Anna (Bananas)'s Reviews > Gone, Gone, Gone

I really enjoyed the two main characters - quiet but snarky Lio and hyperactive yet nurturing Craig. They're neurotic in different ways and absolutely perfect together, opposites that create balance.

For a story about loss, and more specifically how people live with it, this novel was suprisingly light. Every other page I was smiling or laughing or thinking: I love Craig, I love Lio, I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. This is pure fun to read!

Now on to the heavy stuff. The story takes place a year after 9/11, during the DC sniper attacks, and alternates between the boys' POVs.

Craig starts with chapter one, waking up to find his 14 (yes, fourteen) pets have all escaped during a break-in. He's frantic to get them back, because they've given him something to care about and focus on since his boyfriend, Cody, pretty much lost it after his dad died and was shuffled off to a facility. Those animals are Craig's life and he's determined to get every one of them back.

Craig struck me as nuts right away. He's a rambling, free associative mess. Here's one example of his silliness, which at times made me want to throttle him but more often made me laugh: "I think my glory days are behind me. I am 15 yrs old, and all I have is the vague hope that, someday, someone somewhere will once again care about my penis."

Then there's Lio. I loved Lio. What an adorable character. He's weirdly rational about death, measuring loss by numbers, using probability to convince himself he's not afraid of the sniper. At first Lio is mysterious and silent, rarely speaking, his thoughts revealed only through emails to Craig. His chapters illuminate pieces of him, bit by bit. We find out his twin died of cancer and he's seeing a therapist - who he doesn't speak to, not at first anyway.

Lio feels like he could disappear at any time. Because the cancer might come back, because he's small, because with his twin gone no one in the world looks like him anymore, because of his self-imposed silence.

But, Lio is funny. His sarcastic comments and internal monologue made me laugh even more than Craig's word vomit. One example: "Todd disapproves of me for what's probably some deep philosphical reason I'll never understand, judging by the way he's dressed. Todd passes the glazed carrots. I'm sure this is another sign of him quietly hating me." Or "I'm not even sure if there are any fabulous Jews or homosexuals at our school, but rest assured that if there are, I will find them. By Friday they will be my babies. Mark it."

Gone is about finding love. Craig and Lio are obviously attracted to each other:

Craig: "Sometimes he...looks at me when I'm in the middle of talking, and it's like he's interrupting without saying a word, because I can't think with those eyes all blue on me."

Lio: "I like that he wants me to talk...because his reasons are different from my family's and my teachers' and my therapist's. They want to know that I'm normal. When I talk, they feel better. Craig wants to know what I have to say."

Falling in love isn't easy for either of them. Craig has to choose between his first love and Lio. Lio has to open up to Craig and speak his mind.

Gone is about how loss - losing a lover, a friend, a parent, a pet, anything that is loved or valued - affects the people left behind. It's about tragedy being completely random and about loss being immeasurable.

"Numbers don't matter. Because what if loss is immeasurable? What if all we can do is call a loss a loss? What if my brother is worth as much as September 11th? There is no way to measure these holes. One dead person today is one person who is dead, one whole person who is not around anymore, and that's horrible. We're not just numbers. Someone loves us."

Gone is about moving on. Sometimes that means letting go, or choosing not to fear loss, or finding something new.

Yep, I love this book . This is is an unashamed, wholehearted 5-star review.