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etrnyl's review against another edition
5.0
5/5 stars. I cried quite a bit while reading this book. I don’t know how to write a review for it. The writing was different from Ben’s newer writing but it was still very beautifully done. Honestly throughout this whole book and by the end the character development was phenomenal. The setting and plot was also great. I never got confusing while reading this. The plot in this book was very well done. I loved it. The whole book.
beastcoastmac's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
prob my least fav pur of the three of the books ive read so far?
prob my least fav pur of the three of the books ive read so far?
_mery98_'s review against another edition
4.0
4/5
I read He Forgot To Say Goodbye two years ago and it was the second book of Benjamin Alire Saenz that I've read since Aristotle and Dante.
Told from a dual perspective, it focuses on a brief period of time in the lives of Ramiro Lopez and Jake Upthegrove, two 17-year-old boys living in El Paso, Texas, who were both abandoned by their fathers. Jake lives in the “Oh-Wow West Side” with his mother and stepfather, dealing with an anger management problem and his shallow parents. Ramiro, or Ram, lives in a working-class barrio called “Dizzy Land” and worries about his brother, whose drug problem is becoming a greater and greater concern. The story is almost entirely character-driven, so for the sake of not spoiling what few plot points there are, I won’t go into much detail about them.
The style of writing is incredible. They have similar but distinct voices, and they are true to life. I can’t remember the last time I read a book with such realistic, well-developed characters. Their thoughts and emotions are so complex, I begin to wonder how Saenz manages to so completely take on the voice of someone else. It’s less like you’re reading their thoughts and more like they’re sitting right in front of you, telling you the story.
That segues into my next point and main criticism, which is verb tense. The tense of the book switches from past to present all over the place in the same passages, sometimes even in the same sentence. It can be jarring, but I know it was done on purpose. Anyone who has ever taken a decent English class knows that in any formal writing, the number one rule of grammar is that the same verb tense should be maintained. Saenz clearly knows this-I mean, the man teaches creative writing and has a Ph.D. in American Literature. The effect is to make the storytelling more natural, and, as I mentioned before, seem like the characters are really talking to you.
There are times when the teenage characters don’t really sound like teenagers, such as when they are being deep, handwriting notes, or conversing with each other. They are either too philosophical or unrealistically open with each other. And the girls in the novel can’t seem to stop calling to protagonists “beautiful”. Such occurrences are rare, but when they happen, they stick out like a sore thumb.
I had a hard time believing the near love-at-first-sight type deal between Jake and a certain female character, and I felt like the minor female characters all spoke in exactly the same way. I appreciated that the conflict between Jake and his mother wasn’t tied up in a neat bow, but I did think it dropped from climactic to barely existent with very little falling action, which would have made it more believable. I also think that the book description suggests more friendship between Ram and Jake than there actually is. Friendship is certainly a major theme in the novel, but the two never become close friends. In fact, they hardly even become friends until the last few chapters. I should also mention that there is an element of tragedy, so if you don’t like reading about death, this may not be the book for you.
He Forgot To Say Goodbye is a great book. It has flaws, but in the context of such amazing, interesting characters, they are easily overlooked.
I read He Forgot To Say Goodbye two years ago and it was the second book of Benjamin Alire Saenz that I've read since Aristotle and Dante.
Told from a dual perspective, it focuses on a brief period of time in the lives of Ramiro Lopez and Jake Upthegrove, two 17-year-old boys living in El Paso, Texas, who were both abandoned by their fathers. Jake lives in the “Oh-Wow West Side” with his mother and stepfather, dealing with an anger management problem and his shallow parents. Ramiro, or Ram, lives in a working-class barrio called “Dizzy Land” and worries about his brother, whose drug problem is becoming a greater and greater concern. The story is almost entirely character-driven, so for the sake of not spoiling what few plot points there are, I won’t go into much detail about them.
The style of writing is incredible. They have similar but distinct voices, and they are true to life. I can’t remember the last time I read a book with such realistic, well-developed characters. Their thoughts and emotions are so complex, I begin to wonder how Saenz manages to so completely take on the voice of someone else. It’s less like you’re reading their thoughts and more like they’re sitting right in front of you, telling you the story.
That segues into my next point and main criticism, which is verb tense. The tense of the book switches from past to present all over the place in the same passages, sometimes even in the same sentence. It can be jarring, but I know it was done on purpose. Anyone who has ever taken a decent English class knows that in any formal writing, the number one rule of grammar is that the same verb tense should be maintained. Saenz clearly knows this-I mean, the man teaches creative writing and has a Ph.D. in American Literature. The effect is to make the storytelling more natural, and, as I mentioned before, seem like the characters are really talking to you.
There are times when the teenage characters don’t really sound like teenagers, such as when they are being deep, handwriting notes, or conversing with each other. They are either too philosophical or unrealistically open with each other. And the girls in the novel can’t seem to stop calling to protagonists “beautiful”. Such occurrences are rare, but when they happen, they stick out like a sore thumb.
I had a hard time believing the near love-at-first-sight type deal between Jake and a certain female character, and I felt like the minor female characters all spoke in exactly the same way. I appreciated that the conflict between Jake and his mother wasn’t tied up in a neat bow, but I did think it dropped from climactic to barely existent with very little falling action, which would have made it more believable. I also think that the book description suggests more friendship between Ram and Jake than there actually is. Friendship is certainly a major theme in the novel, but the two never become close friends. In fact, they hardly even become friends until the last few chapters. I should also mention that there is an element of tragedy, so if you don’t like reading about death, this may not be the book for you.
He Forgot To Say Goodbye is a great book. It has flaws, but in the context of such amazing, interesting characters, they are easily overlooked.
annekdotes's review against another edition
4.0
Another wonderful Benjamin Alire Sáenz novel! This one didn't resonate with me quite as much as the other three novels I've read by him, but I still thought it was really beautiful. There's just something about the way Sáenz lets his characters come to life that's really magical.
hezann73's review against another edition
5.0
Ramiro Lopez and Jake Upthegrove are the same age and attend school in adjacent buildings, but other than that, they don’t have much in common. So why do the two become cautious friends? Well, they both think almost everything that goes wrong in their lives has to do with their absent fathers.
This was an amazing and moving book. It definitely reads more on the “adult” end of “young adult” and it would take a dedicated reader. There isn’t a lot of action to the story, but it’s beautifully told. The language just swept me away. I could picture everything about Ram and Jake with no problem. They were real to me. Probably because they were complex. Ram is almost perfect to everyone around him, but he holds so much pain inside. Jake is an ….well, I was going to use another “a” word, but we’ll just say he’s a jerk. I couldn’t stand him at all for most of the book , but as he becomes closer to Ram you see hints of what might make girls call him sweet.
This will never be the most popular teen book and my guess is that it will sit on the shelf a lot, but I honestly think teens that pick it up will be rewarded
This was an amazing and moving book. It definitely reads more on the “adult” end of “young adult” and it would take a dedicated reader. There isn’t a lot of action to the story, but it’s beautifully told. The language just swept me away. I could picture everything about Ram and Jake with no problem. They were real to me. Probably because they were complex. Ram is almost perfect to everyone around him, but he holds so much pain inside. Jake is an ….well, I was going to use another “a” word, but we’ll just say he’s a jerk. I couldn’t stand him at all for most of the book , but as he becomes closer to Ram you see hints of what might make girls call him sweet.
This will never be the most popular teen book and my guess is that it will sit on the shelf a lot, but I honestly think teens that pick it up will be rewarded
unetortueliseuse's review against another edition
5.0
C'est une histoire magnifique, avec des personnages incroyables. Encore une fois, mon coeur est totalement parti durant ma lecture, mais cette fois-ci, il s'est juste totalement brisé au sol. Cette histoire est magnifique, et les émotions sont si fortes que nous les ressentons comme si s'étaient les nôtres.
sammymantis's review against another edition
4.0
Benjamin Alire Sáenz is one of my favorite authors. But this wasn't my favorite of his. I'm not saying that this was a terrible book, it was amazing, but there were a few problems. I'm either an idiot or something because I didn't realize that this book was in two different povs until the end of the book. But I loved the relationships and friendsips in this book. I would definitely recommend it.
pickmegirl's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I meann😂 would be better if it was gay
crazyasahare1's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.0