The Quick Cut: A teen boy is left grieving in pain when his three best friends are killed in a car accident and he is blamed for it. A Real Review: Grief and loss are a natural part of life. Everyone will experience it at some point and in some cases it can overwhelm us. It's a unique experience to every person in how they react and deal with it. For Carver, it's a very difficult time after a car accident leaves him friendless. Carver and his three best friends were known as the Sauce Crew. The foursome were as close as friends could be, including regular visits to see movies and get milkshakes. However, when Carver sends a text and finds out later that his three friends got in an accident around the time he sent it - Carver finds himself being blamed for their deaths. The situation has left him with no one to be friends with and struggling to adapt. How will his life ever move forward again? A book about grief isn't an unusual concept, but in this case it was nice to see how it can effect guys. In many stories like these, the central character is female. It's less stereotypical story this way and I enjoyed that element. However, I did not enjoy how long this book felt. It's 400 pages long and you can feel it's length with how much the story drags on. I do think that the author here does like the sound of his own voice here so to say. He writes with far more words than is necessary and it left me as a reader wishing he would speed it up. The flashbacks to the Sauce Crew also felt underutilized. There are so many of them, but they don't serve to let us really get to know the three friends who died. We get they were close - it would've been more effective to give us a glimpse as to why. Carver has lost everything in this situation, socially speaking. His best friends are gone and the popular opinion is that it's his fault they died. His classmates ignore him, with one in particular who bullies him. His experience is so painful, but in a realistic way. Not everyone reacts rationally to death and he sees that firsthand. Not only does he have to cope with his own grief, he comes with others as well. The use of panic attacks here feels organic. Severe loss is manifesting in a physical way that cannot be predicted. As someone who has had one before, his reaction and way of dealing while he has one feels real. It's nice to see a realistic portrayal of panic attacks. Too often, they're used when it's best for the plot. A slow paced story about grief. My rating: 3.5 out of 5
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