Category: Contemporary

‘Goodbye Days’ – Jeff Zentner

Can a text message destroy your life?

Carver Briggs never thought a simple text would cause a fatal crash, killing his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, there could be a criminal investigation into the deaths.

Then Blake’s grandmother asks Carver to remember her grandson with a ‘goodbye day’ together. Carver has his misgivings, but he starts to help the families of his lost friends grieve with their own memorial days, along with Eli’s bereaved girlfriend Jesmyn. But not everyone is willing to forgive. Carver’s own despair and guilt threatens to pull him under into panic and anxiety as he faces punishment for his terrible mistake. Can the goodbye days really help?

An absorbing read, which will certainly get readers thinking about the extent to which our actions influence events. Will we blame Carver? Perhaps a little, but no more than we might blame the boy who started to reply while driving or any of the other characters involved in the story.

This could have been a very earnest story, but the question of responsibility goes hand-in-hand with showing us Carver and the families of those left behind coming-to-terms with their grief.
For me, it was this element of the story that really made this novel what it was.

I felt we really got under Carver’s skin as he goes through therapy to try to learn to live through the panic attacks that have set in since the funerals. We see his memories of the boys and get to know all of them through the ‘goodbye days’ that are set up with each of the grieving families. From Blake’s grandmother, through Eli’s parents and, finally, Mars’s father – the Judge who asked the police to consider pressing charges – these were emotionally-charged moments. Zentner gives us a slice of what these families are living through, and also helps us understand a little why they act as they do.

A cathartic, thought-provoking read that I will recommend heartily to colleagues and students alike.

A huge thank-you to NetGalley for the ARC.

‘Tease’ – Amanda Maciel

Any book about bullying, where a character has committed suicide, is not going to be fun to read. This even less so, as we’re told it’s based on a real event where a group of teenagers faced charges for bullying a new girl to their school.
What I did find interesting was that this was from the viewpoint of one of the bullies, Sara. We watch her recollect the events leading to Emma’s suicide, and see the consequences this event has had on her present day. I was never sure to what extent things were being sugar-coated – Sara, for a long time, cannot see how bad her behaviour has been.

Throughout the book I found myself thinking that Emma was a character who had a lot of things going on, some of which we were not told much about, and that nobody really seemed to take any time to find out more about her. Most of the characters in this book seemed content to fall into their stereotyped role, and to not challenge it.

All in all this is a book that felt like it was trying hard to get teen readers to think more about their behaviour, but it didn’t really hang together as effectively as other books I’ve read that aim for a similar effect.

 

‘Spontaneous’ – Aaron Starmer

Never did I think I would be typing the words spontaneous combustion in a book review…but, it’s impossible to avoid mentioning that phrase seeing as that is what happens to many of the characters in this novel. Yes, really…

Mara is a senior who, in our opening chapter, watches one of her classmates spontaneously combust. Initially, there’s a sense of shock – but as more and more seniors go the same way, it’s evident that something odd is happening. It’s probably best to not ask too many questions (as we’re never really told why this is happening) but you will find yourself drawn into the way in which those remaining respond to events.

We watch Mara as she and her friends try to come to terms with the weird events taking place in their previously nondescript town. Rather than fretting about the normal everyday teenage concerns, Mara and her peers are simply trying to make it through one day at a time.

There were scenes in this novel that I could not help but laugh aloud at. The game with Mara trying to get her shot of classmates Wie, Love and Cox sitting on a bench will remain etched in my memory. Yet there are also many touching scenes.

An odd read, that I really found myself liking. Though I would have liked a neater resolution (it felt like there needed to be a purpose to this), this was – in Mara’s words – invigorating.

 

‘One of Us is Lying’ – Karen M. McManus

Due for publication at the end of May 2017, I am really grateful to the author and publishers Delacorte Press (via NetGalley) for allowing me to read this early.

For readers of the target group, the John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club will probably not mean anything. But, throughout, I could see the influence of this movie – and one or two hit teen dramas of recent years – on the way this was written. Yet I never felt I was simply rehashing old ground.

The basic plot is simple. Five students of Bayview High – the “walking teen stereotypes” – are put in detention one night. One of the five, Simon, runs a hit app on which his peers depend for their gossip. Unfortunately Simon was planning to reveal a little secret belonging to each of the four students with him in detention. This provides each of the four with a reason to be a suspicious character in the investigation that ensues after Simon (who suffers with a peanut allergy) ends up dead.

A high-impact start, and we are taken on something of a rollercoaster ride as we learn a little more about Bronwen, Nate, Addy, Cooper and the young man who seemed to hold the key to their high school happiness in his hands.

Don’t worry, there’s no big reveal here. What I will tell you is that I was second-guessing everyone and everything I was told. I trusted nobody and, though I suspected the final revelation, I still wasn’t certain until very close to the end.

A greta debut, and one I will be heartily recommending to my students.

‘Thirteen Reasons Why’ – Jay Asher

Strangely, this is one of those ‘classic’ reads that has passed me by. I had heard students talking about the Netflix version of it recently, and was curious to see to what extent this show had altered the text. Before I go any further, I must point out I’ve not watched the series yet-but it’s come in for some criticism.

Before I started reading I was wondering why Asher decided to have Hannah, his main character, tell her story through tapes. It was a dated mode in 2007, and I can’t see it coming close to making sense to today’s teenagers. That aside, I think most will read this for the idea behind it – and the exploration of character.

The opening part of the book introduces us to Clay. He’s just received a mysterious package with thirteen tapes inside. When he starts listening to the tapes he learns they’re from Hannah, a girl in his school, who recently killed herself. On the tapes she pledges to reveal how thirteen individuals played their part in her decision.

Clay himself was a good guy. He obviously felt deeply affected by what he was hearing, and we were left with the view of him as a boy who tried to do right but who, on the main event, didn’t quite push far enough.

Other characters were far less appealing. Whether it’s one-time friend who puts her down; the boy who objectifies her; the first kiss who laughs with his mates and exaggerates just what they got up to; the peeping tom who pretends to be her friend or the teacher who doesn’t quite get it, there’s an awful lot of characters who play their part in helping feed Hannah’s low self-esteem.

Reading the transcript of the tapes puts us in Clay’s shoes. There’s a morbid curiosity about just what circumstances created the feeling in Hannah (who seems quite a strong character on the surface) that this was her only option. What stuck with me was a comment from the start of the book where Hannah says ‘it’s not about what you did…it’s about the repercussions of what you did’. Given the pressures on teenagers now, I think this message is more pertinent than ever-and if readers take nothing else from it than to consider how their action/inaction might affect someone else, then it’s a good thing.

I found it hard that Hannah reaches out on a couple of occasions (but not in a way that really indicates she’s feeling anything beyond frustration with her peers) and we do get given a number of ‘check-list’ features that more vulnerable teenagers might be tempted by. I can’t imagine how desperate someone must be feeling to actually go through with suicide, but I think there may have been other characters closer to Hannah that could have offered a different perspective on the events they hear.

‘Sometimes I Lie’ – Alice Feeney

A lot of reviewers have drawn parallels between this debut and Gone Girl which is annoying – if you didn’t particularly enjoy that novel you might overlook this one and it would be a shame.

Of course there are similarities – we have a female narrator who we mistrust from the off; there are secrets aplenty; lots of characters give us reason to mistrust them/their motives and there are some great twists. However, there is something different about this – though we don’t get to see this until the author chooses to reveal it to us.

The jumps from past to present and the switching focus from character to character meant that it was very difficult to predict just where this was going. I enjoyed trying to spot plausible lies and to predict just which details were designed to throw us off the scent. Some elements of this were quite clear to see, but as a whole we only had our suspicions confirmed fully at the close of the novel.

With a character who spends most of the novel in a coma we had a distorted view of what was happening. It was genuinely creepy to overhear some of the conversations taking place in Amber’s room, but I could never quite trust myself to fully believe everything she was telling us. Eventually I reconciled myself to having to place my trust in someone who did not seem to merit it.

Deliberately we are led to dislike Amber’s husband, Paul, and though he doesn’t come out of it particularly well he is much higher up the chart than the vile character of Edward. From our first encounter with him there is something off-kilter about him. Little details that are given further support our mistrust of him. However, the details surrounding him and his role in Amber’s life did – if I’m being honest – feel rather gratuitous, and didn’t necessarily add much to the story.

Some elements aside, this was a well-plotted thriller. I feel the elements of the past that were brought in really meant this was operating on a whole new level. I was rather surprised at some of the revelations, and the ending was something of a shock.

All in all, a great read.

‘But Then I Came Back’ – Estelle Laure

A companion guide to This Raging Light, this story focuses on Eden. She nearly drowns in an accident and is in a coma for a month. When she wakes up she remembers her family visiting her, but is convinced that she also met the young girl in the room opposite her (who remains in a coma).

Eden was a talented dancer, but it is evident that she set herself very high standards and is struggling to adjust to life after a coma.

There was a lot of mystical/supernatural detail, some of which was interesting but it all felt rather like watching someone explore their philosophical beliefs from a distance.

We watch Eden fall in love with Joe, the best friend of the girl in the room opposite her, and there is some passing reference to Lucille and Digby. There is no need to have read Laure’s debut of this to make sense, but it was good to return to the characters.

A little like my response to This Raging Light, this was a book that was easy to read but which didn’t really appeal as much as I hoped it would. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.

‘Letters to the Lost’ – Brigid Kemmerer

Juliet Young has always written letters to her photo-journalist mother. When she is killed in a hit-and-run accident, Juliet continues this tradition – leaving letters at her mother’s grave. Declan Murphy is not the kind of student you want to cross. He is stuck at the local cemetery carrying out community service after crashing his father’s car after he’d been drinking. When he finds a letter at the cemetery he is struck by the content and decides to write back.

The opening chapters of the novel are a little confusing as we try to establish who the two characters are, and how they are linked. However, it is evident that both these characters are struggling to deal with grief. Though Juliet and Declan have this shared grief, they don’t seem to have anything else in common.

In real life you might be tempted to ignore a note written on a letter left at a grave. However, Juliet is angered by someone reading her innermost thoughts and decides to respond. Thus begins a rather quirky exchange, which allows us to learn an awful lot more about Juliet and Declan than we would if they were constantly censoring what they were telling us.

I really liked the alternating style of this novel. We were able to see beyond the surface of the two characters, and it was refreshing to see them bond without actually meeting.

Inevitably, the two start to work out who each other is. They trust each other to reveal their true feelings about the events that have happened in their lives, and we get to see their shifting relationship as they start to think about how to move on and take control of what happens to them a little more.

The ending is, perhaps, more resolved than might reasonably be expected to occur but I liked the fact that the writer allows us to see the potential for change, and shows how sometimes taking a risk can pay off.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this in advance of publication.

‘Girlhood’ – Cat Clarke

Scheduled for publication in May 2017, I have to thank NetGalley and Hachette Childrens’ Group for allowing me to read an advance copy.

First things first, though Girlhood is set in a boarding school and features a close-knit group of friends this is no Enid Blyton-style experience. Our first introduction to the girls establishes them as a group who know each other pretty well, but we can never entirely know someone and Harper’s secret about her sister is one she wants keeping.

When new girl, Kirsty, arrives at the school we watch somewhat horrified as she is subjected to The Hole – being trapped overnight in a confined dark space. However, her experience establishes a bond between Harper and Kirsty that the new girl is keen to exploit. We cannot help but ask ourselves why, and it’s not long before we get some answers.

Unfortunately, Kirsty is not quite what she sets herself up to be and the cracks in the group start to show.

The stifling atmosphere of the boarding school ensures that the issues the girls have are maintained at high intensity. Though the fluctuating dynamics between the girls did, to me, appear rather exaggerated I think teen readers will find plenty to like about this.

I certainly enjoyed the story, and was desperate to unravel the mysteries that were set up. My only real gripe was with the ending. Of course people make mistakes, and grief will affect everyone differently. However, I was surprised at how quickly the girls seemed to forgive Kirsty even after some of the things she had done.

‘Optimists Die First’ – Susin Nielsen

I loved the warmth and honesty of ‘We Are All Made of Molecules’, so I was looking forward to reading this when I was approved for an advance copy by NetGalley.

The story focuses on sixteen year old Petula, a young girl struggling to live with the guilt she feels after the death of her younger sister. Ever since this awful event, we learn that Petula has distanced herself from friends and family, and done all she can to alienate herself from everything that made her who she was prior to Maxine’s death. As with Nielsen’s previous book we focus on a family in crisis, but here the journey along this path does – on occasion – feel a little forced.

What happened is revealed slowly, so at first Petula’s anxieties seem a little unexpected. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they are depicted unsympathetically, but at first it almost seems as if she is trying very hard to make us see her as quirky rather than someone trying to come to terms with a major loss.

I liked the honest way in which Nielsen shows how Petula’s life has been affected by what happened. She is not coping, but her resilience is evident in the way she tries to help her parents and the rather off-beat approach she takes to her art therapy classes. When newcomer Jacob is paired with her for a school project she lets him in, opening herself up to the possibility of being hurt. While there was a rather obvious romance here, I think it was a brave step to show how Petula, Jacob and the other characters deal with their friendships. Nothing is quite what we expect here, and this will definitely be a book that appeals to younger readers.