Summary

Looking for Alaska is a class coming of age story about a young man who leaves his home in Florida to attend a boarding school in Alabama. He begins the story as an unpopular, somewhat isolated teenager. During his time at his new school, he makes several friends and is cascaded into social acceptance through pranking and rule breaking. He is given the nickname “Pudge” because of its contrast to his thin frame.
Pudge has a fixation on the last words people say before they die and spends a great deal of time looking up the words famously said by public figures before they kicked the bucket. 

One of the friends he makes is a girl named Alaska, who he develops feelings for. He thinks the situation is hopeless, partially because of her boyfriend, and partially because he views her as a higher being.

The book follows these relationships and takes on ideas about guilt, loss, love, forgiveness, and what it means to be a part of this world.