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ckeller48 's review for:
Playlist for the Dead
by Michelle Falkoff
Yet another teen suicide book. Another best friend left behind, trying to figure out how things went wrong. A quasi-mystery (though it's a stretch to call it that) to figure out the kid's thoughts the night he decided to end his life. It's a recycled plot that wasn't particularly well done in this one.
Sam is pretty boring. Hayden isn't much better. And all of the supporting cast are really just there to fill in their little tidbit of what they know about the night that Hayden decided to end his life.
I'm still trying to figure out what the point of the playlist is except to show Sam that Hayden cared about him enough to leave something behind for him. Sam doesn't seem to understand the meaning behind the songs. They don't give him clues. At best, they serve as little random reminders of some of their memories. For it to be the title of the book, I felt like it should have played a much more prominent role than just highlighting that so much of their friendship was because of their conversations about music.
As per usual, we have a group of white kids with problems. There's a slight mention about socioeconomic differences and some bullying for being gay/nerdy/etc. But nothing here seemed to go into depth and really explore bigger issues. Even Sam's feelings toward the death of his best friend seemed to be muted and barely scratched the surface of the emotional turmoil he was supposedly feeling (which we only know about because the author TOLD us he felt that way, not because she SHOWED us he did).
Sam is pretty boring. Hayden isn't much better. And all of the supporting cast are really just there to fill in their little tidbit of what they know about the night that Hayden decided to end his life.
I'm still trying to figure out what the point of the playlist is except to show Sam that Hayden cared about him enough to leave something behind for him. Sam doesn't seem to understand the meaning behind the songs. They don't give him clues. At best, they serve as little random reminders of some of their memories. For it to be the title of the book, I felt like it should have played a much more prominent role than just highlighting that so much of their friendship was because of their conversations about music.
As per usual, we have a group of white kids with problems. There's a slight mention about socioeconomic differences and some bullying for being gay/nerdy/etc. But nothing here seemed to go into depth and really explore bigger issues. Even Sam's feelings toward the death of his best friend seemed to be muted and barely scratched the surface of the emotional turmoil he was supposedly feeling (which we only know about because the author TOLD us he felt that way, not because she SHOWED us he did).