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Goodbye Days
Goodbye Days
“Gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately life-affirming.” —Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything.Perfect for fans...
“Gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately life-affirming.” —Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything.Perfect for fans...
Reviews-
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Starred review from January 9, 2017
Carver Briggs already feels responsible when his three best friends are killed in a car accident after he sent a “Where are you guys?” text message to the driver. Now it seems as though the whole town wants him to be prosecuted, and he’s having debilitating panic attacks. When one friend’s grandmother suggests they pay tribute to the deceased by spending a “goodbye day” swapping stories and doing what he loved, Carver finds a cathartic way to atone for his perceived sins. From the opening line, Zentner (The Serpent King) expertly channels Carver’s distinctive voice as a 17-year-old writer turned “funeral expert” who argues with himself about girls and retains glimmers of easy wit despite the weight of his grief and guilt. Flashbacks and daydreams capture the jovial spirit of the four members of the so-called Sauce Crew, glimpses of sophomore shenanigans interspersed with poignant admissions only best friends would share. Racial tensions, spoiled reputations, and broken homes all play roles in an often raw meditation on grief and the futility of entertaining what-ifs when faced with awful, irreversible events. Ages 14–up. Agent: Charlie Olsen, Inkwell Management. -
December 1, 2016
Seventeen-year-old Carver Briggs feels responsible for the deaths of his best friends and must deal with his own life, now forever altered. "Where are you guys? Text me back," Carver texted his friend Mars, who replied, or at least started to, as proven by the half-composed text found on Mars' phone at the crash site. Mars had been driving while texting, and his car smashed into a semi on the highway, killing Mars, Blake, and Eli. Carver feels responsible, but is he responsible? It turns out that under Tennessee law (Nashville is the setting for the story), Carver might be held as "criminally negligent," since he knew Mars was driving and knew Mars would reply, even though he never intended to kill anyone. Zentner's novel peels back the many layers of feeling that Carver experiences as he deals with his family, the families of his friends, and school, the present-tense narration putting readers directly in Carver's head. However, although Carver is an unusually bright student with a supportive family and therapist, his voice is at times too adult, too didactic in delivering long passages of wise reflections about life normally gained from more time and experience. Still, it is a novel full of wisdom, even if Carver himself hasn't had time to acquire all of it himself. Carver is white, as are Eli and Blake; Mars is black. A fine cautionary tale and journey toward wisdom, poignant and realistic. (Fiction. 14-18)COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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January 1, 2017
Gr 9 Up-It was just a text: Carver wanted to know when his three best friends were going to pick him up. But those three best friends got into a car accident and never made it to him. Carver can't stop blaming himself and his text for their deaths, and things get worse after a judge is also interested in pointing the finger at him. Carver juggles his own feelings of guilt and the blame others direct at him as he decides to honor the memory of his friends through cathartic "goodbye days." Saving Carver (and the readers) from complete despair is Jesmyn, the former girlfriend of one of his deceased friends, and Dr. Mendez, a new therapist who help him wade through life after the funerals. Zentner is yanking heartstrings here in this painful but compelling narrative. Although sprinkled with lighter stories of the friends in happier times, this is a weighty, well-crafted novel-the kind of intelligent, intense, and life-affirming tale that will resonate with teens seeking depth and honesty. VERDICT Recommended as a first purchase for school and public libraries. Hand this to readers looking to explore the somber and complex realities of life, especially responsibility, fractured relationships, and the butterfly effect of consequences.-Emily Moore, Camden County Library System, NJ
Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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Starred review from December 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* I may have killed my three best friends, 17-year-old Carver agonizes. How so? He sent a text to his friend Mars, knowing the boy was driving at the time; distracted by replying to the text, Mars crashed into a stopped truck, killing himself and Carver's two other best friends, Blake and Eli. Now Mars' father, a judge, has called on the district attorney to open an investigation and weigh charges of criminally negligent homicide against Carver. Bereft and virtually friendless, riddled by guilt, and overwhelmed by stress, Carver begins having panic attacks, which send him into therapy. Interestingly, he makes an unlikely new friend in Eli's girlfriend, Jesmyn, but when he tells her that he desires more than friendship with her, she rejects him. Meanwhile, Carver's attempts at atonement with Blake's grandmother, Eli's parents, and Mars' father meet with mixed success, feeding his subconscious desire for punishment. Zentner does an excellent job in creating empathetic characters, especially his protagonist Carver, a budding writer whose first-person account of his plight is artful evidence of his talent. The story builds suspense while developing not only empathetic but also multidimensional characters in both Carver and Jesmyn. The result is an absorbing effort with emotional and psychological integrity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.) -
March 1, 2017
A devastating car wreck due to a text message: it's a story as increasingly common as it is tragic. For seventeen-year-old Carver Briggs, it's a story in which he has a starring rolethe story of his life and of his three best friends' deaths. Where are you guys? Text me back is the message Carver sends to his buddy Marsthe message Mars begins to return despite the fact that he is driving, with Eli and Blake in the car, and the message that Carver believes confirms his culpability when the car smashes into a semi, killing all three boys. Told in the first-person present (with occasional flashbacks), the story reveals Carver's panic attacks, the hostility of some of his friends' family members, and the looming threat of a criminal investigation, all of which blurs into a whirl of emotion-laden urgency. Looking for an outlet and leaning on the trusted relationship with his therapist and new friendship with Eli's girlfriend, Carver shares a goodbye day of memories, storytelling, and grief with Blake's grandmother, and he soon does the same with Eli's and Mars's families as well. The attempt to find (and provide) closure while being wary of people's motivations and the lingering possibility of indictment stretches Carver to the breaking point. Zentner skillfully (if at times didactically) depicts his protagonist's inner turmoil and the beginnings of his recovery in a frequently raw narrative. anastasia m. collins(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
- Booklist, Starred "Zentner does an excellent job in creating empathetic characters, especially his protagonist Carver, a budding writer whose first-person account of his plight is artful evidence of his talent."
- Publishers Weekly, Starred "Racial tensions, spoiled reputations, and broken homes all play roles in an often raw meditation on grief and the futility of entertaining what-ifs when faced with awful, irreversible events."
- Kirkus "[A] novel full of wisdom."
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The New York Public Library
Praise for Jeff Zentner's The Serpent King
A New York Times Notable Book
An Amazon Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A BuzzFeed Best YA Book of the Year
A William C. Morris Award Finalist
An Indie Next List Top Ten Selection
A Paste Magazine and popcrush.com Most Anticipated YA Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Spring 2016 Flying Start
"Move over, John Green; Zentner is coming for you."
