The Gone Away Place by Christopher Barzak
Published by Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers on May 15th 2018
ISBN: 0399556095
Pages: 295
Goodreads

An engrossing, eerily atmospheric novel about a teen who survives when a cluster of tornados destroy her high school, killing her boyfriend and most of her friends.

Ellie and her boyfriend Noah have an argument the morning of the tragedy, prompting Ellie to drive away to a secluded spot to cool her head. While there, she witnesses the storms approaching and is briefly knocked unconscious. When she comes to and returns to town, she is horrified to see the damage and her grief swallows her in the coming weeks, until she begins to see people — her neighbor, one of her best friends — who she knows were killed that day. Through talking with a therapist and with others, she learns she’s not the only one seeing ghosts. 

This quiet and meditative novel reflects realistically and honestly on the emotional impact of this mass tragedy, but also tinges into an appealingly darker territory, as Ellie learns that some of the ghosts of people she knew can possess other living things and resist leaving the in-between world in which they are stuck. Most of the story is told in Ellie’s earnestly vulnerable first person narration, but as she begins to interact with more of her friends’ spirits, many of them tell their own stories in chapters from their specific point of view.

Gently paced and expansive in telling the backstories of its many characters, this will best appeal to strong readers who enjoy grappling with psychological and philosophical questions — perfect for older middle school and high school aged teens who enjoy authors like Neal Shusterman, Adele Griffin and Nova Ren Suma.

Reviewed by Brooke Faulkner, McArthur Public Library, Biddeford