Looking for Alaska Book Summary

The novel starts with introducing the protagonist of the story, Miles Halter, who is leaving his parents and his home in Florida to join Culver Creek boarding school. His mother throws a going away party for Miles, but no one turns up at Miles's party except two weird guys, whom he considers boring because Miles has an introverted and shy personality in school. He interacts very little with others in the class. That is why he doesn't get the chance to befriend others.

After that, he moved to his new boarding school and settled in a dorm, room no. 43, where he meets his roommate, Chip Martin, who is called a colonel by his friends.  

Chip introduced Miles to his close friends, and one of them, a girl named Alaska Mary, a lovely girl with a cheerful attitude but at the same time has a very messed up life. She is moody and has anger issues.  She always maintains a rank as a student but has flaws. After all, she is also a human being.

One of the important things about our protagonist, Miles, is that his hobby was learning the last phrases of famous personalities. There are two kinds of students in the school: one who got admitted with their hard work and the other rich kids who got into the school with money and influence. 

They are divided into two groups: the affluent and the poor. Chip and his group belong to a poor class. These groups don't have good relationships and are always doing pranks against each other. Miles had great fun with his friends throughout the year. He also engaged in smoking, drinking, and clubbing and had bunk classes. 

As the story goes further, we learn that Alaska has a boyfriend named Jake, and the colonel has a girlfriend named Sara. Alaska is a girl who likes to be in casual relationships, but this time, she seems pretty serious about her relationship with Jake.

One day, they planned a great prank against the rich, mean kids. They were celebrating their success one night on the last day as they could prank the rich kids and achieve their goals. So, Alaska, Chip, and Miles drank a lot that day and played truth and dare. When Miles had his turn, he chose to dare, and Alaska dared him the task to kiss her. So, they made out, and all three of them went to sleep. 

At midnight, Miles and the colonel woke up to sobbing. Alaska was crying, and she said that she had messed up everything. She forgot something important and needed to get off the campus at that moment. 

But there was a professor, as they called him Eagle because he had watchful eyes on every student.  They need to distract the eagle in order to escape Alaska from the campus without noticing anyone's gaze. She escaped as they were able to distract the professor. 

The following day, they heard the news of Alaska's death as she had a car accident that night. Colonel and Miles were in shock but wanted to know how this could happen to her. 

They are not accepting that Alaska is not there to be with them anymore. Alaska was very dear to them.  Takumi, their other friend and colonel, wants to unravel the truth behind her death. They want to know if it is a suicide, murder, or an accident. 

As they are searching for the answer, they get to know that her mother died that day as Alaska forgets her mother's death anniversary and always offers flowers to her mother's grave. Almost, they were close to the truth behind the Alaska death. On graduation day, Miles went to Takumi's room, where he found a note on the desk where Takumi had written that he had hidden something from them.

The same day, Alaska came to him and asked for flowers and told him that she had forgotten her mother's death. Her mother died eight years ago. She feels guilty for forgetting her mother.  Takumi handed her flowers and did not stop her from going. That day, she was in a drunk state, drove a car, and got into an accident. Takumi asks for his forgiveness because he knows how much Miles loves Alaska. 

Finally, Mile's got to know what happened to Alaska. Sometimes, people's guilt makes them suffer and dig their own graves.