Early Departures

Early Departures
Justin Reynolds
HarperCollins, 2020 471 pages
Grades 9-Up
Science Fiction-ish

Jamal clearly has a chip on his shoulder. His parents died in a tragic accident two years prior and he has closed himself off from the world ever since. He was unable to connect with his best friend and comedy partner, Q, when his own father was dying and the neglect has left the friendship in shambles. Now, the only people he has left are his awesome girlfriend and very pregnant older sister. A party at the beach has Jamal finally trying to make things right with Q, only it all ends in yet another argument. When leaving the party, Jamal sees Q struggling in the water and without hesitation jumps in to save him. Unfortunately, the rescue does not go easy and the boys barely make it back to shore. Jamal is revived, yet Q is whisked away in an ambulance with Jamal by his side. It looks as if the worst has happened, only a chance presents itself. Jamal and Q's mother are faced with a decision to try to bring Q back to life for a few brief months. Should they agree to the procedure? And if they do and it should work, should they tell Q?

 Honestly, I listened to this audio book thinking the author read JASON Reynolds not Justin, unaware of the author's first teen book released last year. Pretty early on I discovered my mistake in that the story began very breezy and light, lacking the intensity of the more famous Reynolds. This Reynolds held my attention through the swift plot and spot-on character voices.  Throughout the book, even when the story gets quite serious, humor resounds, infused with excerpts from Jamal and Q's successful YouTube sketch comedy show. What starts out as a contemporary teen friendship/romance goes very "Black Mirror" as Q is brought back from the dead by science and is given a short amount of time to live. Jamal reconciles with his friend, realizing that holding a grudge is no longer important, and struggles with whether or not to tell him the truth about his impending death--again. Throughout the original story line and zippy dialog, relationships are mended, hurt feelings resolved, and characters mature and grow. This would be a great choice for book discussion and will appeal to a variety of readers, including those who don't think they like to read. A happy mistake led to wonderful escapism and got me thinking about ethical "what ifs".