Book Review: Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publication date: May 2011
Pages: 240
Source: Library
For: Printz Project

Cullen Witter has a lot on his mind - it's almost senior year and he's about to get the girl of his dreams, when his life is shattered by tragedy - his younger brother disappears. He must spend this summer trying to understand this new and different life, especially with the mania his small town experiences over a possibly extinct bird's reappearance.

Things I Liked:
Ok, that was probably the worst summary I've ever done, but this book is hard to explain. I'll talk about this more below, but I had a hard time getting into the book.  What I did enjoy was when I hit a point (probably around halfway) when the seemingly completely random and disparate story lines started to come together.  I was impressed with how Whaley brought them together and how they eventually made sense, especially because I was doubting it would at that point.  I loved the deep and complicated ideas the book discusses and the realistically portrayed teenage boy struggling to understand why his brother disappeared.  I think this one has a lot of merit and is skillfully woven.  I can see what elements drew the Printz committee (and Morris committee) to choose this one.

Things I Didn't Like:
As I said, I really struggled for the first half of the book.  I thought the completely different viewpoints and stories were too confusing, too random to interest me.  I only really cared about Cullen's story, so when the others would suddenly appear, I wanted to put the book down.  Initially, I really disliked the book, but I think it grew on me.  I especially hated the third-person weird zombie dreams Cullen had - totally distracting and confusing!  I'm not seeing this one having wide appeal and definitely it won't draw in reluctant readers with its slow and erractic beginning, but it does have a quiet power hidden in its depths.  And just the right touch of humor to balance it.  I guess it just didn't speak to me personally.

Read-alikes:
No idea.  Maybe a little like The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@# 
regularly throughout, one f-bomb

mrg-factor: X 
mostly off page things, but it's implied

v-factor: -> 
some zombie dream stuff and maybe a few other darker issues, nothing graphic

Overall rating: *** 

I'm really hit and miss with the Printz winners - doesn't it seem like they sometimes pick really odd books?

 

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