Scan barcode
A review by irayred
He Forgot to Say Goodbye by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
2.0
2.5/5
Ramiro Lopez and Jake Upthegrove have missing parents. And the way they cope up with that is not the best. On one hand we have Ramiro, a guy that was left by his dad before his little brother, Tito, was born, and ever since, he has felt a hole inside him that cannot be fill with anything. And Jake is this kid whose father just left one day, and so his mom took care of him, along with this stepdad –problem is that they provide him with all sorts of things, except what’s most important and that is to really see him and try to understand him.
Now, I must admit that this book has a lot of problems. First, it seriously needs EDITING. You effen destroy me, like, can you dig it? and all those phrases and words were at least a hundred times in the whole book. The voices of the MCs are quite annoying, even for a teenager, and I swear to god, I was tired of reading such obnoxious characters.
Now, teenagers using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes just to ignore the fact that they are hurt, I mean, what else is new? I get bored with those shallow characters real fast. It’s not that they’re not out there, in real life, is just that it is boring to read about them because they do things out of pure frustration. People like that don’t use their brains, and I know we’re all hurt in some ways that are beyond repair, but that doesn’t mean you get to hurt others just because you don’t know how to deal with it.
Unfortunately, this book is not that remarkable. I can see that Benjamin has grown into a wonderful author, but I wouldn't recommend this book because it doesn’t feel like it has a real purpose. To me is just like he wanted to talk about kids that were abandoned by their parents, and how that affects their lives, but at the end of the day, all that I remember is how annoying they were, even if they end up feeling hope for a brief moment.
I was expecting too much about this book because I’ve already read three of Benjamin Alire Sáenz books but this one was a total miss for me.
The only thing that I will remember is that parents don’t really see their kids. For example, when we’re young we ask about things and don’t accept the world as it is; instead we try to change it despite the fact that we don’t have the foundation to do it so. Truth is, some parents only see us for who they want us to be. Sometimes they just pretend everything is OK, when in fact it is not and that leads to drugs, alcohol abuse and other problems that are so common among young adults.
This is only a reminder that not everybody should be a parent just because they know how to have sex (and sometimes, not even that).
I wouldn’t recommend this book in case you want to get into Benjamin Alire Sáenz writing.
There are far more better books like Aristotle and Dante discover the Secrets of the Universe, The Inexplicable Logic of my Life and Last Night I Sang to the Monster.
Ramiro Lopez and Jake Upthegrove have missing parents. And the way they cope up with that is not the best. On one hand we have Ramiro, a guy that was left by his dad before his little brother, Tito, was born, and ever since, he has felt a hole inside him that cannot be fill with anything. And Jake is this kid whose father just left one day, and so his mom took care of him, along with this stepdad –problem is that they provide him with all sorts of things, except what’s most important and that is to really see him and try to understand him.
Now, I must admit that this book has a lot of problems. First, it seriously needs EDITING. You effen destroy me, like, can you dig it? and all those phrases and words were at least a hundred times in the whole book. The voices of the MCs are quite annoying, even for a teenager, and I swear to god, I was tired of reading such obnoxious characters.
Now, teenagers using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes just to ignore the fact that they are hurt, I mean, what else is new? I get bored with those shallow characters real fast. It’s not that they’re not out there, in real life, is just that it is boring to read about them because they do things out of pure frustration. People like that don’t use their brains, and I know we’re all hurt in some ways that are beyond repair, but that doesn’t mean you get to hurt others just because you don’t know how to deal with it.
Unfortunately, this book is not that remarkable. I can see that Benjamin has grown into a wonderful author, but I wouldn't recommend this book because it doesn’t feel like it has a real purpose. To me is just like he wanted to talk about kids that were abandoned by their parents, and how that affects their lives, but at the end of the day, all that I remember is how annoying they were, even if they end up feeling hope for a brief moment.
I was expecting too much about this book because I’ve already read three of Benjamin Alire Sáenz books but this one was a total miss for me.
The only thing that I will remember is that parents don’t really see their kids. For example, when we’re young we ask about things and don’t accept the world as it is; instead we try to change it despite the fact that we don’t have the foundation to do it so. Truth is, some parents only see us for who they want us to be. Sometimes they just pretend everything is OK, when in fact it is not and that leads to drugs, alcohol abuse and other problems that are so common among young adults.
This is only a reminder that not everybody should be a parent just because they know how to have sex (and sometimes, not even that).
I wouldn’t recommend this book in case you want to get into Benjamin Alire Sáenz writing.
There are far more better books like Aristotle and Dante discover the Secrets of the Universe, The Inexplicable Logic of my Life and Last Night I Sang to the Monster.