Bang
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4.5 • 14 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
This is Where it Ends, Hate List, and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock readers will appreciate this heartbreaking novel about living with your worst mistake, from New York Times bestselling author Barry Lyga.
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 the story of one boy and one moment in time that cannot be reclaimed, as true and as relevant as tomorrow's headlines. "Fans of 13 Reasons Why will find a lot to like in Lyga's latest." -- Entertainment Weekly
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This grippingly honest YA novel centers around a teenager tormented by a split second that ruptures his family. When we meet Sebastian Cody, his everyday life is shrouded in darkness, but once he meets a young woman who sees his wounded humanity and refuses to look away, light begins to enter his life. Bringing together smart humor, of-the-moment social issues, delicious pizza, viral-video celebrity, and an unforgettable protagonist, Bang is a no-nonsense look at one young man's triumph over his demons.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ten years after accidentally shooting and killing his baby sister, 14-year-old Sebastian is haunted by the loss to the point of considering suicide. When he meets Aneesa, a new neighbor whose brown skin and headscarf also make her an outcast, their friendship challenges his views of his self worth. Suddenly, Sebastian is making pizzas for their YouTube channel and not solely focusing on feeling like a pariah, "the kid who killed." But he can't outrun his past, and a climactic revelation is a gut punch, returning to the agonized and primal feelings that are essential to this gripping story. Lyga (The Secret Sea) expertly scatters reminders of Sebastian's burden in benign, tossed-off phrases (of friends with siblings: "half the time it's like they just wish they could kill them"), the prominence of first-person shooter games, and his best friend's father's prized gun collection, each of which reveals another facet of his trauma. It's a raw exploration of persistent social stigmas, a beautiful study of forgiveness, and an unflinching portrait of a parent's worst nightmare. Ages 12 up.
