All We Can Do Is Wait

by Richard Lawson

Debut author and Vanity Fair film critic Richard Lawson makes your heart stop and time stand still in his extraordinary and life-affirming novel that's perfect for fans of If I Stay and We All Looked Up.

In the hours after a bridge collapse rocks their city, a group of Boston teenagers meet in the waiting room of Massachusetts General Hospital:

Siblings Jason and Alexa have already experienced enough grief for a lifetime, so in this moment of confusion and despair, Alexa hopes that she can look to her brother for support. But a secret Jason has been keeping from his sister threatens to tear the siblings apart...right when they need each other most.

Scott is waiting to hear about his girlfriend, Aimee, who was on a bus with her theater group when the bridge went down. Their relationship has been rocky, but Scott knows that if he can just see Aimee one more time, if she can just make it through this ordeal and he can tell her he loves her, everything will be all right.

And then there's Skyler, whose sister Kate—the sister who is more like a mother, the sister who is basically Skyler's everything—was crossing the bridge when it collapsed. As the minutes tick by without a word from the hospital staff, Skyler is left to wonder how she can possibly move through life without the one person who makes her feel strong when she's at her weakest.

In his riveting, achingly beautiful debut, Richard Lawson guides readers through an emotional and life-changing night as these teens are forced to face the reality of their pasts...and the prospect of very different futures.

• ISBN10: 0448494124
• ISBN13: 9780448494128
• Publish Date: 1 March 2019 (first published 6 February 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 25 June 2024
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Razorbill
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780448494128

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

3.5 stars

"Scott never forgot that feeling, though, that desperate wish that things could just be easier. He felt it now, a yearning to go back to when life was less complicated when it wasn’t so difficult and frightening."


If you remember earlier this year I did a Waiting on Thursday post where I talked about this book, and I actually read the book in the same year I mentioned it!


This is a very character driven story that is more about the aftermath of a tragedy and what happens to the people waiting on you and hoping that you're okay. This is not a story of getting out of a tragedy or of its survival so if you're going into this book expecting that you will be very disappointed.



At some point in your life, you will or have spent time in a waiting room to hear news about someone you love/care about. It's one of the most terrifying and stressful times of your life, and it is also the time when you will meet people who are just as stressed out as you are about something having happened to the person that they care about.

I'm mentioning this because it's what happens and is what connects all of the characters we meet in All We Can Do Is Wait, they are all waiting for news of their loved ones who have been in an accident because of a bridge collapsing. Told in multiple different pov's from the different characters (Skyler, Scott, Jason, and Alex) we see what lead up to the people they care about being on that bridge and how they all feel somewhat guilty about it.



“You know what I’m most scared of?” she said to Scott, who turned in his chair and looked at her seriously, his round brown eyes kind and expectant. “No, what?” “That I’m going to have to figure out who I am a lot sooner than normal. If they’re gone, I mean. Like . . . I’m supposed to get a few more years before I have to do that, right? To be young and screw things up and try lots of different things. In college, or wherever. Maybe not college. Somewhere else. But now . . . I mean, if you don’t have parents to, like, bounce off of, what do you do? Maybe you just have to get your shit together and be a grown-up. Just like that. I mean, it’s not like Jason will. So, one of us has to.”

Overall I really loved this story. The characters were extremely well told, and even though we were switching back and forth between so many different perspectives it never got confusing. Of course, your going to like certain characters more than others, but I was never able to have a true favorite in this book because I liked and cared for them all equally. I especially liked how well thought out and told all of their pasts were with the person that they were waiting for. By the end of the book you cared about everyone and you just wanted them to be okay. I'm not going to give anything away about any of the characters because of how driven it is by them, but just know that this book does contain some domestic abuse so if you might be triggered by that then you might want to skip this book.

"one day I realized that maybe she didn’t have to talk about it because, for all the bad things she saw, there was good stuff too, you know? They save people here. Like, all the time. Maybe . . . maybe most of the stories here actually have happy endings?”



After reading this book I now cannot wait to read another book by Lawson and to see what they can come up with next!