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A review by alwaysgottimeforbooks
No Sad Songs by Frank Morelli
4.0
Gabe, an 18 year old high school student finds himself in the difficult position of becoming the main carer for his Grandpa who suffers from Picks disease, a form of Alzheimer’s.
Told from Gabe’s point of view we are given a glimpse of what life as a young carer is like for many people, juggling school, a part time job and friendship with the heavy responsibility of caring for someone who used to care for you. It is a real eye opener and I was so proud of Gabe by the end of the book, he doesn’t always make the right decision but everything he does is based on the love he has for his Grandpa and not wanting to break his Dad’s promise to him.
The story is told in the present day with flashbacks from Gabe’s memory given to us in the form of personal essays which I loved. It gave us a little more back story and a chance to get to know Grandpa as the man he was before this terrible illness took a hold of him.
Gabe’s relationship with his best friend John is beautiful. There is one stand out moment where John really stepped up with a maturity unexpected from a young man and throughout the story he tries to get Gabe to see reason and make the right choices. For Gabe, burdened by grief and responsibility to his parents, its harder to see what the right thing to do is and he comes close to throwing his whole life away for his family.
All the characters in this book stand out and have their own issues. Uncle Nick appears unannounced after years of no contact, to help look after Grandpa though he ends up needing looking after a lot more than actually helping Gabe. Sofia, the tattooed punk rocker Gabe meets in the hospital waiting room, proves herself to be a good friend despite going through her own family problems.
Being a YA novel this book has it’s fair share of teenage angst and drama. As a 31 year old woman I doubt I am this books target audience and I did find some of Gabe’s actions frustrating at times. Despite the many baseball references which went slightly over my head, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think it provides a real insight to how an illness like Alzheimer’s affects a whole family
I give this book 4/5 stars.
I was gifted this book as part of the book blog tour, all views are my own.
Told from Gabe’s point of view we are given a glimpse of what life as a young carer is like for many people, juggling school, a part time job and friendship with the heavy responsibility of caring for someone who used to care for you. It is a real eye opener and I was so proud of Gabe by the end of the book, he doesn’t always make the right decision but everything he does is based on the love he has for his Grandpa and not wanting to break his Dad’s promise to him.
The story is told in the present day with flashbacks from Gabe’s memory given to us in the form of personal essays which I loved. It gave us a little more back story and a chance to get to know Grandpa as the man he was before this terrible illness took a hold of him.
Gabe’s relationship with his best friend John is beautiful. There is one stand out moment where John really stepped up with a maturity unexpected from a young man and throughout the story he tries to get Gabe to see reason and make the right choices. For Gabe, burdened by grief and responsibility to his parents, its harder to see what the right thing to do is and he comes close to throwing his whole life away for his family.
All the characters in this book stand out and have their own issues. Uncle Nick appears unannounced after years of no contact, to help look after Grandpa though he ends up needing looking after a lot more than actually helping Gabe. Sofia, the tattooed punk rocker Gabe meets in the hospital waiting room, proves herself to be a good friend despite going through her own family problems.
Being a YA novel this book has it’s fair share of teenage angst and drama. As a 31 year old woman I doubt I am this books target audience and I did find some of Gabe’s actions frustrating at times. Despite the many baseball references which went slightly over my head, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and think it provides a real insight to how an illness like Alzheimer’s affects a whole family
I give this book 4/5 stars.
I was gifted this book as part of the book blog tour, all views are my own.