Amid the backdrop of the true 2002 Beltway Sniper attacks around Washington, D.C., two boys struggle through friendship, loss, grief, fear, and love. They both cling to people in their pasts and have a hard time noticing each other in the present. ( )

Amid the backdrop of the true 2002 Beltway Sniper attacks around Washington, D.C., two boys struggle through friendship, loss, grief, fear, and love. They both cling to people in their pasts and have a hard time noticing each other in the present. ( )

This and other reviews can be found on Reading Between Classes

Cover Impressions: Meh. Kinda boring.

The Gist: In the wake of 9/11 two boys struggle to make sense of the world and each other. Craig is still in love with his (sort of) ex-boyfriend but, despite himself, is falling for quiet and reserved Lio. Lio is a cancer survivor and still reeling from the loss of his twin brother. The boys cling to one another in tragic circumstances and develop an intense relationship that teaches them about longing and love.

Review: Wow. This one was surprising. The reviews for this one have been fantastic. Nearly everyone on my Goodreads list who has read it, has loved it. And I .... didn't. I just didn't. This is my second foray into Hannah Moskowitz's writing and I think it is just not for me. Her characters are a little too quirky to be real, her plots are a little too plodding to keep me interested and her storylines tend to include elements that make me cringe (though the ones in this particular book were a lot easier to take than in Teeth. Perhaps, I am too mainstream for this type of writing. I feel like I need a pair of ironic glasses and some beat up Chuck Taylors just to understand what message Moskowitz is trying to send in her novels. For example, one character was scared of a sniper, one was not. We have random killings with no real purpose other than to give the two main characters a reason to skip school and then the snipers are caught (in the last line of the book noless) with no clear effect on the plot. I know, I know, the message was about love - but it didn't really feel that way. The two boys just seemed to be playing at love and enjoying a remarkable sense of freedom from parental supervision (what the hell parents?).

Clearly, this book resonated with a lot of people. I think that perhaps my time spent teaching ACTUAL teenagers makes me extra cynical when fictional teenagers seem too mature, too precocious and too intense or damaged.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 16 and up
Gender: Both
Sex: Kissing, Sex between teenagers
Violence: Sniper shootings (several victims, including children)
Inappropriate Language: Bitch, Shit, Fuck, Slut, Cock, Piss, Jesus Christ, Faggot, Pussy,
Substance Use/Abuse: Smoking ( )

Hannah Moskowitz has been on my TBR radar since her first book so the opportunity to read an ARC of her third book a year before its official release, thanks to Simon & Schuster’s Galley Grab system, was too good to pass up.

Teenagers are frequently accused of being shallow and simple creatures. The problems of the typical adolescent are usually categorised into the clichéd worries over school, family and sex, and are all too often used as oversimplified forms of characterisation in YA. In a genre oversaturated with shallow minded love stories and derivative high school stories, it’s so refreshing to see a book with such intricate character studies of its two main protagonists. This book really is one of the strongest character studies I’ve ever seen in YA. Lio and Craig (and I honestly can’t decide which one I love more) are so intricately put together, so detailed in their personalities, right down to the smallest, seemingly insignificant details that fit together like puzzle pieces.

Alternating between Craig and Lio’s points of view, Moskowitz manages to handle several very heavy topics – family death, cancer, sexuality, world tragedy – deftly, without slipping into soap opera mode. Everything feels real and brimming with emotion yet never overwrought. As this is a character study – there’s no real plot to speak of – this is where Moskowitz really shines. I dare any reader not to become attached to Craig and Lio. The emotions ever present in the story are raw, often unflinchingly so, and Moskowitz never shies away from the grey areas of the story and thankfully manages to avoid becoming preachy and clichéd. Chris and Lio do solace with each other but it’s not some magical healing love that solves everything for them – it’s just as messed up, awkward, confusing and beautiful as them. I truly appreciated not just the gay love story but the fact that it was interracial – Craig is black and Lio is Jewish – and such markers of identity were merely incidental, not some misguided form of tokenism. Their quirks feel so natural, as does their entire story. To watch their bittersweet and often bumpy relationship unfold is an emotional experience.

The other part of this book where Moskowitz’s skills flourished was in the book’s atmosphere. It’s a time of fear – the D.C. sniper shootings in post 9/11 America – and the entire story is steeped in this inescapable mood of terror. Craig and Lio’s narrations both capture the dread of living not just in a city but in a world where fear has become so normal that it’s part of everyday life. It’s something one as a reader definitely gets caught up in, along with the entire spectrum of emotions the story is steeped in.

I thoroughly enjoyed “Gone, Gone, Gone” but there were times where it felt as if the story dragged. It’s a short book but I think it would have worked perfectly as a novella. As it is, it’s still immensely readable but could benefit from more editing. There’s still a year to go so I’m pretty sure there will be more work done to it. I was also a little disappointed by the lack of story time dedicated to the female characters of the story. I really wanted to know more about Adelle, Lio’s therapist, as well as his sisters. Moskowitz has such deft skill for characterisation so it was disappointing to not see some of that dedicated to the women of the story.

This is a book about what makes you the person you are, and how the smallest, or biggest, of things can change not just you but everything around you. Reading Craig’s and Lio’s stories was truly a fascinating and often highly emotional experience and one I highly recommend you pick up upon its release. There aren’t many books like “Gone, Gone, Gone” in the YA market these days and I definitely think there should be more love for such intricate and complex character studies in a genre, and with an age group, so often misrepresented as shallow and simple. That’s definitely not the case and “Gone, Gone, Gone” is the perfect example of that.

4/5. ( )

Beautiful story. Beautiful characters. I have no words to describe what this book is doing to my heart. A book that should be read by everyone. Everyone. ( )