Jersey Hatch tried to commit suicide. Except he didn't succeed. The story begins about a year after his attempt. He is going home after months of rehab. His parents try. They try hard, but the Jersey of now is not the golden boy of 'before'. Jersey, haunted by the 'ghost' of his former self tries to remember what actually happened. Jersey is such a likable person, as is Leza, the girl next door and her grandma who genuinely loves and cares about Jersey and tries to help him through this difficult time. Excellent read. ( )

Powerful writing that drives home a worthy message without being preachy or didactic. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. I only wish that the “WHY” factor was explored more; we were given a bunch of “maybe reasons” as to why Jersey tried to kill himself (like the girl, something with the house, etc.). However, we never learned what exactly happened before Jersey lost his memory as a result of the suicide attempt. ( )

Jersey is recuperating from a gunshot to the head... he can't talk very well, he walks with a limp, and his brain keeps repeating words and thoughts. Worst of all: the gunshot was fired by himself. This is a hard-hitting look at attempted suicide and the long road back.

Could be intense for the sensitive reader. ( )

It's been a while since I've read a YA novel & I'm glad I picked this one up. While not a YA full of romance & relationship angst, it was full of real emotional depth & dealt with the subject of suicide in a thoughtful & poignant manner. Jersey was a great character & I felt quite a lot of empathy for him as he tried to figure out what led him to the fateful moment when he attempted suicide. I was on pins & needles with him as he made lists, asked people about himself before & he and his parents tiptoed around each other & what had happened. He basically has one friend left, Mama Rush, the grandmother of his former best friend, Todd & their relationship is one of my favorites in the story. Also in Jersey's corner is Leza, Todd's younger sister & I'll just admit right now that I was pulling for a mutual crush situation. It was nice to see that for all he'd been through, being a teenager still remained & he was concerned about his appearance, making a fool of himself in front of girls & having just enough autonomy & independence from his parents. Nothing about resuming a regular life was easy from family to school & not everyone was nice either.

I must admit that while I understood Jersey's mother was scarred from what he'd done, I found that I understood & empathized with her the least. I kept wanting more explanation from her to get a better handle on her but in the end, I just had to accept that it wasn't coming & be content with that. I did think Jersey's father was portrayed very well & I found that I only found one thing that he didn't do highly questionable but the way the story proceeds was entirely necessary. It was frustrating that often Jersey would ask a question about Before & the reaction he received from others was basically, "Really? How can you even ask that?" Many times, I just wanted to scream "Why doesn't anyone just tell him what he did or how he was already?! Don't you know he doesn't remember?!" I get that he had to work it out & that was the point of his journey but I honestly felt like someone would have just told him. I suppose the case could be made that all those he asked had their own fallout from his attempt so they were of course, dealing with their own feelings as well. I also felt desperately that his family should have had a nearer therapy date than six months out from his rehab hospital discharge. That struck me as woefully inadequate given the situation. I hope that isn't true to life & was just done to maintain the story structure of Jersey & his family working out some important things.

I won't give up the major plot points but suffice it to say, it's a page turner to the very end. There isn't a neat tie up of happy endings for each story thread but it is hopeful & believable. ( )