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A review by halschrieve
The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk
5.0
This new YA novel from a debut author is part of a recent trend in literature for teenagers of addressing grief and mourning in new ways. The narrative follows three teenagers who have each just lost someone in their lives—to cancer, a car crash, and suicide, respectively. The narrators come from diverse backgrounds that reflect the diversity of the population of NYC, and each have distinct personalities, though there are admittedly marked similarities: all of them are pretty into music, relatively social and normally extroverted, and all of them react to death with a devastation that gradually upends the way they lived before tragedy and prompts them to need to discover and talk about new aspects of themselves.
I liked Logan’s story arc for being a depiction both of gay love and gay mourning that got into dark places without using tropes of homophobic abuse or shame. Neither Logan or the other three gay/bi characters in the narrative express deep rooted shame about their sexuality, and Logan’s ex boyfriend commits suicide for reasons that don’t have much to do with external abuse or anti-gay sentiment; instead, what we know of his death is as complex and opaque as with any teen suicide. It has something to do with fear of the future and maybe with his own fear of himself, but as much to do with poverty and anxiety and loneliness and maybe addiction. In short, it’s more real than the issue novels of the 90s. Logan reacts to his grief realistically and messily in a way I really love.
Autumn and Shay are also cool, refreshing characters , respectively dealing with different mental health crises and rendered three dimensionally. Autumn holds back with emotions until she explodes; Shay tries to keep from cracking until she finally collapses. Their arcs take longer to find a clear track than Logan’s, but I think that this does reflect the way it is to come back to yourself as a teenager after the death of someone close to you. It takes a long time. It’s hard. It’s not always clear where things will end.
I can’t wait to see more from this author!
I liked Logan’s story arc for being a depiction both of gay love and gay mourning that got into dark places without using tropes of homophobic abuse or shame. Neither Logan or the other three gay/bi characters in the narrative express deep rooted shame about their sexuality, and Logan’s ex boyfriend commits suicide for reasons that don’t have much to do with external abuse or anti-gay sentiment; instead, what we know of his death is as complex and opaque as with any teen suicide. It has something to do with fear of the future and maybe with his own fear of himself, but as much to do with poverty and anxiety and loneliness and maybe addiction. In short, it’s more real than the issue novels of the 90s. Logan reacts to his grief realistically and messily in a way I really love.
Autumn and Shay are also cool, refreshing characters , respectively dealing with different mental health crises and rendered three dimensionally. Autumn holds back with emotions until she explodes; Shay tries to keep from cracking until she finally collapses. Their arcs take longer to find a clear track than Logan’s, but I think that this does reflect the way it is to come back to yourself as a teenager after the death of someone close to you. It takes a long time. It’s hard. It’s not always clear where things will end.
I can’t wait to see more from this author!