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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
This was pretty good. It came after two fantastic books and I think had I been in a slump I’d rate this higher (3.5 for me).
It wasn’t what I was expecting and I liked that it wasn’t neatly wrapped up.
Summary: The book begins with a death row inmate writing a letter. You’re not sure who the person is, but soon learn it was his childhood best friend. The book flashes back to the past (their senior year) with brief interludes of what is happening now as he sits on death row (this is what is told in the letters). You don’t know until the end WHY he’s on death row or what happened to his friend that he’s writing to. It kept my attention and was mostly a story about two teen boys their senior year (who grew up in poverty/alcoholism/difficult circumstances). That’s not what I was expecting but it was real and honest. It felt very “YA” but with a side of depravity.. making the reader feel how too adult the world was for these boys.
It wasn’t what I was expecting and I liked that it wasn’t neatly wrapped up.
Summary: The book begins with a death row inmate writing a letter. You’re not sure who the person is, but soon learn it was his childhood best friend. The book flashes back to the past (their senior year) with brief interludes of what is happening now as he sits on death row (this is what is told in the letters). You don’t know until the end WHY he’s on death row or what happened to his friend that he’s writing to. It kept my attention and was mostly a story about two teen boys their senior year (who grew up in poverty/alcoholism/difficult circumstances). That’s not what I was expecting but it was real and honest. It felt very “YA” but with a side of depravity.. making the reader feel how too adult the world was for these boys.
Three for me, but I think some teen boys would rate it four or even five stars.
Powerful. I wasn’t expecting to become as invested with the characters as I did.
Luke and Toby are teenage best friends growing up amid poverty and abuse. Their story is told in flashbacks among letters written by one of them who is on death row.
I’m a big proponent of choices and free will. However, this book had me reflecting on how circumstances affected the choices of the main characters and re-examining my beliefs.
Luke and Toby are teenage best friends growing up amid poverty and abuse. Their story is told in flashbacks among letters written by one of them who is on death row.
I’m a big proponent of choices and free will. However, this book had me reflecting on how circumstances affected the choices of the main characters and re-examining my beliefs.
Heartachingly Real
Bryan Bliss tells a story of two best friends that could have easily turned into saccharine sentimentality and cheap theatrics from a film trying to rise above its budget. Instead he tells one of harsh reality, choices, and hope in all its forms.
The highest praise I can give We’ll Fly Away is this: my students need to read this, not matter how much our little their lives mirror Luke, Toby, Annie, or evening Lilly’s. They need to fall into this story to find the hope they deserve.
Bryan Bliss tells a story of two best friends that could have easily turned into saccharine sentimentality and cheap theatrics from a film trying to rise above its budget. Instead he tells one of harsh reality, choices, and hope in all its forms.
The highest praise I can give We’ll Fly Away is this: my students need to read this, not matter how much our little their lives mirror Luke, Toby, Annie, or evening Lilly’s. They need to fall into this story to find the hope they deserve.
It’s been a long time since I gave a book five stars-but man...this story...
Spoiler
physical abuse, sexual content, violence, death, shooting, incarceration
Jesus Christ.
Those were my first words, out loud, as I read the last few words of this stunning book. Tears dropped from my eyes. It felt like actual hands were clutching my heart and pressing it deeper into my chest. I stared off into the distance for about 5 minutes. And I knew, as if I had always known, that this book had changed me a bit. Subtly, but still. I’ve read the line “we are all more than the worst thing we have ever done” in a few books of late. Yet, in this one, the “we” that encompasses Toby and Luke speaks to a part of our country, our collective community about which I have remained (willfully?) ignorant. I just don’t think I can do that anymore.
On a related note, I am so glad to have had NO idea drawn for me of the race or ethnicity of a single character in this book. It seems counterintuitive to say that, as I generally relish being able to perfectly picture the people in my stories. But it illustrated for me that HOW I envisioned them this time did just as much to enlighten my thinking and prejudice as anything. Very thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Those were my first words, out loud, as I read the last few words of this stunning book. Tears dropped from my eyes. It felt like actual hands were clutching my heart and pressing it deeper into my chest. I stared off into the distance for about 5 minutes. And I knew, as if I had always known, that this book had changed me a bit. Subtly, but still. I’ve read the line “we are all more than the worst thing we have ever done” in a few books of late. Yet, in this one, the “we” that encompasses Toby and Luke speaks to a part of our country, our collective community about which I have remained (willfully?) ignorant. I just don’t think I can do that anymore.
On a related note, I am so glad to have had NO idea drawn for me of the race or ethnicity of a single character in this book. It seems counterintuitive to say that, as I generally relish being able to perfectly picture the people in my stories. But it illustrated for me that HOW I envisioned them this time did just as much to enlighten my thinking and prejudice as anything. Very thoughtful and thought-provoking.