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Loading... Words We Don't Sayby K. J. Reilly
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Young Adult Fiction.
Young Adult Literature.
Joel Higgins has 901 unsent text messages saved on his phone. Ever since the thing that happened, there are certain people he hasn't been able to talk to in person. Sure, he shows up at school, does his mandatory volunteer hours at the soup kitchen, and spends pretty much every moment thinking about Eli, the most amazing girl in the world. But that doesn't mean he's keeping it together, or even that he has any friends. So instead of hanging out with people in real life, he drafts text messages. But he never presses send. As dismal as sophomore year was for Joel, he doesn't see how junior year will be any better. For starters, Eli doesn't know how he feels about her, his best friend Andy's gone, and he basically bombed the SATs. But as Joel spends more time at the soup kitchen with Eli and Benj, the new kid whose mouth seems to be unconnected to his brain, he forms bonds with the people they serve thereâ??including a veteran they call Roosterâ??and begins to understand that the world is bigger than his own pain. In this dazzling, hilarious, and heartbreaking debut, Joel grapples with the aftermath of a tragic loss as he tries to make sense of the problems he's sees all around him with the help of banned books, Winnie-the-Pooh, a field of asparagus, and many pairs of No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The story itself gets way muddled. By the summary, I thought 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. ( )