A quirky coming-of-age story, perfect for fans of John Green, David Levithan and Stephen Chbosky.
Cullen Witter's fifteen-year-old brother Gabriel has suddenly and inexplicably disappeared. Angry and looking for answers, Cullen must navigate his way through a summer of finding and losing love while holding his fragile family together.
Meanwhile a young missionary in Africa is searching for meaning wherever he can find it. As distant as they seem, these stories are thoughtfully woven together, before a surprising and harrowing climax.
Complex but truly extraordinary, tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity; Where Things Come Backis about finding wonder in the ordinary and the dream of second chances.
Man, I could write so much about this book but I'm tired and my brain is mush from watching the Olympics all day so I'll just have to say that I thought it was really damn good. I loved the characters, I loved the subtext, I loved how quietly moving it was.
The intersecting storylines were the strongest part of it to me. Even before you see how it all comes together (and let me tell you, when I realized that Cabot kidnapped Gabriel I for real gasped), there are a lot of really interesting parallels, tied together by different religious imagery. Even just the part that was narrated by Cullen was really interesting, because the Lazarus woodpecker was so intensely symbolic.
I don't know, I just thought it was really really wonderful, and an incredible YA offering. Teenagers need books like this, books that are clean and intelligent and constructed in an unpredictable manner and chalk full of flawed, realistic characters and emotional without being in your face about it. This one's definitely moving with me to Montreal, which is not something I say lightly since I'm trying to keep it down to 2 shelves!
