Do you think about what someone
might be doing when you send them a text?
Do you ever send a text when you think/know they might be driving? In Goodbye
Days, Carver Briggs is waiting on his three best friends (Mars, Eli, and
Blake) to pick him up from work, and he sends them a simple text:
Where are you guys? Text me back.
Their vehicle rear-ends a
semi-truck and all three teenagers are killed.
When the driver’s phone is recovered, it contains a partial response to
Carver’s text. This book covers the ensuing days
with flashbacks thrown in. Carver deals
with guilt, grief, and the possibility of criminal charges for negligent
manslaughter. He starts a friendship
with the girlfriend of one of his friends and she is an ally at school where no
one knows how to treat him anymore. Blake’s
grandmother wants Carver to spend a goodbye
day with her to share memories and say goodbye to Blake. Eventually, Carver will spend a goodbye day with Eli’s and Mars’ family
as well.
I picked this book to read
because I had previously read The Serpent
King by Jeff Zentner, and it was a truly good read. This book did not disappoint. It was thought-provoking. I also learned a few new words like
pareidolia, synesthesia, and oeuvre. In
his previous novel (and this one as well), I feel connected to the
characters. Both novels also touch on
teens questioning the religion of their parents. This is a natural question during the teenage
years: Do I share my parents’
beliefs? Zentner speaks to this issue
without belittling or negating anyone’s belief system.
One of the lines I liked: “For the most part, you don’t hold the people
you love in your heart because they rescued you from drowning or pulled you
from a burning house. Mostly you hold
them in your heart because they save you, in a million quiet and perfect ways,
from being alone.”
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