Barry Lyga

A heartbreaking novel about living with your worst mistake, from New York Times bestselling author Barry Lyga. A chunk of old memory, adrift in a pool of blood. Sebastian Cody did something horrible, something no one--not even Sebastian himself--can forgive. At the age of four, he accidentally shot and killed his infant sister with his father's gun. Now, ten years later, Sebastian has lived with the guilt and horror for his entire life. With his best friend away for the summer, Sebastian has only a new friend--Aneesa--to distract him from his darkest thoughts. But even this relationship cannot blunt the pain of his past. Because Sebastian knows exactly how to rectify his childhood crime and sanctify his past. It took a gun to get him into this. Now he needs a gun to get out. Unflinching and honest, Bang is as true and as relevant as tomorrow's headlines, the story of one boy and one moment in time that cannot be reclaimed.

Bang

Melissa Palmer

Book #63 Read in 2017
Bang by Barry Lyga

When he was four years old, Sebastian picked up his father's unattended handgun and shot and killed his infant sister. That haunts Sebastian, now a teenager, and his parents. The parents split up and Sebastian lives with his mother, hardly ever seeing his father. Though not named in the press, all of his hometown knows what he did. He has one friend until Aneesa moves into the neighborhood. She does not know his past so Sebastian can have a "clean" relationship with someone new. Sebastian has thoughts of suicide as a way to stop his pain. This is a powerful read.

Susan 

This book was an interesting reading. It really didn't pull a lot of emotions from me, when I thought it would. There were times where I felt for the characters but nothing I expected. I do believe the meaning behind the book was well received and was worth the read.

Trigger warning: suicidal ideations, infant death, Islamophobia

This is such an important book. This book will make you ugly cry.

With gun control being such a debated topic in the current world and media, this book strikes you right in the heart muscle, no matter what your experience. 



  “Harry Potter is the boy who lived, and I’m the boy who killed.”



Lyga gives you insight into every nook and crevice such an event can crawl into, even 10 years on. From the most expected nooks, such as personal guilt, family dysfunction, and mental health; to the way society looks at you, to relationships, to sharing you're background, and even to school. 

Sebastian's friendship with Evan was a nice backdrop to his everyday life - a friendship with differences of both background and financial wellness and the difficulty when Evan's parents silently disapprove of Sebastian and his background.

Sebastian's friendship with newly moved in Aneesa, is also a wonderful story in itself of learning from one another's differences. This relationship is a special one. 

I understand the criticism around Lyga's choice NOT to focus too heavily on Aneesa's Musilm background and the experience of racism and the fear of. But honestly, I kinda LOVE the idea that such a thing can be mentioned, and discussed but does not have to be the focus. It is not ignored or downplayed or left out entirely by the author. Instead it is acknowledged and discussed when appropriate with the story line. I actually truly appreciate this in itself. 

I do wish Sebastian's mental health, or perhaps even his parents', had more discussion. Sometimes trauma is just trauma, but when an author sets an MC with unstable mental health and yet chooses not to clearly define it, readers and reviewers tend to choose and label with diagnosis terms that may or may not be accurate. 



  “Popular culture woefully underprepares us for actual therapy.”



All in all, this book tells a powerful and important story. Also, a warning, it will make you hungry.

Bang

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