Ann Dee Ellis is the author of This is What I Did: and Everything is Fine. This is What I Did: received three starred reviews and was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, an IRA honor book, and a VOYA Top Shelf Fiction pick. Ann Dee lives in Utah with her husband and four sons.
The End or Something Like That
eBook
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ISBN-13:
9781101635421
- Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
- Publication date: 05/01/2014
- Sold by: Penguin Group
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 352
- File size: 634 KB
- Age Range: 12 - 17 Years
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For fans of Sara Zarr and Stephen Chbosky, an achingly raw and surprisingly funny novel about coping with loss
Emmy’s best friend Kim had promised to visit from the afterlife after she died. But so far Kim hasn’t shown up even once. Emmy blames herself for not believing hard enough. Finally, as the one-year anniversary of Kim's death approaches, Emmy is visited by a ghost—but it’s not Kim. It’s Emmy’s awful dead science teacher.
Emmy can’t help but think that she's failed at being a true friend. But as more ghosts appear, she starts to realize that she's not alone in her pain. Kim would have wanted her to move forward—and to do that, Emmy needs to start letting go.
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Gr 6–10—It is the one-year anniversary of her best friend Kim's death, and Emmy is still reeling from the loss. Emmy made a promise to Kim that, once she died, Emmy would contact her ghost, but as it turns out, "I suck at talking to dead people." When Emmy attends the funeral of her science teacher, however, she is shocked to be visited by Ms. Homeyer's spirit. If she can see Ms. Homeyer's ghost, why hasn't she been able to see Kim? As Emmy sees more and more dead people—everyone but Kim—she begins to explore her complicated emotions and relationships. Told in parallel time lines, Emmy describes the months leading up to Kim's death, including a major betrayal and strong skepticism about the possibility of an afterlife; she also tells her story in real time, one year after Kim's death. For a significant portion of the story, Emmy is not an easy character to love; she's prickly, self-centered, and emotionally closed-off from those around her. As the story progresses, though, she opens herself up to others: her mother, her brother, and Skeeter, the sweet boy who has adored her all along. Just as she did in This Is What I Did (Little, Brown, 2007), Ellis skillfully captures what it's like to be a kid who flies beneath the radar and is afraid to speak up. The story's ending, though too-quickly resolved, is still lovely; readers will realize that it's not about trying to find a ghost. It's about trying to find oneself.—Laura Lutz, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City
“When your best friend dies, things happen. You lie under your bed. You plan spiritual visitations. You watch a lot of TV. You eat turkey burgers.” Writing in clipped, emotionally deadened prose that carries the weight of grief, Ellis (Everything Is Fine) catalogues 15-year-old Emmy’s struggle with her friend’s sudden death. Alternating chapters take readers between the present, with the one-year anniversary of Kim’s death approaching, and flashbacks to the preceding months. Following Kim’s collapse in the cafeteria, Emmy is mired in her pain, but when she starts seeing and interacting with her newly deceased earth science teacher, Emmy dares to hope a “visitation” from Kim might be possible. A consult with Ted Farnsworth, a dubious medium whose seminar Emmy and Kim had attended, builds confidence in the likelihood of it happening. The Las Vegas setting powerfully contrasts the absurdity of life against the separation of death, and several truly uncomfortable scenes involving Emmy’s classmates lays bare just how ill-equipped many people are to handle death. A hard-hitting story about remembering the dead while not forgetting the living. Ages 12–up. Agent: Edward Necarsulmer IV, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. (May)
“The End or Something Like That dares you to suspend all disbelief and look at loss, and life itself, in an entirely new way. This is a hilarious and awesomely weird ode to friendship and youth—with the kind of stellar prose that won’t let you look away.” - John Corey Whaley, Printz Award winning-author of Where Things Come Back
“The End or Something Like That breaks your heart and mends it back together with hope and humor. After reading this book, I believe.” - Ally Condie, author of the #1 New York Times Bestselling Matched Trilogy
* "The Las Vegas setting powerfully contrasts the absurdity of life against the separation of death, and several truly uncomfortable scenes involving Emmy’s classmates lays bare just how ill-equipped many people are to handle death. A hard-hitting story about remembering the dead while not forgetting the living." - Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Ellis skillfully captures what it’s like to be a kid who flies beneath the radar and is afraid to speak up." - School Library Journal
"The choppy, edgy tone of Ellis’ dialogue illuminates Emmy’s longing for her old friend. She practically burns with intensity, even as she gradually begins to move on." - Booklist
“Incredibly funny, sad, magical, and real all at the same time. Count me as a major fan.” - Holly Goldberg Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7s
“Ann Dee Ellis is my own personal J.D. Salinger. Sometimes haunted, sometimes haunting, but always achingly human, she finds truth in a burrito and a pizza boy, a fistful of gummy bears, and a dead science teacher. You will truly love this book.” - Margaret Stohl, New York Times bestselling co-author of the Beautiful Creatures series
“Ann Dee Ellis has one of the most interesting voices I know. I love the humor, honesty, and restraint with which she explores Emmy’s complicated relationship with the past, the present, and herself.” - Sara Zarr, National Book Award Finalist for Story of a Girl
Emmy sees dead people—but not the one she really wants to see. It's been one year since Emmy's best friend, Kim, succumbed to her congenital heart disease while they were both in eighth grade. Before her death, Kim had made Emmy promise to contact her on important dates. Now that the anniversary of Kim's death approaches, Emmy has been seeing, communicating with and even helping other recently deceased individuals navigate their transitions to death. So why can't she find Kim? Chapters with different typefaces alternate between Emmy's current, grief-stricken state and events leading up to Kim's death, most notably Kim's interest in a supposed medium touring their Las Vegas–area community. Although the quiet novel is a traditional prose narrative told from Emmy's perspective, ample white space occasionally gives the story the look and feel of a verse novel. As she reconciles her feelings for the once popular and beautiful Kim, overweight Emmy also confronts such issues as self-image, bullying, the growing pains of adolescent friendships and first kisses. A slow start may deter some, but sophisticated readers who stick with the story will find a thoughtful search for closure and acceptance. (Fiction. 12-15)