Publisher's Weekly Review
In this spare, emotionally raw novella, the deeply thoughtful 16-year-old narrator, Will, vainly tries to recreate his father's cornbread recipe, and he walks through L.A. neighborhoods while his mom works overnight at the hospital. In finely honed chapters, each introduced by a Chinese character, McGhee (Never Coming Back) crafts a slim cast of strongly sketched individuals, including Will's socially awkward boss at the Dollar Only store, his childhood friend Playa, and Mrs. Lin, who operates a Chinese blessings store. The narrative gradually reveals the troubles Will seeks to walk off. "Sometimes the right route is the route not past other places, places you maybe love but can't walk by right now. Like Playa's house. Like the blessings store. Like the river bridge over Fourth Street." McGhee skillfully evokes sense memory, as Will attempts to find solace in his nighttime wanderings. Ultimately, the piercing narrative offers an affirmation of remaining connected to others through loss as Will embraces his relationships and begins to heal. Ages 14-up. Agent: Sara Crowe, Pippin Properties. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
In one hundred brief chapters numbered in Chinese calligraphy, readers follow sixteen-year-old Wills stream-of-consciousness narration as he ponders the suicide of his father three years ago (If Id said Sure instead of Nah, would my dad still have jumped?) and the recent rape of his childhood friend, Playa (Shouldnt I have known?). Even though Will describes himself as distracted, sad, and occasionally angry, he is socially intelligent, bantering with (and occasionally manipulating) his sad-sack boss at the Dollar Only store and thoughtfully reassuring his worried, night shiftworking mother with sweet back-and-forth notes (Love you, Willy. Xoxoxo, Mom / Love you too, Mama). He is also a walker, and as he makes his way through his L.A. neighborhood, he repeatedly encounters a little dude and his butterflies, a dog of insanity, and a homeless man; when hes finally able to bring himself to enter Mrs. Lins blessings store, where hed gone as a boy with his father, it eventually allows him to reunite with Playa to heal, together. Wills voice is philosophical and introspective, yet still realistic and conversational, regularly peppered with light cursing and rhetorical questions (I wasnt ready for my dad to die. Who is, right?). McGhees evocative, poetic writing--limited to Wills perspective--effectively places readers alongside the protagonist as he works through his intense grief and confusion. patrick gall (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
In McGhee's (Never Coming Back, 2017, etc.) latest offering, a 16-year-old grapples with his father's suicide and the rape of his childhood friend at a party.Three years have passed since Will's father took his life. Every Tuesday night as his mother works the overnight shift, Will tries and fails to re-create his father's cornbread recipe. He has a job at a dollar store, where he gives his socially awkward boss the nickname Major Tom, after the David Bowie song. He feels driven to wander the streets of Los Angeles, connecting with a precocious brown-skinned, black-haired child he calls "little butterfly dude" and offering his failed batches of cornbread to Superman, a homeless person. He recalls memories of his father, attempting to make sense of his suicide, and agonizes over his old friend Playa (named by beach-loving parents) and his guilt over leaving the party early. He drops in on Mrs. Lin, who runs a Chinese store he used to visit with his father, fascinated by the 100 blessings she sold. Told from Will's fragmented, raw perspective, this slim novella packs a profound punch. Numbers from one to 100 written in Chinese (verso) accompany each snapshot from Will's life, relayed in sparse, taut language (recto). Most characters are assumed white.Haunting, introspective, and traced with pain. (Fiction. 14-18)
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Sixteen-year-old Will is a walker. Things have to be walked out through the soles of your feet, he believes. And Will has things that need to be walked out: his best friend since grade school, Playa, has been raped at a party that he had left too early to save her. His father is dead a suicide. Will was 13 when that happened, and that's when he began to walk. His father made the best cornbread; the morning he died, he offered Will some, but Will, headed for school, said nah. Now he wonders if he had said yes, would his father still be alive? In memory of his father, Will tries making cornbread, too, but it's never as good as his father's. He gives it to Superman, the homeless guy he passes on his walks. He secretly leaves presents for the little boy he passes, too, who is always waiting for butterflies to land. Most important, he starts leaving little gifts at Playa's doorstep with an unsigned note with something his father used to say: Don't let the bastards get you down. McGhee's short, understated novel is an artful exercise in melancholy. Though it occasionally veers close to sentimentality, it always manages to skirt it, conveying emotions that are pure and sincere. Will is a classic wounded teenager who is nevertheless his own person. Everybody loved his father and every reader will love openhearted Will.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2018 Booklist
