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rubyatarah 's review for:
He Forgot to Say Goodbye
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Firstly, a silly note: the week that I read this, I met up with somebody from marketplace to buy a car. His name was Ramiro and he was also from Texas. Totally an accident!
I’ve grown up mostly fatherless, getting the most affection from my dad via letters during some time that he was in prison. When you’re in an unstable home, siblings are there to despise and push away, and at the same time need and pull close.
</An overdose in the network of siblings putting one of us in a coma was the scariest thing we’d ever seen. It said to us that even if we got out of the abuse, we could still hurt ourselves, whether choosing or not choosing to. When our brother lived through it, we felt so relieved but didn’t have the words to talk about it.> This book was so deeply wounding and put-back-togethering to my heart. I hope I can get my family to read it. It made me feel understood in a way I hadn’t realized I needed. Benjamin Alire Saenz does an incredible job portraying difficult truths that we seldom have the minds to speak about, for being too personal or too painful, in a simple and palatable way that gives one permission to laugh and cry within the same page.
I’ve grown up mostly fatherless, getting the most affection from my dad via letters during some time that he was in prison. When you’re in an unstable home, siblings are there to despise and push away, and at the same time need and pull close.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Grief
Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Medical content, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism