The Reading Nook: Goodbye Days

Have you ever read a book that literally altered your perspective and changed you as a person? That’s how I feel about Goodbye Days written by Jeff Zentner. My newspaper teacher, Mr. Florez, bought a paperback version of this book, handed it to me, and asked me to read it. So of course, I read it. I began reading it when I had time in class, but after the first couple of chapters I was reading it for hours at home. 

An overall synopsis, excluding spoilers, would be that the narrator, Carver, has recently gone through the deaths of his three best friends, and goes through the process of dealing with their passing. This book goes over his guilt, anger, fear and anxieties. It tackles his mental health, and the state of his life as he learns to grieve and accept the death of his closest friends, describing how his life changed, and continues to change as he progresses his healing.

I have an intense love for this book. It is written in a very similar fashion as the infamous John Green novels, but with the author’s own twist. There are a lot of metaphors and poetic language used to make this a very enjoyable read. For example, the line, “My insides are trying to crawl down my leg. An almost aggressive silence hangs in the room like a plume of nervous gas…” is such an interesting way to describe a scene. As well as the line, “The scent puts my memory of last year’s first say in sharper relief…” is unbelievably well done.

I read this book and it actually made me question my life. I get genuinely upset when I see people texting and driving, and have become hyper aware of my surroundings as I’m driving. I’ve been cherishing my friends, and telling them that I love every time I leave them, just in case something were to ever happen.

Overall, I would rate this book 4.8 stars. It’s written so elegantly, and gives a great amount of detail to paint such a clear picture when reading. It’s hard to put the book down! The only criticism I give to the way this book was written, is that I wish some scenes lasted just a tiny bit longer. With one of the panic attack scenes, although it had happened previously in the book, I wish it lasted a little longer than the one paragraph it was given. In general, I would recommend this book to anyone and I certainly want everyone to read it!