Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

I picked up Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley because Beth Kephart mentioned it in her keynote address at the Publishing Perspectives: YA What’s Next? publishing conference.  She described it as “…brilliantly odd. Because it’s fantastically germane. Because it is about a search to know and overcome in a woodpeckers-are-going-extinct-and-parents-are-losing-their-way world.” Not that I like everything Beth likes, but if it deserves her honorable mention, then it’s worth investigating.

Have you ever read a book, and somewhere around a third of the way through, you realize you don’t want to put it down? Well, that’s what happened to me and Where Things Come Back…I realized, while I was too tired to read further, I only reluctantly put it down to go to bed.

Also, have you ever read a book and found you had a hard time describing the book? That’s me again. John Corey Whaley has written two stories in one. In the first written in first person by Cullen Witter, his younger brother by a year, Gabriel, has vanished with no trace. In the second, Benson Sage has an unfulfilling missionary experience in Ethiopia, returns home to a disappointed family and ultimately jumps to his death from the bell tower of the First Baptist Church on Christmas Eve. How these two stories merge may be a little far fetched, but it is no less enjoyable or satisfying because of it.

At first I thought Cullen Witter was the next coming of Holden Caulfield because he’s calling everyone ass-hats. But that’s not where this book goes. It goes towards a small Arkansas town grasping for straws to survive and provide some excitement, even if it is in the hands of a potential charlatan searching for the last living Lazarus woodpecker. It goes towards young men grasping at straws to find meaning in their lives. It goes towards best friend, Lucas, who keeps coming back because he cares about Cullen and Gabriel. And it goes towards misguided youth in towns large and small who screw up and grow up.

Cullen is an interesting character. He sort of daydreams about things. For instance, “When one is sitting in the passenger seat of his best friend’s car as an overly enthusiastic hillbilly is ranting in the backseat about being snubbed by a cheerleader at lunch, his mind begins to wander and think about zombies…..” As you can guess, some of these daydreams are a “little odd?”

So, while I find it hard to really describe Where Things Come Back in terms better than those used by Beth Kephart, the one thing I can say is it’s a book worth reading. I’m presuming that you’ll come to a point where you won’t want to put it down either.

Oh, and great opening lines…”I was seventeen years old when I saw my first dead body.” Kind of grips you, doesn’t it?