K. J. Reilly

Four unlikely friends that met in a hospital bereavement group chose to take a road trip to Memphis.
One to visit Graceland, one to ride a Harley down Beale Street, one to face the randomness of cancer, one to murder the truck driver that killed his mother. Along the way the group learns to trust one another and commit to helping one another get through the pain they are experiencing. Fun and entertaining characters that will pull at your heart strings. This is a story that builds empathy, show more shows forgiveness, and provides hope. show less

CW: Main characters have recently experienced death of a parent, spouse, or sibling.

3.5 stars. More than a year after his mother was killed in a drunk driving incident, Asher is not okay. He's angry, overprotective of his younger sister, and sometimes just numb. But when he starts attending group meetings for those who have lost someone they loved, he makes connections for the first time with others who understand what he is experiencing. So when Asher decides to embark on a vengeful road show more trip, he invites his fellow group members (two teenagers and one older adult) to accompany him.

Asher's plan is ill-conceived and even cruel, but it is easy to understand how his grief blinds him to anyone else's pain. By the end he has taken some definite steps towards healing and finds ways to support his new friends as much as they take care of him. The only false notes are the inclusion of a romance thread, which feels forced, and a secondary female character whose reaction to Asher's behavior is inconceivably generous. Also, I'm not sure that elderly widower Henry's behavior (he carries his wife's ashes around and still talks to her) should have been taken so lightly.

A wrenching read, recommended for those looking for something serious but hopeful. show less

Oh boy. This book was not exactly my favorite. The narration is basically a very long internal monologue of our main character, Joel. This includes mindless ramblings and run-on sentences that take up the space of a large paragraph. I’m a really big fan of stories being character-led, but I completely hate it when a character tells the story instead of showing. There’s a bunch of “he did this” and “then we did that”.

The story itself gets way muddled. By the summary, I thought show more the book was going to be about a boy who lost his best friend and is trying to get through the next school year without him with the help of a few unconventional friends, but I still not quite sure what the book was really supposed to be about. Death of a friend, crush on a girl, mental health, homeless vets, drunk driving, making new friends, religion and other social topics were hit on, but made the story overwhelming. Plus, there is a very excessive use of language (f bombs everywhere!).

Overall, Words We Don’t Say just doesn’t work has a cohesive story for me. show less