Scan barcode
A review by katykelly
And The Stars Were Burning Brightly by Danielle Jawando
5.0
Painful and oh-too-relevant teen suicide tale. Hard to forget.
Two narrators lift the curtain on one teenager's life and death. Nathan is still reeling and angry after discovering his older brother, talented artist Al, has killed himself. There's no note, he feels guilt, he just wants to understand what happened. Megan, classmate of Al and fellow artist, knew him. She meets Nathan as he tries to investigate Al's life, and, struggling herself with friends caught up in social media worlds, feels that maybe she could do something to help, to honour the misfit friend she barely acknowledged in public.
Snippets from Al's diary, his thoughts for his little brother and his friend, give us insight into an enquiring and optimistic mind. His unexpected death has affected his family badly, though Nathan is the only one asking questions (which I found hard to believe).
There seem to be no reasons for his suicide. Though things are clearly not right, the students at Al's school are all the same as anywhere else - obsessed with the number likes on their photos, sharing videos, trolling each other online. It's a familiar and depressing adolescent world. One that both Nathan and Megan are caught up in, in different ways.
I found this a hard read, the further I got into it, as more and more was uncovered. Both Nathan and Megan undergo some transformative discoveries, and the reader is shown in some fairly graphic detail exactly what did happen to Al. It's fairly upsetting, and unfortunately all too possible.
Very very powerful. Very very sad. Every secondary school needs copies, teachers will want to try and include this in various subjects, with its highly relevant social themes.
For ages 14 and above, some graphic and upsetting content.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.
Two narrators lift the curtain on one teenager's life and death. Nathan is still reeling and angry after discovering his older brother, talented artist Al, has killed himself. There's no note, he feels guilt, he just wants to understand what happened. Megan, classmate of Al and fellow artist, knew him. She meets Nathan as he tries to investigate Al's life, and, struggling herself with friends caught up in social media worlds, feels that maybe she could do something to help, to honour the misfit friend she barely acknowledged in public.
Snippets from Al's diary, his thoughts for his little brother and his friend, give us insight into an enquiring and optimistic mind. His unexpected death has affected his family badly, though Nathan is the only one asking questions (which I found hard to believe).
There seem to be no reasons for his suicide. Though things are clearly not right, the students at Al's school are all the same as anywhere else - obsessed with the number likes on their photos, sharing videos, trolling each other online. It's a familiar and depressing adolescent world. One that both Nathan and Megan are caught up in, in different ways.
I found this a hard read, the further I got into it, as more and more was uncovered. Both Nathan and Megan undergo some transformative discoveries, and the reader is shown in some fairly graphic detail exactly what did happen to Al. It's fairly upsetting, and unfortunately all too possible.
Very very powerful. Very very sad. Every secondary school needs copies, teachers will want to try and include this in various subjects, with its highly relevant social themes.
For ages 14 and above, some graphic and upsetting content.
With thanks to Netgalley for providing an advance reading copy.