yet the repetitiveness of his stories comes to the fore, especially in its similarities to 2015's Paper Towns. Mostly for showing its male protagonists as self-absorbed young men who end up falling in love with a girl who is always ''special'' or has something unique about her. She is more mature than he is. She knows about things he doesn't, and she has that bad girl aura without ever crossing any lines that might be too crude for this kind of show. And we see all of this through the eyes of this guy who has only idealized her in his mind as someone perfect. It's for that reason that this miniseries struggles to find an identity, even beyond its stereotypical main characters. Its plot twist comes late and while the messages about guilt and grief are important and not badly developed, the structure is so simplified that by the end of its 7-hour running time, there really isn't much that you can take away with you that was really worthwhile. It's a good show. But common and average at best.