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Title details for The Broke Hearts by Matt Mendez - Available

The Broke Hearts

by Matt Mendez
ebook
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1 of 1 copy available
In this "moving and heartbreaking" (BCCB) follow up to Barely Missing Everything, JD and Danny, still reeling from the gutting death of their best friend by police gunfire, grapple with life-changing decisions and the kind of people they want to be, for Juan.
A year after losing their best friend, JD and Danny are still brokenhearted. JD's impetuous decision to join the Air Force only makes him yearn for "before" more than ever. Danny, who'd rather paint murals than open a book and certainly never thought of himself as college material, makes the equally impulsive choice to do what Juan will never be able to and enrolls in a community college.

Danny's father, The Sarge, is proud of him for the first time ever for living out Sarge's own dream of being a first-generation college student, but Danny can't shake the thought that it should be Juan, not him. And studying hasn't gotten any easier for him despite his new academic goals. When Danny is on the verge of flunking out and JD gets notified of imminent deployment, the two are forced to confront their shared grief that led them to these paths. Can they learn to live lives that are their own in honor of Juan, rather than for him?

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 3, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781534404502

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781534404502
      • File size: 5215 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      September 1, 2023
      Two friends struggle to find their way through the world after the death of their friend in this follow-up to Barely Missing Everything (2019). A year has passed since Danny Villanueva and JD Sanchez's best friend, Juan, was shot and killed by police. Danny is struggling in his first semester of college, while JD, a new Air Force recruit, is 10 days from deployment. The people around them have moved on, but JD and Danny continue to feel angry and unmoored. When JD turns 19, he drives back to El Paso to celebrate with Danny, but Danny's father has suddenly been hospitalized due to a heart condition. Between visits with his father, Danny works on the art assignment that may save his grade. When a drunk JD asks Danny to meet him at the abandoned building where Juan died, Danny has the idea to create a mural of Loter�a cards, in order to narrate the story of what happened to Juan. As time ticks down and JD's deployment looms, the two friends struggle to clear the weeds and find their true paths. Much of the novel is masterfully realized; its symbolic system is noteworthy, with images that accrue ever more refined meanings. Yet the structure of its interwoven narratives is sometimes confusing, even if one is familiar with the earlier book, and requires patience from readers. Major characters are Mexican American. A rewarding novel for readers who stick with it. (Fiction. 14-18)

      COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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