A review by illinoise
He Forgot to Say Goodbye by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

4.0

this was EXCELLENT. so sweet and gentle and kind. I really adore how much patience and love sáenz gives to his characters; i have always adored that about his books, and even though this one is definitely a bit more amateur than some of his other works, it's still so full of that tenderness. ram and jake were both great characters, and they were very REAL. that's the thing; this book just felt very very real. everything that happened i could see happening, and i was right there with the characters. they felt like actual people, and i just couldn't help laughing and crying with them. this was just sort of the epitome of what makes his books so charming; the endearingly outdated expressions his characters use, their introspective rambling, the thoughtfully constructed family relationships, the choppy simplistic prose. it's everything I love in a sáenz book! i also really liked how simple this book is. it isn't trying to do too much, it's just telling these couple of stories about these couple of characters and it does exactly that; it does it SO WELL. even in a less world-changing book than ari and dante or last night I sang, benjamin alire sáenz is a genius. but like we knew that already. i'm just so glad all these guys got their happy ending and they're finding themselves. i left this book feeling really great. i'm thinking 3.5 stars? ahh. I'm not sure where to rate it.