An emotionally intense exploration of grief combined with creative speculation about the nature of friendship.
A decision borne of frustration lands a grief-stricken young man in a questionable research trial about friendship.
Dylan, River’s best friend (and maybe more), died while texting and driving, leading their town to put up an awful billboard that seemingly reduces his death to a pithy slogan. After River’s grief and frustration finally boil over into vandalism, he discovers that someone knows he spray-painted the mustache on Dylan’s face. Blackmailed into joining the Affinity Trials, a study about friendship, River finds himself in close quarters with Mavis, a childhood friend who despises him and was also Dylan’s girlfriend. Over the course of the weeklong study, River starts new friendships and mends others, all while digging for the truth behind the trial’s technology and attempting to unravel his possible romantic feelings for Dylan. As the trials draw to a close, even reality itself comes into question for the participants, and River faces a difficult choice. Couch juxtaposes realistic, emotionally affecting scenes that expose the events of the night Dylan died with a week’s worth of present-day speculative-fiction intrigue, swiftly pulling the narrative along beside heartbreakingly accurate depictions of grief. The three main characters, who have layers of hurt feelings between them, are captivating and sympathetic. Readers who think they know what’s coming will be surprised. River is white; Mavis and Dylan are loosely described and read white.
An emotionally intense exploration of grief combined with creative speculation about the nature of friendship. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: May 28, 2024
ISBN: 9781665935302
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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