Fall Reading Challenge (#FRC2014): GHOSTING by Edith Pattou

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On a hot summer night in a Midwestern town, a high school teenage prank goes horrifically awry. Alcohol, guns, and a dare. Within minutes, as events collide, innocents becomes victims—with tragic outcomes altering lives forever, a grisly and unfortunate scenario all too familiar from current real-life headlines. But victims can also become survivors, and as we come to know each character through his/her own distinctive voice and their interactions with one another, we see how, despite pain and guilt, they can reach out to one another, find a new equilibrium, and survive.

Told through multiple points of view in naturalistic free verse and stream of consciousness, this is an unforgettable, haunting tale.

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Course: Poetry 101

Required reading: Ghosting by Edith Pattou

Department: Young Adult

Course Date: Week of September 22

Have a love for drama and poetry? Then this course is a must for you! Throughout this class you will learn about a group of teenagers’ perspectives on an end-of-the-summer prank gone wrong, written in verse. Alcohol, guns and a dare— within minutes, events collide and a group of teenager’s lives are altered forever.

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My Review:

“When I was a little girl
ghosting was a sheet of paper and
a drawing in
black ink.

A crudely sketched ghost,
with a Tootsie Roll
taped on.

Not scary.

A fun Halloween prank.
You slipped it under a
neighbor’s door,
ran away,
giggling.

“You’ve been ghosted!”

Exciting.
Harmless.

But now
ghosting is:
this can’t be happening,
screams like knives in your ears,
pooling glistening blood.
Everywhere.

And death, bellowing
hot and loud
in
your
face.” 

via Ghosting

This book is like no other that I have ever read.  It is written in a poetic like stream and flows so naturally from one character to another.  This book is so unique that it is almost hard to put into words the way it made me feel.  It crisscrosses over and through all sorts of emotions...it is heart breaking, filled with stress, action, emotion, healing...a page turner...just such an astonishing read.  I feel every reader will experience something special when they read this book.  I want to share it with everyone I come across.

5 stars

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