GOODBYE DAYS by Jeff Zentner

GOODBYE DAYS by Jeff Zentner (March 7, Crown) deals with grief, loss, guilt, death and high school friendships. This title definitely falls into the realistic fiction category as the main character, Carver, copes with his friends’ deaths due to texting while driving.  And, coincidentally, distracted driving was the cover story for last week’s Upfront Magazine which is written for high school students.   

Of course, Carver is sad to have lost Sauce Crew, his 3 best friends (Blake, Eli and Mars), but I did feel that at over 400 pages long the story dragged at points. Perhaps this pacing was intentional in order to mirror Carver‘s feelings of loss and depression as he experiences panic attacks and faces charges of criminal negligence. The reading experience is emotionally intense at times.

The writing itself is stellar, even if the internal monologues are a bit mature for a high school boy: “I wonder if the actions we take and the words we speak are like throwing pebbles into a pond; they send ripples that extend farther out from the center until finally they break on the bank or disappear.  I wonder if somewhere in the universe, there’s still a ripple that’s Blake and I sitting in this living room, laughing ourselves silly. Maybe it’ll break on some bank somewhere in the vast sky beyond our sight.  Maybe it’ll disappear. Or maybe it’ll keep travelling on for eternity.” Truly, the best parts of this book are brief flashbacks and humorous dialogue between the friends.  An online discussion guide is available and GOODBYE DAYS received starred reviews from both Booklist and Publishers Weekly.  Zentner also wrote The Serpent King which was just nominated for 2018 Abe Lincoln Award.