Summer Reading Challenge 2014: Ghosting by Edith Pattou #SRC2014

This summer, members of the Vise Library are participating in a Summer Reading Challenge. We have received copies of several books from publishers for honest reviews. We hope that you enjoy these reviews (and books)!

The twelfth book on our schedule is Ghosting by author Kris Edith Pattou.

About the book:

On a hot summer night in a Midwestern town, a high school teenage prank goes horrifically awry. Alcohol, guns, and a dare. Within minutes, as events collide, innocents becomes victims—with tragic outcomes that alter lives forever, a grisly and unfortunate scenario that’s all too familiar. But victims can also become survivors, and as we come to know each character through his/her own distinctive voice and their interactions with one another, we see how, despite pain and guilt, they can reach out to one another, find a new equilibrium, and survive.

Told through multiple points of view in free verse and stream of consciousness, Ghosting is an unforgettable, haunting tale.

Wow, okay, where do I even begin with this book??? This book centers around a group of teenagers from Illinois.  A few of the characters are friends, some are old friends, some aren't friends at all and one is a sibling.  They all happen to be together the night before school starts.  At first, they were meant to go to a party at a friends house, but when some of them decide they don't want to be at the party anymore, tragedy strikes.  One of the characters, Chloe, suggests that they go look for ghosts.  The decide to to go to this particular run-down house near a cemetery.  Unfortunately, this house does not have ghosts and nothing is the same after this point.  I'm not going to give away what happens, but every character has their own struggle to deal with after this point.  Some of the characters have losses of different kinds to deal with, anger, what-ifs, guilt, and realizing they can't go back.  This book really shows how each character did something minor that led up to the event that forever changed all of their lives.  

This book was a little dark (usually that happens with a tragedy involved), but was very enjoyable.  Each chapter was written from a different character's point of view.  I liked this a lot.  It gave you different points of view and made you see how each character was coping.  Plus it made for a very fast read.  I think the different perspectives show that even though it looks like people are happy or have everything looking on the outside, that is not always the case! Two of my favorite things about the book were that one character had to make a parent come to terms that things were not alright and another character had to tell a parent what they really wanted out of their own life.  In the end, they all cope different ways and learn something from it all.  It shows that sometimes the best things come from the worst situations!

About the author:

Edith Pattou has found acclaim as a writer in middle-grade fantasy with such award-winning books as East, which received starred reviews in Booklist and School Library Journal; was selected as a Top Ten Book for YA, an American Library Association Notable Book, a School Library Journal Top Ten YA Book, one of the 100 Best of the Best YA Books for the 21st Century by the Young Adult Library Services Association; and was nominated for numerous state awards. It’s a nominee for NPR’s all-time Best YA Novels list.

Connect with the author:

·        Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1qg9bMx

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/epattou

·        Website: http://edithpattou.com/

·        Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1rhAA0n

Buy the book:

·        Amazon Hardcover: http://amzn.to/1rNzM3c

If you want to find out more about the Summer Reading Challenge click the image above!