Goodbye Days

by Jeff Zentner

“Gorgeous, heartbreaking, and ultimately life-affirming.” —Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything.

Perfect for fans of Turtles All the Way Down,Thirteen Reasons Why, and Zentner's own The Serpent King, one of the most highly acclaimed YA novels of 2016, Goodbye Days asks what you would do if you could spend one last day with someone you lost.

Where are you guys? Text me back. That's the last message Carver Briggs will ever send his three best friends, Mars, Eli, and Blake. He never thought that it would lead to their death.

Now Carver can’t stop blaming himself for the accident and even worse, a powerful judge is pressuring the district attorney to open up a criminal investigation. 
 
Luckily, Carver has some unexpected allies: Eli’s girlfriend, the only person to stand by him at school; Dr. Mendez, his new therapist; and Blake’s grandmother, who asks Carver to spend a “goodbye day” together to share their memories and say a proper farewell.
 
Soon the other families are asking for their own goodbye day with Carver—but he’s unsure of their motives. Will they all be able to make peace with their losses, or will these goodbye days bring Carver one step closer to a complete breakdown or—even worse—prison?

"Jeff Zentner, you perfectly fill the John-Green-sized hole in our heart." —Justine Magazine

“Evocative, heartbreaking, and beautifully written." —Buzzfeed

"Masterful." —TeenVogue.com

“Hold on to your heart: this book will wreck you, fix you, and most definitely change you.” —Becky Albertalli, Morris Award-winning author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

• ISBN10: 0606409459
• ISBN13: 9780606409452
• Publish Date: 13 March 2018 (first published 7 March 2017)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 18 March 2021
• Imprint: Turtleback
• Edition: Bound for Schools & Libraries ed.
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 432
• Language: English

Reviews

[wcs53]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review from Early Reviewers at LibraryThing.

Teenager Carver Briggs is mourning the death of his three best friends in a car accident. Unfortunately, he may have played a big part in their death. An innocently sent text is at the centre of the debate of whether or not he was to blame. It's complicated by the fact that the parent of one of the dead friends is a highly respected judge, looking for someone to blame. Further complications ensue when he starts falling for the girlfriend of another of the friends.

This was an interesting and enjoyable read. The characters were well-developed and the story move along well. At times it's easy to understand why some of the characters needed to find someone to blame, but mainly most of the sympathy falls upon Carver, who is going through hell, as he deals with not only his great loss, but the pressures coming at him from all sides.

The title refers to Carver spending a day with people who were significant in the lives of his dead friends, doing something with each of them that had meaning one last time, sharing things about them that perhaps the others didn't know. These are bittersweet days for Carver and each day brings its own particular challenges and complications.

The story is definitely an emotional roller-coaster of a read. I'm sure it would be helpful for young people who may be experiencing loss in their lives. In spite of a lot of the focus being on the dead teens, it is a life-affirming story. Those left behind still have to get on with their lives and find ways of moving forward, while trying to make sense of it all.

It is a page-turner, that as hard to put down in the end, and was a worthwhile read.

[lindsey]

Probably closer to 3.5 stars.

[Sam@WLABB]

This review can be found at We Live and Breathe Books

Rating: 4.5 Stars

They were the "Sauce Crew". A band of talented young men, who shared a bond as thick as brothers. Three of them were lost in a car crash suspected to be due to texting and driving. The other member of the crew being the one who had sent the text.

I watch them lower the third member of Sauce Crew into the ground. I am Sauce Crew now. 

Have you ever lost someone, and wished you had had just one more day? One more day to say "goodbye"? One more day to tell them and show them you loved them? I was really able to relate to this want, this desire to say goodbye.  I lost a very close college friend in a plane crash; we were 31. My last communication with him was a Valentine's Day card he sent me. I never thought I would never see him again. I felt so robbed of the opportunity to make sure he knew I cared, and that I valued him and his friendship. Yes, I could totally relate to this book and the need for a goodbye day.

I guess we'd try to give life to his story for one more day. Pay tribute. Say goodbye.

This book was sad. It really could not have been anything but sad under the circumstances of its premise. I cried so many tears. I cried tears as someone who missed the opportunities to say goodbye. I cried tears as a mother, who couldn't imagine burying her child. I am crying right now as I write this review, because it actually hit me pretty hard.

Penance. Stories. Goodbye days

I love Zentner's story telling. The Serpent King was one of my top 2016 reads, and this was one of my top 2017 anticipated reads. He has this ability to craft a story with so much feeling, and filled with characters that worm their way into your heart and soul. It was so painful being in Carver's head following the accident, and the funerals, and the fallout. I just wanted to reach into the page and hug him so many times. Thank goodness Zentner gave Carver some support in the form of his sister, Georgia (who was pretty awesome), Jesmyn, his very loving parents, Dr. Mendez, and the most awesome character in the book (in my opinion), Nana Betsy.

We build him a monument of words we've written on the walls of our hearts. We make the air vibrate with his life.

Each goodbye day had a very unique tone, but each was quite painful in its own way. Blake's had some very big reveals for both Nana Betsy and Carver. Eli's was tense and awkward, but it also had one of the most beautiful soliloquies from Eli's dad. I think I was bawling at the end of all that. But, the goodbye day for Mars was the most painful. It was tough getting through them.

I never imagined that my history would include the full history of my son, start to finish. But it does now.

Overall: Another amazing book by the wonderful Jeff Zentner, made my heart swell and my face wet with tears.

**I would like to thank NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers for the advanced copy of this book

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