(Goodreads)
Seventeen-year-old Lennie Walker, bookworm and band geek, plays second clarinet and spends her time tucked safely and happily in the shadow of her fiery sister Bailey. But when Bailey dies suddenly, Lennie is catapulted to center stage of her own life—and, despite her nonexistent history with boys, finds herself struggling to balance two. Toby was Bailey’s boyfriend; his grief mirrors Lennie’s own. Joe is the new boy in town, a transplant from Paris whose nearly magical grin is matched only by his musical talent. For Lennie, they’re the sun and the moon; one boy takes her out of her sorrow, the other comforts her in it. But just like their celestial counterparts, they can’t collide without the whole wide world exploding.
Alright. This is my first book review so I may or may not know exactly what I'm doing. I haven't read a book for pleasure since I graduated from school last year and I'm not exactly sure what made me pick this one out of the piles of books that my friend has in overflowing cardboard boxes.
I've been blessed so far in my life in that I don't know what it's like to lose someone so close to me like Bailey was to her sister, Lennie. However, being close to someone who has lost a sibling made it feel like I was gaining a the smallest of insights to that gigantic life changing event.
So. Lennie. The main character of the book, seventeen years old and quite an accurate portrayal of the average teenager. In the first 50 or so pages, I couldn't really tell what kind of person she was. Everything happened so fast. A plant that reflects her state of health, going back to school, meeting this new guy, notes scattered throughout her hometown. It was a bit disorientating but now I can appreciate how I was thrown into the middle of this person's life without having her entire life explained to me in the first five pages.
What I enjoyed most about the book was the way each chapter began with the image of Lennie's notes and poems. I do wish they had looked more realistic rather than it being a font in front of an image of different kinds of paper.
I have to praise Nelson for Lennie's voice. I do feel like I am in her head and I can really feel her thoughts growing as the pain of mourning doesn't necessarily get easier, but becomes a part of her daily life. Many scenes in this novel reminded me of Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl (the film version, which I was able to catch at the LA Times Book Festival last weekend) in which Lennie learns things about her sister after her death. It's haunting to think that you can find out so much about a person through the things they leave behind.
While I wasn't a huge fan of the two boys in Lennie's life, I slowly came to an understanding that...to put it quite frankly, shit happens. Life happens even when you want to press pause and you have to learn to go with it or you'll be left behind in your past.
So...that's my first book review! I don't know how I did, I wanted to say more but I'm afraid of saying too much.
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