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b_tellefsen_rescuesandreads 's review for:
What to Say Next
by Julie Buxbaum
What a surprisingly touching and heartfelt YA Contemporary that deals wonderfully with grief, loss, neurodiversity, and finding your tribe.
I've said this before, but YA Contemporaries are no longer a genre of choice for me. I find that most of them lack the substance I am looking for in a novel. However, there are still a few YA authors on my radar to try/continue with, and Julie Buxbaum was one. I read her "Tell Me Three Things" novel several years ago, and though I can't say I remember the overall content, I remember enjoying it enough that she has always remained an author I wanted to read more from. Because of this, I was so glad that "What to Say Next" ended up being such a wonderful read.
Kit Lowell's father is dead. Gone. She will never again see his face or hear his voice and the immensity of that loss means she can no longer pretend to be the Kit Lowell she was "before." So when she returns to school and has the option of sitting with her two best friends, as she always would at lunch, or sitting at a table occupied only by David Drucker, she chooses the latter.
David Drucker does not fit in. As someone with high-functioning Autism, he sees the world differently and is unable to connect with others in a normal fashion. Social norms are not something he understands meaning social skills are not something he possesses, so he is usually on his own. So when Kit Lowell decides to sit at his lunch table, this is quite the turn of events.
To their surprise, Kit and David begin to form a close friendship. David's blunt honesty is refreshing to Kit, and David appreciates that Kit has always been kind to him, and now provides him with genuine attention.
As Kit begins to trust David and understanding his incredible talent for Science and numbers, she entrusts him to help her with "the Accident Project," a desire to understand exactly what happened to her father. Why he was the only one to die in a car accident involving other cars at a faulty traffic light. But when secrets are uncovered, can their friendship survive?
I was truly touched by Kit and David's story.
David is truly the perfect cinnamon roll that you cannot help but love and wish to protect. He has always been ostracized and bullied by his peers for being different and doesn't understand why he cannot simply be "normal" like everyone else.
Kit is fairly popular, but not in a "mean girl" way, and though she has never been cruel to David, she has never really noticed him either. And now that her world seems to be spinning out of control, she finds David to be a centering prescence. She can count on him to get straight to the point and be honest with her. She doesn't have to pretend to be okay or encounter the sympathy and pity that surrounds her everywhere else.
I have seen some concern in the comments below regarding David's "makeover" but I am not entirely sure I understand why this is such a huge deal to people. If this was supposed to be a "She's All That" situation, I can understand, but people are compeltely forgetting two things:
1. He was "madeover" by his kind, loving, supporting sister who simply felt like she was helping David by giving him a look that would better allow him to "fit in." This was an effort to make his time at school easier overall. And yes, of course, once he has the makeover everyone is going to see him differently. Why? BECAUSE IT IS FUCKING HIGHSCHOOL...where you are going to meet the most selfish, superficial people you will ever meet in your life. Do you know what makes this? REALISTIC.
2. This makeover does not really prevent David from being harassed and bullied. The whole diary situation happened AFTER the makeover. His makeover does not somehow make him instantly loved and adored by the entire school. Not at all.
I can agree that the lack of action taken against the extreme bullying David experiences were disappointing. It was absolutely infuriating to hear the principal's reaction to the situation between David and the football team. But overall, I felt that basically everything in this book was fairly true-to-life.
Oh, and I saw one reviewer rate this one star, and one of her reasons included the fact that Kit's maternal grandparents, who are Indian, were called racist against Kit's dad who was white. This reviewer said you cannot be racist against white people.........the FUCK?! I didn't know the definition of racism included the caveat "This applies to all races except white people." How absolutely obsurd. All races can have prejudice and racism against other races.
All that to say, I enjoyed watching their relationship develop and seeing David finally have a meaningful connection with someone within his school. I truly cared about both of these characters and I am glad I was able to get to know them throughout this story.
I've said this before, but YA Contemporaries are no longer a genre of choice for me. I find that most of them lack the substance I am looking for in a novel. However, there are still a few YA authors on my radar to try/continue with, and Julie Buxbaum was one. I read her "Tell Me Three Things" novel several years ago, and though I can't say I remember the overall content, I remember enjoying it enough that she has always remained an author I wanted to read more from. Because of this, I was so glad that "What to Say Next" ended up being such a wonderful read.
Kit Lowell's father is dead. Gone. She will never again see his face or hear his voice and the immensity of that loss means she can no longer pretend to be the Kit Lowell she was "before." So when she returns to school and has the option of sitting with her two best friends, as she always would at lunch, or sitting at a table occupied only by David Drucker, she chooses the latter.
David Drucker does not fit in. As someone with high-functioning Autism, he sees the world differently and is unable to connect with others in a normal fashion. Social norms are not something he understands meaning social skills are not something he possesses, so he is usually on his own. So when Kit Lowell decides to sit at his lunch table, this is quite the turn of events.
To their surprise, Kit and David begin to form a close friendship. David's blunt honesty is refreshing to Kit, and David appreciates that Kit has always been kind to him, and now provides him with genuine attention.
As Kit begins to trust David and understanding his incredible talent for Science and numbers, she entrusts him to help her with "the Accident Project," a desire to understand exactly what happened to her father. Why he was the only one to die in a car accident involving other cars at a faulty traffic light. But when secrets are uncovered, can their friendship survive?
I was truly touched by Kit and David's story.
David is truly the perfect cinnamon roll that you cannot help but love and wish to protect. He has always been ostracized and bullied by his peers for being different and doesn't understand why he cannot simply be "normal" like everyone else.
Kit is fairly popular, but not in a "mean girl" way, and though she has never been cruel to David, she has never really noticed him either. And now that her world seems to be spinning out of control, she finds David to be a centering prescence. She can count on him to get straight to the point and be honest with her. She doesn't have to pretend to be okay or encounter the sympathy and pity that surrounds her everywhere else.
I have seen some concern in the comments below regarding David's "makeover" but I am not entirely sure I understand why this is such a huge deal to people. If this was supposed to be a "She's All That" situation, I can understand, but people are compeltely forgetting two things:
1. He was "madeover" by his kind, loving, supporting sister who simply felt like she was helping David by giving him a look that would better allow him to "fit in." This was an effort to make his time at school easier overall. And yes, of course, once he has the makeover everyone is going to see him differently. Why? BECAUSE IT IS FUCKING HIGHSCHOOL...where you are going to meet the most selfish, superficial people you will ever meet in your life. Do you know what makes this? REALISTIC.
2. This makeover does not really prevent David from being harassed and bullied. The whole diary situation happened AFTER the makeover. His makeover does not somehow make him instantly loved and adored by the entire school. Not at all.
I can agree that the lack of action taken against the extreme bullying David experiences were disappointing. It was absolutely infuriating to hear the principal's reaction to the situation between David and the football team. But overall, I felt that basically everything in this book was fairly true-to-life.
Oh, and I saw one reviewer rate this one star, and one of her reasons included the fact that Kit's maternal grandparents, who are Indian, were called racist against Kit's dad who was white. This reviewer said you cannot be racist against white people.........the FUCK?! I didn't know the definition of racism included the caveat "This applies to all races except white people." How absolutely obsurd. All races can have prejudice and racism against other races.
All that to say, I enjoyed watching their relationship develop and seeing David finally have a meaningful connection with someone within his school. I truly cared about both of these characters and I am glad I was able to get to know them throughout this story.