When he was four years old, Sebastian accidentally shot and killed his baby sister with his father’s gun. He’s lived with the guilt since then, tip-toeing around the incident with his mother, hiding from everyone at school that knows his history. When he meets Aneesa, the new girl on the block, he thinks he’s finally found a friendship not tainted by his past. But his relationship with Aneesa might not even be enough to save his own life.
Barry Lyga’s book takes a different look at gun violence and the way it can destroy a family–and it is very successful. Most young adult books that deal with this topic look at the way that a teen might become a school shooter; the outcast, the kid who is bullied, finds a way to get a gun and violence ensues (a storyline we’re becoming much too familiar with). But Lyga’s take feels refreshing; Sebastian wasn’t old enough to know how dangerous the gun was when he shot his sister, but he lives with this incredible guilt for the rest of his life. You can feel his guilt through the novel, and you desperately want to tell him that it wasn’t his fault.
The other topic that this novel deals with gracefully is “the friend zone.” Sebastian, inevitably, develops feelings for Aneesa who doesn’t develop feelings back. He gets angry at her because he believes that she lead him on, and while her denial drives him to suicide, he’s eventually talked down by his father. In the end, he realizes that he was the one who was wrong, and he writes Aneesa a letter about it. This subject is rarely dealt with in young adult fiction, but I think it was appropriate. Especially since Sebastian doesn’t take out his anger on other people.
All in all, I picked this book up as a light read and wasn’t able to put it down until I was finished. With strong characters and relevant topics, this is a book that more people should be talking about.
4.5/5 stars