Goodbye Days - Jeff Zentner

Title: Goodbye Days
Author: Jeff Zentner
Pages: 416
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads rating: 
About: 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?

Goodbye Days is about a boy named Carver who is dealing with the loss of his three best friends.  They died in a car accident because they were texting and driving and Carver's the one they were texting.  So he's blaming himself, the families of his friends are blaming him, and the state might be pressing charges.  He's been hanging with his dead friend Eli's girlfriend and developing some not-so friendly feelings.  On top of all that, Blake's grandmother asks him to do a goodbye day with her - a last day to honor Blake and give her some closure.  Pretty soon all the families want goodbye days of their own, and not all of them have the best intentions.

So here's the thing about Goodbye Days - I didn't love it.  And I totally thought I would. It's my fault for hanging all my expectations on The Serpent King and that's not really fair.  I feel like writing a book that is solely one character's exploration of grief is risky, because you're so much in that character's head.  It's a lot of just talking about feelings and it's really easy to get bogged down.  I don't know, this one was a little underwhelming for me.  There were things I did like - Carver's therapist was a great guy.  His sister, who wasn't around much, but clearly loved him and wanted to help him through his problems any way she could.  The flashbacks to his friends were nice, but it felt a little, 'insert flashback here' whenever something came up in the present time.

I know people will love this book.  They've been flipping out about it since it first became available to read and it's been getting starred reviews, but it just wasn't for me.  We never fully connected and that's okay.  I'll still be looking for Zentner's future books.

The Serpent King - Jeff Zentner

Title: The Serpent King
Author: Jeff Zentner
Pages: 384
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads rating: 


About: Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life—at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace.
He and his fellow outcast friends must try to make it through their senior year of high school without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self. Graduation will lead to new beginnings for Lydia, whose edgy fashion blog is her ticket out of their rural Tennessee town. And Travis is content where he is thanks to his obsession with an epic book series and the fangirl turning his reality into real-life fantasy.
Their diverging paths could mean the end of their friendship. But not before Dill confronts his dark legacy to attempt to find a way into the light of a future worth living.

This is one of those times that I'm so thankful for the book blogging community because this is a book that I would have passed right on by.  Like, the cover is gorgeous, but wouldn't grab my eye by itself.  Same with the description.  I read this solely because of Jamie's post over at The Perpetual Page-Turner so a big thank you to her.

This book talks about life in a way that is so real you come away feeling like you actually know these characters in real life.  Dill, Lydia, and Travis are from a small town in the South.  And not the idyllic, porch-sitting, sweet tea drinking South.  More like the 'how am I ever going to get out of this town' South.  It's truly a bummer of a town and these three are your teenage misfits.  People at school make fun of them a lot.  Lydia's really good with the comebacks, Travis just lets it all roll off his back, but Dill's got it tough - his dad's in jail and his mom's not really supportive of him (and kind of blames him for his dad being gone.  SO shitty.)  He absorbs all of the shit that gets thrown his way.  He's also mega talented with the guitar.  He started playing for his dad's church, but now he's started writing secular music and it's really good.

I was immediately enamored with Lydia.  She's so cool - running a very successful vintage fashion blog called Dollywould (brilliant), she recognizes that this is not where she needs to be and is trying to go to school in New York.  Lydia has a few more advantages in life than Travis and Dill, being as her parents are pretty well off and very supportive of her and her dreams.  Dill's definitely in love with her, but she's determined to get out of their small-minded town and never look back.  One of the strengths of this book is that it recognizes that getting yourself out also means leaving behind, no matter how much you'd rather not.  Sometimes there's no other choice.

I love that Lydia wants more for Dill than he wants for himself.  It has to be so frustrating for her.  He has let this town and his parents box him in so far that he can't even see a way out.  I also love Lydia's assessment of Travis, that he is fine staying in town forever because he adventures in his imagination with his books.

I don't really want to go any deeper into plot stuff because you're going to want to let this story unfold on its own.  This book is struggles and loss and feeling trapped by circumstance.  It's also hope and perseverance and discovery.  It is everything everyone has said it is and more.  Please please please if you're on the fence about this one pick it up.  If it doesn't sound appealing to you, give it a chance anyway.  You won't be sorry.