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thesuperkim 's review for:
Playlist for the Dead
by Michelle Falkoff
For a first novel, this has been surprisingly good. At first, I thought it's going to be like Looking For Alaska but backwards. With LfA, Miles met Alaska, she died and his whole life's changed. In PftD, Hayden dies, Sam meets Astrid and his whole life changes. It's also a lot like Thirteen Reasons Why, but you probably knew that already. By the way can I just say I love the character names Michelle Falkoff comes up with? - Hayden, Astrid, Trevor - awesome.
Anyway, yeah, that's the story. Sam finds his best and only friend - Hayden - dead on his bed with a flash drive and a note saying, "Listen and you'll understand." The flash drive contains a playlist that somehow is supposed to explain Hayden's death. On Hayden's funeral, a girl, Astrid, talks to Sam claiming she's friends with Hayden. Sam, of course, couldn't believe that Hayden has other friends. Hayden's father talked about Hayden but Sam thinks it's all bull, when the priest called on other people who wants to talk about Hayden, Sam couldn't believe that Hayden's brother, Ryan, would get in line to speak. He went to Ryan to give him a piece of his mind but Ryan's ever present bestfriends were there, (together Sam and Hayden calls them the Bully Trifecta) and they pushed Sam off Ryan.
Anyway, Sam tries to continue his life despite no longer having anyone to talk to but bad things started happening to the bully trifecta and Sam thinks he's the one doing it.
The story, by any means, isn't unique. There's been a lot of stories about teens grieving over their bestfriends who kills themselves, about bullying, at home or at school. But there's something about this book that made me want to finish it as soon as I started it. There's something different with Sam. The way he kept his allegiance to Hayden despite Hayden being dead, to be fair, unlike other stories, Hayden seemed to be a really nice, really good person without evil underneath. I also liked how he remained resolute in his principles. It's kind of hard to explain without spoiling anything but you'll just have to read the book.
Anyway, yeah, that's the story. Sam finds his best and only friend - Hayden - dead on his bed with a flash drive and a note saying, "Listen and you'll understand." The flash drive contains a playlist that somehow is supposed to explain Hayden's death. On Hayden's funeral, a girl, Astrid, talks to Sam claiming she's friends with Hayden. Sam, of course, couldn't believe that Hayden has other friends. Hayden's father talked about Hayden but Sam thinks it's all bull, when the priest called on other people who wants to talk about Hayden, Sam couldn't believe that Hayden's brother, Ryan, would get in line to speak. He went to Ryan to give him a piece of his mind but Ryan's ever present bestfriends were there, (together Sam and Hayden calls them the Bully Trifecta) and they pushed Sam off Ryan.
Anyway, Sam tries to continue his life despite no longer having anyone to talk to but bad things started happening to the bully trifecta and Sam thinks he's the one doing it.
The story, by any means, isn't unique. There's been a lot of stories about teens grieving over their bestfriends who kills themselves, about bullying, at home or at school. But there's something about this book that made me want to finish it as soon as I started it. There's something different with Sam. The way he kept his allegiance to Hayden despite Hayden being dead, to be fair, unlike other stories, Hayden seemed to be a really nice, really good person without evil underneath. I also liked how he remained resolute in his principles. It's kind of hard to explain without spoiling anything but you'll just have to read the book.