User reviews

Loved it. very much true to the book. I remember years back when I first read this book i loved it and this show is exactly how i imagined it to be. For me this show is great.

I read the novel when I was 15. I enjoyed it. Partly, because at that age, I found the concepts presented in the book very cool. Now, I find these declarations in the book a bit pretentious, and I had a similar feeling when watching the trailer for the series.

Out of curiosity, I watched it. It started out as I expected. Some lightly cringy lines and humour. But after a short time, I found myself enjoying it, despite not necessarily relating to these ideas. The first few episodes are harmless, even funny at times. I quickly began getting attached to the characters, just the same as I did when I first read the book. The series explores them quite in-depth (for a teenage-drama series), and they do it fairly well. I especially enjoyed the backstory of Dr. Hyde and his expanded involvement with the characters. Kristine Froseth is a good Alaska, and embodies the complicated and mysterious character very well. But in my opinion, Denny Love, who plays The Colonel totally steals the show. He has multiple scenes (in the later episodes) where his performance and intense emotional expressions really left an impression on me. I hope I will get to see his performances in more series.

The show sets up a wonderful atmosphere, and with great music, watching it was quite an experience. I wasn't planning on it, but I binge watched it all. Yes, not everything about it was perfect; the cinematography was nice, with few bright moments, but not exceptional. Acting of the supporting cast was similar. The reason I give it a 9, though, is because it did exactly what it was supposed to - that is, make you care for the characters and their story. It was quite an emotional roller-coaster, and for me, that makes it worth watching.

While some of the story obviously deviates from the original work, all in all it was quite as faithful to the source material as could be expected. Now I'm hoping there's an adaptation of one of his other novels "Turtles all the way down"

Started this series with no expectations, had never heard of the books or series, but I thought it sounded interesting. Man was I blown away. The first few episodes are at but slow, but then it gets you hooked, and in the end I sat in my couch with tears rolling down my face.

The actors fits their roles well, and the acting is top notch. The character development is great and not too forced. The cinematography and musical score fits well.

I just gave this show a chance like what the heck and I have to say I am impressed. For a teen high school Dramedy this takes a very refreshing approach and the story, characters, and actors portraying the characters are great. I never read the book this story came from but going off this show I would guess the book is Amazing. I loved the movie paper towns, which I believe came from a book that was written by the same author who wrote this story. With that said, this is definitely worth a binge. Its better than the majority of shows they are trying to put out these days.

So I had to come back after finishing the series... And omg this is a MASTERPIECE. The only thing bad about it is that it ofcourse wont be a season 2. I appreciate the entire staff of this production... Well done... Bravo. To think I was going on hulu to find some anime to blaze to... And I found this GEM. A must watch... My first rating was a nine but Ill give this one of my first perfect scores. I gave it nine because I was only half way through and after what Game of thrones did to me Im always a lil skeptical... But this was a pure work of art.

I've read so many novels and seen to many of them adapted that it's safe for me to say that this show is exactly how i pictured looking for alaska.

Even though I've read the book more times than i could count the show still jerked my tears and emotions.

The characters are not only as good as they were in the books, some of them are even better.

The additions to the story fit in so well that i actually wish they were in the book.

All and all looking for alaska is nothing less than a piece of art novel turned into a piece of art tv show

I first read the book in my senior year of high school back in 2017. I'm not much of a reader, I don't usually sit down and fully read a book. However, My girlfriend at the time had finished reading the book and was pushing me very much to get into the read. She had leant me copy with the expectation that I would open it up and actually read It. It had sat in the backseat of my car for a couple of months and I didn't pay to much mind to it. One day while I was driving around, my car broke down in the middle of no where central Florida. The tow truck I had called said they where not going to be there for at least an hour, and I had a little less then 17% on my phone so I didn't want to use it unless it was for a phone call. To pass the time, I ended up reading the first chapter of the book, and I was in complete awe. I enjoyed the book, every chapter and every page, I was completely hooked. I had finished it like a week later. After completing the book, I really wanted their to be a full adaptation, I looked all over the internet to see if by any chance that their would be a trailer or something. Sadly their was nothing, so I just hope and waiting for something to happen. Then recently, the 8 episode adaptation for the book, looking for Alaska came out and I was so excited to see the story that I loved so much be put into reality. I just finished the show and I don't truly know how I feel. I truly want to love the show, and would want to rewatch it over and over again. However, I do not feel that connection with the show as I did with the book. The character are presented much more different then the books show them to be. The events of the show follow the same time line as the boom, however divert at some points that make it difficult to watch at times. The show on its own, it a great film. Like all book to film adaptations, If you are looking at just the film in a whole, it does very well in telling the story. If you are expecting to see a complete copy of the book be put into film, you will be disappointed. But if you are looking for a great show, then this is the best that it can get.

If people were rain , i was drizzle and she was a hurricane . it 's so romantic and heartbreaking in the same time , i felt the love and the pain in this phrase .. if you ever have a doubt about this serie just let me tell you : go watch it and enjoy the time you will spend with alaska , miles ,the colonel , takumi and everyone else

Idk why they picked this actor for the series cause his acting is so stiff and wooden. Barely any emotion is being conveyed when he's supposed to be angry, sad, shocked, etc, His face is very unexpressive.and flat.

The rest of the actors are fine.

Literally the best for any TV show yet and adds a lot to the emotions...Good novel portrayals are rare. This is one of those shows that get it right (Tones down the unnecessary intimate scenes from the book)

I was really excited when seeing the trailer of this show, because I loved the book and I kept waiting for it to be turned into a movie for years. But I felt really really disappointed.

I will start by saying what I liked about the show. I loved the melancholic atmosphere, I really enjoyed the soundtrack (50 Cent, Gorillaz and Jet for example) and I think the show makers did a great job selecting some actors, especially Denny Love as the Colonel and Jay Lee as Takumi. I also really liked Dr. Hyde, the Colonel's mother and the Eagle. The setting was beautiful, I really liked the landscapes and overall the visual side.

But... 1) I was a teenager in 2005, there is no way the setting, the clothes, the technology are even remotely close to the reality. Every teenager I knew had a cellphone (with colored display) and CDs were no longer a thing, many people were already using mp3players. And I'm from Romania, not really the richest country. Also in my opinion 2005 fashion was not well represented, I remember clearly the highlights of 2005 being boho-chic style, skinny jeans, cargo pants and those funny colorful silicone cause bracelets. The clothes and technology of the show looked like they were from the 90's. 2) Lara Buterskaya is not a Romanian name, it's a Slavic one. And so was the name of the character's dog, sounded Russian. Not many people know this, but we are not Slavs, we are Latins and Romanian is a Romance language (Like French, Italian, Spanish and Portugese). I know that Lara's character was also poorly researched in the book. But it's sad that Hollywood talks so much about "representation", meanwhile the show makers couldn't take 10 seconds of their time to research Romania. I obviously didn't mind that the actress who played Lara was Russian but I think it would've been better if she tried a Romanian accent. 3) Which leads me to the next problem: Hollywood hypocrisy. Didn't care about researching Romania but shoved the whole 3rd wave feminism concepts, "white privilege" and "the patriarchy" down our throats. "Wokeness" was not a thing in 2005. Also, it was completely unnecessary for the story. Why change Alaska so much? It didn't add anything valuable to the show. 4) In the book, Alaska was flawed but charismatic. In this show she is just a pretty face but she is so annoying, it's unbearable. I read that the show makers were trying not make her a "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" but in my opinion, they failed miserably. There was nothing to love about her, she just had an unhealthy obsession with sexism and misogyny. I just didn't like Alaska at all. If she was not such a pretty girl, nobody would have liked her, especially not her guy friends. There was nothing to like about her. Like another reviewer said, in "13 Reasons Why" Hannah Baker was a well-written character in the show. She made viewers feel sympathy for her because she was likeable. Alaska on the other hand... well no point repeating myself. 5) The dialogue between characters were completely unrealistic. No sane teenager talks like that. They tried to make them edgy, philosophical and "cool" but the end result was taking the viewers away from the immersion into the story. It was so clear we were watching written dialogues, it felt so unnatural. 6) They changed so much of the story. The main point of the book (in my view) was to ask questions about the meaning of life and existentialism but in this show, apart from the horrible dialogues we just got a lot of lame pranks.

I think the show could have been great with more research, less virtue signaling and just more soul put into it. Too bad it wasn't the case.

This is probably the best "mini series" I have seen, originally broadcast on Hulu, I found it on a set of three DVDs at my public library. Not only is it presented very well, there are a couple of interesting extras on bringing the book to the screen.

It is set mostly in 2005, in a rural boarding school that more resembles a summer camp. The author based a lot of it on his own experiences as a teenage student. Most of it is filmed in the Hammond, Louisiana area.

Miles is the new student from Florida, one of the students he meets is a girl named Alaska Young, tall, attractive, smart, vivacious, but often troubled, partly because of how she lost her mother only a few years earlier. Miles has an instant attraction to Alaska, she is definitely one who changes his life.

Not really wanting to categorize it, in essence it is a "coming of age" of a variety of students with a variety of backgrounds. It explores relationships and death, is there an afterlife? Or do we just die and fade away from everyone's memory?

The eight episodes play almost eight hours but my wife and I never were bored with any of it. The characters are all interesting and richly drawn. We watched one or two episodes at a time, over approximately one week. It truly one of the best mini-series we have ever watched.

This show was randomly suggested to me by a website, and wow. I have never heard of any book, so I thought I was getting in to a goofy teenage drama. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say this. Every aspect of the show was perfect. The script was right on. I chuckled at their dorkiness and cried my eyes out. The acting was first rate. All of the actors and actresses really drew you in. The characters were so well developed, that when combined with the acting, it was just stunning. Perhaps it's a small detail, but I LOVED the soundtrack. It was like the soundtrack of my college years, but covers. All in all, a very deep and relatable series that did an outstanding job doing what it set out to do.

As someone who read the book a really long time ago, i didn't remember much of the story, just the basic outline. When I started the first episode, I immidiately felt the vibe I got when reading the book. For me, this series feels like a perfect adaptation, whilst still functioning on its on. I'm not done with it yet, but by episode 3, the series accomplishes to find the balance between fun and more serious topics, which sets a unique atmosphere that really got me. I can't recommend this series enough. I'm totally in love!

I havent read the book in fact iv never read a book but anyway this show is so good and what i love is that because i havent read the book i dont have a clue whats gonna happen or who anyone is so i get to watch it from a fresh perspective and someone on YouTube in the comments of one of my comments told me to watch this and i dont regret it. 100% recommend oh and the acting is amazing the creators did good

I started this with my wife never thinking I would get hooked but here I am a grown man balling my eyes out none the less amazing show and amazing acting

Looking for Alaska is the story of a group of adolescents at a prestigious boarding school and the struggles that they deal with. It's also not terribly original and, for the most part, only adequately delivered on.

I never find myself buying into the situations or the characters, save for the occasional moment here and there. Nobody talks like these characters talk, and while people like Aaron Sorkin are capable of hyper intelligent, unbelievable yet captivating dialogue, that just wasn't the case here for me. I constantly found myself pulled out of the immersion by some unnatural line of dialogue. Maybe it's the writing or maybe it's the performances. In either case it makes it very difficult to feel immersed and truly invested in the story.

It also feels like just another entry into an ever growing catalog of similarly themed content. From what I'm told, the book was published years ago, at a time when it likely would have been more distinct but times have changed and now we see content like this fairly often. That isn't always a bad thing but when it's a bleak and depressing note being hit, I really don't feel the need for tons of repetition on that.

It's not all bad though. Some of the characters are fun. The Colonel and the Eagle were both very entertaining to me. And while the whole thing didn't knock it out of the park for me, the ending definitely carried weight and a certain power to it that I do think is valuable.

I just wish it wasn't something I've been seeing so much lately.

I've read the book, and I have to say I like the series more. It's not a perfect adaptation but as it's own mini series I enjoyed it. Once you get past the "pixie dream girl" moments in the first episode there's more depth.

If you are a John Green lover then this would be great for you, although I highly recommend you read the book first. When I read the book a couple of years back, it took me a while to get through. I didn't quite grasp the character development in the book quite as much as I did in this mini-series which I believe is better than the book itself (not saying that the book was awful by the way, I did like it). The story is well portrayed by each character and the emotions are definitely there, from the heart break, to the gaining and losses of friendships to the teenage cringe which almost seems too uncomfortable to watch although you can't help but laugh at the awkwardness and reality of it all. In terms of acting, I believe that the cast were chosen perfectly, I couldn't have picked better and after watching Sierra Burges is a Loser, I was skeptical to see Kristine Froseth play the character of a broken and complicated Alaska instead of the high school biatch but to her performance in this, I applaud her and say brava.