Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner (2017)

Carver’s life was going great. The Sauce Crew was all he needed- the crew that he was in with his three best friends Eli, Mars, and Blake. Now his life sucks, Eli, Mars, and Blake are dead and it’s his fault. Well, not really, but there’s still plenty of blame on him. He sent the text that Mars read at the driver’s seat of the car that Eli and Blake were in. The text that Mars was reading when he swerved the car, killing everyone in it. The only people who don’t blame him are his family, Blake’s grandma, and Eli’s girlfriend Jesmyn. To help the healing process, Blake’s grandma asks him to hold a goodbye day for Blake with her. A day to do all of Blake’s favorite things before saying one last goodbye to him. Soon, the other families are asking for goodbye days and the question rises: who really was responsible for their deaths?   I first became a fan of Jeff Zentner when I read his debut, The Serpent King. I loved how straightforward the book was on really intense issues and dedicated itself to focus on the small things is life. However, looking back on it, I do think there were some ridiculous plotlines in there  that didn’t need to be added. So, going into Goodbye Days I was a little worried and I think my worries had good reason.

In short, the plot of this book was beyond unrealistic for a realistic fiction story. Basically, Mars’ dad, who is a judge, is trying to press charges of murder on Carver for sending the text that Mars decided to read while driving, getting himself and his friends into a deadly wreck. I’ve talked to so many  people about this book and everyone agrees this lawsuit would’ve never actually happened. Any number of alerts from different ads come to people while they’re driving and the driver makes the conscious decision not to look at the alert/text. Mars made that decision to look at that text. The whole time I was reading this book I could not take plot seriously because it was so unbelievable.

I don’t think there was one character in this entire book that I liked. First of all, everyone was awful to Carver. Like, the family and friends of his deceased best friends went to incredible means to terrorize him. They even would terrorize him after wanting him to do a “goodbye day” for their kid, which, by the way, seemed like psychological torture for everyone. Jesmyn, who’s supposed to be Carver’s “buddy” to get through the situation totally played a one sided relationship. She wanted Carver to be for her in every way but failed to be there for her. Carver’s parents weren’t exactly non-existent but they definitely did not play the role they should’ve been in.

Unlike in The Serpent King, the friendship in Goodbye Days seemed forced and too perfect, if that makes sense. Throughout the book, there were different snapshots of the friends in past times but almost none of them felt genuine. None of them were allowed to them to just be ordinary.  Each one of them was either an internet superstar or a beyond gifted musician or something that had to make them super special. It’s like they weren’t allowed to just be an average teenage.  

The only thing that sort of saved this book for me was it’s approach to mental health. A big part of this story is Carver going through the motions of the grieving process, developing panic attacks along the way. He starts off by being super hesitant about going to therapy but his sister (the one good character) encourages him to go to therapy. There’s some discussion about the stigma surrounding therapy and getting help with mental health in general. If nothing else, this book did provide positive reinforcements about getting help.

Goodbye Days was definitely a disappointment for me that I wish came through. Even though there was one positive, the negatives weighed more in this case and put a taint on my appreciation for Jeff Zentner’s writing.

2 Stars