Book: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Summary: As his town comes alive searching for an extinct bird that has reappeared, Cullen Witter falls apart searching for his missing 15-year-old brother.
Characters: These characters felt incredibly real. There are a lot of funny, eccentric characters, but that doesn't take away from how easy it is to deeply connect to those who matter. I loved Cullen and his best friend, Lucas Cader, but Cullen's brother Gabriel is by far my favorite character. Honestly, I thought Whaley was a bit of an asshole for making me love Gabriel so much before he disappeared. It was hard not knowing what had happened to him, but then you start to figure it out and I didn't think I could handle it if he was dead.
Plot/Pacing: The book itself is short and a pretty quick read. The voice immediately pulled me in, but it wasn't until about halfway through the book that I could not put it down. I stayed up late to finish and the end almost killed me, but was totally worth the late night (and way too early morning). As I mentioned, I was going crazy with worry about Gabriel and I wouldn't have been able to sleep even if I had put the book down.
Every other chapter of Where Things Come Back is not Cullen's story. It is this random (you think), meandering story about abuse and religion and... things. I was really confused, because these interludes seemed to have nothing to do with the main story and were completely unexpected. However, you stick with it and then the story lines intersect in a way you won't see coming and then you will curse a lot and ugly cry. At least that is what I did. These chapters that you think have nothing to do with the story are what make this story so powerful at the end.
Moments I Loved: Any scene with Gabriel. I love him. He felt like my little brother, which made the whole disappearing and maybe dead thing really hard to take.
WTF Moments: The end. It is... open ended. Kind of. I'm still not sure what happened, but that doesn't mean that I didn't like it.
Overall: Definitely for fans of John Green. This book has deep characters and a story line that will make you think before making you ugly cry.
Reading Challenges: This book counts toward the following challenges: 228 pages toward the 15,000 page challenge. Track all my progress on my 2012 Challenges page.
Where Things Come Back gets a FakeSteph rating of...
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For a while I ignored this book.....maybe I am anti-birding? But anywho, I have heard that the plot twists together perfectly and now you have confirmed it! I must read this.
ReplyDeletegreat review :-)
I've heard so many good things about this book and, I must admit, I love a read that can make me ugly cry. Definitely adding this to my list!
ReplyDeleteInteresting...a book that makes you curse instead of giggle...very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI really want to read this one. For some reason the title grabbed me the first time that you mentioned it. And I have to admit, the fact that it is only 228 pages makes me feel like I absolutely have to read it.
I brought this in my crate of books to read this summer while away at grad school. I might read it back to back with Green's Fault in Our Stars and just have one big cry fest!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great read. I love a good ugly cry book..lol Sometimes you just need a good cry and it's the best way to get it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this review, Steph. I've heard of this book but never got why people were so excited about it (the summary was "meh" for me) - but once you described it for fans of John Green, I was super game! Have you read Wintertown by Stephen Edmond? (also for JG fans)
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those books that is not for everyone. It's just... different. It felt more literary writing, where you have to try to figure out hidden meanings or something. And I wanted to love it so bad because it seems like everyone was raving about it. But I had to force myself to finish and then was mad because it didn't have an end. It wasn't my kind of book. So I passed on my book to someone I thought might appreciate it more and she was with me as well, she just wasn't feeling it either. So I think it depends on our reading styles. But that's great that you were able to really appreciate it and 'got it'. It definitely seems like more love it than don't. I guess there's just something wrong with me. lol.
ReplyDeleteNooooo, another open-ended book. It seems that's all I have been reading and I am getting sick of it. But it looks like you loved the book despite it. That's good.
ReplyDeleteSo many people are raving about his one. I need to get to it. Especially because it doesn't seem like the type of book that usually makes such a splash among us YA readers.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this book too. And I agree: there was a point I thought that there was no way any of it was going to make sense. And then it did, and I was completely amazed.
ReplyDeleteI've heard SUCH great things about this one! I need to get it soon so I can fall in love with it, too. :) great review, my dear!
ReplyDeleteI love when favorite authors introduce us to new ones (last year Stephen King introduced me to a lot of new authors), and this one sounds great!
ReplyDeleteI've heard some great things about this one so it's on my TBR list. I'm definitely more psyched to read it now, after reading your review! It sounds really good! Great review, Steph!
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