The Book of Laney

by Myfanwy Collins

Here and now I am in this place far away from my home. Here, with the cold wind blowing down from the north and the stars piercing through the cloudless sky. Here I am.

But my story does not start here.

My story starts months ago and hundreds of miles south of where I am now. My story starts in the place I used to call home. My story starts with violence and heartbreak.

After her brother is involved in a grisly murder-suicide, fifteen-year-old Laney is sent to live with her grandmother in the Adirondack Mountains. Laney gradually warms to her new home—especially her relationship with a mysterious neighbor—but before she can appreciate her new life, she must uncover the secrets that have haunted her family for decades.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Realistic Fiction

184 pages, Paperback

First published February 23, 2015

About the author

Myfanwy Collins's debut novel is ECHOLOCATION (Engine Books, 2012). I AM HOLDING YOUR HAND, a collection of her short fiction, is available now from [PANK] Books. THE BOOK OF LANEY, a YA novel, is out now from Lacewing Books.

Reviews

[Myfanwy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Endorsements:

“Myfanwy Collins writes with big-time empathy and fierce courage.” Matthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

“In The Book of Laney, an unsettling and redemptive novel, Myfanwy Collins fuses heartbreak and empathy to explore uncomfortable truths about teenagers, violence, and survival. An unforgettable book.” —Roxane Gay, author of An Untamed State and Bad Feminist

http://myfanwycollins.com/books-2/the...

REVIEWS:

"I have been thinking about The Book of Laney for a few weeks now. It is powerful in some very important ways and Laney is such a great character. I think a lot of teenagers will identify with her pain and the many ways in which she has been stuck living at the whims of others until it is almost too late. So this is most certainly a worthwhile and quite compelling read that I think has some significant things to say about family." -- Guys Lit Wire

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

We see the stories in the news, stories of mass shootings at schools, stories of lonely misfits planning their revenge on their peers, and we try to understand but always seem to fall short. In “The Book of Laney,” by Myfanwy Collins a similar tragedy occurs and the story unfolds to the reader through the eyes and heart of Laney, the sister of one of the shooters. Literature can take on the truth of violence in a way that film could strive for, but usually fails. In whatever medium chosen, it’s important that depictions of violence be met with consequence. In “The Book of Laney,” there are real consequences for the shooters, their victims, their community and those loved ones left behind. In the hands of a lesser writer, this novel wouldn’t be the thing of beauty it is. In the hands of a lesser writer, the dark side of humanity wouldn’t be so acutely and artfully contrasted against its magnificent light.

It’s a novel that works on so many levels. These characters are so thoughtfully drawn, every nuance skillfully observed, that there is no question of their reality. In Myfanwy Collins’s previous novels, she’s proven to be masterful at rendering atmosphere and mood, and this latest work highlights her ability. The main character is thoroughly suffocated by the fallout of her brother’s actions, and that suffocation shows up in her thoughts, her loneliness, and in the new landscape she finds herself in. It is no accident that the novel is set during winter and that its heroine Laney is sent north to her grandmother who lives literally on the edge of society. It is an exile at once miserably unfair and necessary.

Collins is a poet. She writes in prose but her sentences sing. Her images, shockingly accurate and beautiful, are strung along on the forward motion of plot like sparkling jewels on a chain. She has the ability to render that which is nearly impossible to describe:

“I wore my brother’s crime like a second skin. It constricted me, tight like a snake’s skin I feared I’d never shed. That was who I’d become: The sister of a murderer. Not even being the daughter of the murdered could erase it. From that point on, my identity belonged to no one but West.”

She also uses metaphor successfully and wisely as in this passage:

“One photo of a fiddlehead pushing up from beneath the compost of leaves, bright green and delicate. I was touched by its strength and lost in how the light illuminated it. The fiddlehead had pushed up through the darkness and lived. Despite being covered over and forgotten through the long, cold winter, it had beaten the odds and survived.”

Young adults face difficulties that feel insurmountable, difficulties they feel they won’t be able to overcome or survive. In “The Book of Laney,” they will meet a young woman who feels the same way, a young woman who journeys through darkness and allows love to illuminate her, light to nurture her, until eventually she’s able to push up into wholeness again.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a stunning book and I agonized over a four star rating. I'm not a young adult reader and that's the only reason why I held out from "It was amazing" to "Really liked it." I wish Goodreads would let me add a half star to say, "I loved it," because I did.

Ms. Collins writes with empathy and compassion about a horrific subject, one that is painfully current. She brings us into the world of a survivor of a school shooting. Laney's wounds run even deeper than being close to the trauma and witnessing events. She is the teen-aged sister of one of the shooters.

The story deftly brings the reader inside the ache that is in all adolescents, then sharpens the pain on the wet stones of confusion, shame, guilt, sorrow, and wishful thinking. It is a beautifully sculpted tale of devastation and redemption. I strongly encourage readers of all genres to indulge in this story.

Because the message of survival and redemption are so strong in this book, and because it's a message I feel would resonate in the hearts of all young readers, I wondered about the author's decision to use visions as a way to convey information and provide insights. With such a powerful message, why distance a young adult reader from the potential that the story's resolution could be theirs as well? If I were more familiar with the genre, perhaps I could better understand this decision.

It's an artfully conceived story and skillfully written. Read it.

[Sara Habein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who thinks that a YA book can't be a significant literary achievement would do well to read this and realize how very wrong they were about their reading biases.

Myfanwy Collins writes about longing, heartbreak, and survival better than so many other writers out there, and The Book of Laney continues to demonstrate her skills. Her first foray into YA territory, she imbues her teenage protagonist with such honesty, and one never feels like she is talking down to a non-adult reader. This is exactly the sort of book I would point to when others wonder if YA books can ever match the emotional heft of literary fiction.

(This mini-review also appears at Persephone Magazine, and it's also featured in my Top 10 Favorites read in 2015, over at Glorified Love Letters.)

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautifully written book about a horrifying topic. Laney's voice is real and palpable and her pain is raw. This book doesn't just skim the surface of what happens in the wake of a school mass murder. It delves deep to the survivor's thoughts and feelings. It is a quick read, but not an easy one.

[Laura Alonso · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful book is definitely not only for young adult readers (although I think this would be an excellent choice for a high school english/literature course, both for the subject matter as well as for the quality of the prose). I am definitely NOT a young adult (ha!), and I could not put this book down. It's the kind of writing that pulls you in to the point that you forget that you're reading and instead are "living" the experience through 15-year-old Laney's eyes. The narration is extremely engaging, and as noted above, the prose is just *gorgeous*. There are also so many threads woven together to form this lovely tapestry of a story, yet none of the details feel the least bit contrived; it reads like life - complex, nuanced, experienced in gray more often than black or white - and just when you think you've finally reached an understanding of an important experience or relationship, you discover more layers yet to be unveiled and that the "Truth" isn't always static and can often vary when viewed from multiple perspectives.

The characters in The Book Of Laney are never one-dimensional and/or stereotypes: nobody is all-good or all-evil (even the narrator's 16-year-old brother who, along with his best friend, planned and carried out a gruesome, violent murder/suicide in the novel's opening scene). Each character is treated with great empathy by the author and, correspondingly, by the narrator, and it is this profound empathy that enables Laney to experience pivotal moments in the lives of people she's loved through different lenses - often through their own eyes - as they lived through experiences Laney had previously only known about objectively (or not at all).

Laney's uprooting from everything/everyone she has ever known to a small town in the Adirondack Mountains is brutal and painfully isolating, and yet many lovely moments intermittently shine through the darkness as she learns and adapts to a new way of life with her maternal grandmother, living far off the grid (no electricity, phones, etc.) in a primitive home that is separated from the main town by a frozen lake covered in snow. Laney is cut off, not only from the modern comforts/conveniences of her former life, but also from contact with anyone other than her grandmother. Her only reprieve is once a week, when a local friend of the family makes a detour on his way to high school, driving his snowmobile/"sled" across the lake to pick up Laney for her weekly visit to pick up her schoolwork (her grandmother homeschools her the rest of the week).

Despite her isolation and justifiable fear of getting close to and/or relying on anyone, Laney allows herself to be vulnerable in gradual increments, connecting first with nature, then tentatively testing the waters of this new relationship with her grandmother and, later, with a handful of others in the town/at school. Laney is a special girl with an enormous capacity for empathy toward others - including the family members she has loved and lost - and it is through this empathy (and some blanks filled-in by her grandmother) that Laney begins to see the circumstances of her life in a new light, from different points of view, and with a greater understanding of the individual members of her family of origin and, ultimately, herself.

While Laney's judgement of herself is unnecessarily harsh and fueled by a guilt that doesn't belong to her, the reader can clearly see the depth of her character in the first pages of the book, and we continue to root for her on every subsequent page as she admirably takes on the physical hardships of her new life while bravely (yet cautiously) opening herself emotionally to the possibilities of love and friendship and "family."

I am so impressed with how thoughtfully the subject of teen violence was explored and - to an extent - understood (from several angles/perspectives), and I am also extremely impressed with the depth and complexity of the narrative, which might not have been pulled off as well by a less experienced writer. There are no easy answers to be found here, and nothing gets neatly tied up in a big red bow of happily ever after. What can be found, however (and is much more valuable), is a sensitive exploration of the aftermath of trauma through multiple generations, the hopeful message that who/where you come from does not have to define who you become, a genuine (human/flawed) example that you are ultimately the sole owner of your own choices and nobody but you can write your fate in stone, and finally, that "family" isn't necessarily defined by biology and can sometimes be found in the most unexpected places.

I highly recommend this powerful book - and, yes, if you're a "grownup," I'm talking to you, too! :)

(*Note: I read this on my Kindle but now plan to purchase a paperback copy as well - this beauty is definitely one for the shelves!)

[Pamela]

Myfanwy Collins has taken on a very bold and risky project: narrating a story from the point of view of the sister of a boy who has committed the kind of school massacre all too familiar from the newspapers ever since Columbine. Laney, fifteen, used to be close to her brother but more recently knew enough to be afraid of him. Her mother is killed in the spree as well, and Laney, lacking any other family, is sent off to northern New York to live with her grandmother in a house without electricity or running water. The independence, emotional and physical, that she learns there is not presented as a panacea but nevertheless does become a convincing part of her ability to begin to handle her trauma. I can't imagine how Collins got inside the consciousness of a family member of a teenaged killer, but she does so beautifully. I particularly appreciated that Laney is allowed a full vocabulary and nuanced thoughts; so often, teenaged speakers in fiction are made depressingly simple.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last night I finished my second read of Myfanwy Collins' second novel, The Book of Laney. It is both a daring work and an extraordinary achievement.

Daring, because it takes on one of the most heartbreaking and difficult to comprehend topics imaginable, that of mass killings on school property by students. The novel covers at the outset, unflinchingly, such a scene. Two students board a school bus bound for a sporting event and kill, according to a carefully laid out plan. Daring, because the scene is written as a vision, visited upon the sister of one of the killers. She sees and feels everything her brother felt, describing the event in detail and from his point of view.

"My story starts with a vision."

Daring, because the author chose to explore the aftermath, not for the families of the victims, but for the family of the perpetrator. I'm not sure this has even been done before. I know a little bit about the genesis of this novel and can only say that it speaks volumes about Myfanwy Collins as a person that this is the direction she chose in telling this story.

And so begins the story of Laney Kates. It begins with horrific violence. Collins doesn't shrink from this violence, nor does she exploit it. It is simply the story. Laney, newly orphaned and traumatized, is soon shuttled off to live with her grandmother, a woman she barely remembers, who lives rather off the grid in the Adirondacks.

Anyone familiar with Collins' prose, whether from her previous novel, Echolocation, or her collection of short stories, I Am Holding Your Hand, or from her numerous online and print publications, will know that she possesses her own inimitable style. Keenly focused on the senses and the natural world, Collins' prose has a natural, unfussy, yet poetic flow. She is that rare writer, gifted both at the sentence level and the larger story level. And this is where the book becomes an extraordinary achievement, because the beautiful prose enhances the story, rather than takes away from it. And the story, so unique and compelling, enhances the prose.

On the very first page, we get:

"The light smearing through the windows is a dull toothache of yellow, I rub a hand over my eyes to clear them."

A signature of Collins writing is the music of her prose. Often she uses repetition (beginning three or more sentences with the same words) in a hypnotic, musical way in the most emotional passages:

"I would keep reading and learn about this other way of seeing. I would become the animal. I would become the woods."

Laney is a very clearly wrought character. Self-aware, thoughtful, sensitive, sometimes wise beyond her years. I say sometimes, because Collins is careful to give us a true human being, a true teenager, with faults and vulnerabilities we can relate to. Certainly and importantly, she is a character that teenagers, the target readers for this young adult novel, will be able to relate to. She and her brother, West, have been shuttled from place to place by their widowed mother, Alice, and have never had a chance to make solid friendships. They both present as outsiders. But while Laney takes her pain inward, West is befriended by another troubled boy, and his fate is seemingly sealed. And here, there are parallels to the Columbine shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Another finely drawn character is Laney's grandmother, Meme, who lives by her own code, resisting technology, resisting comforts such as central heat, a shower, even a telephone. She is a curious, compelling character with pains and secrets of her own. At first she seems to treat Laney cooly, laying down her ground rules, a sort of no-nonsense type. The manner in which Collins unfolds the relationship between she and Laney shows great control and a great sense of storytelling. The reader knows there's a great deal under the surface, knows Meme must be driven and motivated by something we're not immediately privy to.

One could read this book just for it's breathtaking descriptions of nature. The setting itself is such a powerful aspect of this novel: the bluff, the moonscapes, snow and freezing rain, a frozen, then thawing, lake, the Northern Lights. Nature asserts itself over and over again, and Laney's eyes are searching and perceptive and keen. So many times in reading, I simply paused and lingered. Powerful descriptions echo powerful emotions in Collins' writing:

"The moon, cottoned over by clouds, shone like a thumprint that night when all those people were in the school auditorium, mourning the dead, praying for retribution...If I could, I would push the moon away from myself forever. I do not deserve the moon."

"I felt the walls pushing up against me, like I was inside someone's sooty lungs."

In a deft couple of sentences, here, Collins plays with image to great and darkly humorous effect:

"She spewed small talk as we walked down the path, saying it would be the best place for me and how I would have stability...I slipped a bit and caught myself on a branch limb."

Laney encounters many challenges in her new life in the Adirondacks. The visions come unbidden and with increasing frequency. Through them, she gradually gains more understanding of the lives of her parents and of her brother, West. She even gets a glimpse of her friend, Marshall's life, a boy she's attracted to. She also reads from her brother's journal, The Book of West, and gets insight into his life and mind leading up to the attack on the school bus.

Meme teaches Laney how to survive. How to track animals. How to read a compass and her surroundings to always find her way back home.

Laney comes to love her new home and to feel she has a place there, but just as she begins to feel as though she belongs, however, the secrets from her family's past and of her own past, threaten to rip it all away from her. Through her visions, she learns the secret of her father's demise. She comes to understand the choices her mother made as well. Armed with the gift of her visions, Laney must decide how to go forward and break the cycle of emotional harm, to reverse patterns and create a new path.

A beautifully written, compassionate, and important novel, Myfanwy Collins' The Book of Laney is a must read. I can't recommend it highly enough for both young adult and adult readers.

[Debbie Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book of Laney is the story of the aftermath of a high school shooting, told by the sister of the perpetrator. Fertilized by a rather dysfunctional family—no father, neglectful mother with bad boyfriends… etc. Laney’s brother had drifted into a bad friendship,isolation and self-destruction, which culminates in a shooting on a school bus, murder of Laney’s mother and suicide. Laney is barely able to comprehend all of this trauma before being shipped off to the Adirondacks to live with an iconoclastic grandmother she barely remembers. It is here she comes to terms with the horror of her brother’s legacy, how that will impact her, how she will survive it.

There have been books that have touched upon school shootings. We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver’s novel, addressed the mental illness that led to the shooting as experienced by the mother of the disturbed teen. However, Shriver’s book was more of a thriller than a thoughtful understanding of how a horrible tragedy impacts a parent. It also felt like a profile of a monster, not a complicated mentally ill teen.

Myfwany has done something quite different. This is not a thriller. It is not about a monster and his family. And most importantly it is not about revenge, although we are quite aware of need for revenge that lingers out there on the edge of Laney’s life. Myfwany wants to talk about something else. She wants to address survival, and she wants to talk about empathy. How does a sister survive this horror without imploding into anger and victimhood? How does she maintain dignity when she knows the world wants revenge and since her brother is dead, there is no one on the receiving end? But her. One survives with empathy.

This writer doesn't hold back. The scenes, particularly the first scene, take hold of you, bring you there, right into the middle of everything. It is creatively imagined, not at all overdone. It keeps you interested from beginning to end.

Myfanwy uses a bit of magical realism to introduce empathy. Laney can actually, at times, literally get under the skin of those she desperately wants to understand. Her mother. Her brother. Her grandmother. Empathy does feel magical, particularly when the person you are trying to understand makes you angry. I think this is a brilliant strategy, particularly for the reading audience of YA books. It felt real and honest and her moments of understanding moved the story forward.

The prose is never wordy or florid, but clean, concise, with perfect word choice and interesting poetic moments. And Myfanwy has patience with her characters, allowing them to unfold slowly. She does a particularly wonderful job with the grandmother who appears very odd at first until we understand exactly what is going on with her. The main character, Laney, experiences an evolution of character, which is beautiful, and important.

But what I liked most was the message Myfwany brings to her YA (and adult) audience—the importance of empathy. Our society over emphasizes revenge. Our prisons are overpopulated. The media seems to fill us with images that make us emote with anger. We have been so caught up in revenge, no one has tried to empathize, understand. 
The Book of Laney is a wonderful story that helps us get under the skin of those no one wants to understand. I highly recommend it for YA and adult audiences.

[Andrew Tibbetts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The literature of our age is “aftermath literature”. We need stories about how to survive. We need to understand post-traumatic life and find the options are there for happiness and identity. Who are we and how should we live, given all that’s happened… Myfawny Collins (full disclosure: we are friends in an on-line writing group) gives us a fresh young heroine who’s brother and his friend enacted a school shooting very like Columbine. He might have killed his sister too, as he killed their mother, if the police hadn’t got him first. She how has only an overworked (I’m guessing) and realistically un-miraculous social worker to craft her new living arrangement. Laney is sent into the bush. Her grandmother lives, virtually like a hermit, without electricity or phone—never mind television, internet, or cell reception—on an island in the north. As you might imagine, it’s a mixed blessing for Laney. The story is about her wrestling with her guilt—what should she have done, what could she have done?—with her new cranky caregiver and with what to make of her life. I imagine it isn’t too much of a spoiler to say that she heals. But that journey is thoroughly realistic and quite splendid. This novel is generous and humane. It greats even the horrific with an effort at understanding—not just the motivation, thankfully, but also the aftermath. And it is all relayed through the sensibility of a young woman who was, perhaps, already damaged by the same emotionally unsecured life that harmed her brother. For those interesting in adult attachment theory, this book is—among other things—a wonderful case study of ambivalent attachment. Poor Laney, pushes as much as she pulls, in trying to find her way to connect safely with other people. I can’t recommend the novel enough. As I said, we need these stories, and this is a great one.

[Holly Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an astonishing novel, meant for YA readers but a gripping read for adults, too. Myfanwy brings her poetic language, acute observational skills and astonishingly tender observations about why humans do what we do--the good, the bad, the ugly. Despite the shocking story about a hate crime that propels the novel forward, the young girl who emerges from the tragic act of her brother demonstrates as she grows just how it is possible to find beauty and wisdom even in the most hateful events. "Why am I different?" Laney asks toward the end of the novel, and it's a question that will resonate with every person, as will the main theme in the novel: we may believe that our families and our genes determine who we become, "but really there's something inside us that does that. Some collection of all that we know and all that we feel that molds us." Our stories need not end in tragedy, despite the horrific events that may happen during the course of a lifetime. We can always take what we've learned and begin again. This is a message that deserves to be delivered to young people, parents, teachers, therapists--to everyone, really--and Collins delivers that message in the most powerful, profound way possible: through an unforgettable story.

[Elaine Donadio · Rating 3 out of 5]

I looked forward to this book but was disappointed with its cursory retelling and predictability. Since the story revolves around a teenage girl, Laney, whose brother commits a massacre on a school bus filled with students with whom he has attended school, etc. (spoiler alert), I expected to feel more angst for the character. The girl finds herself orphaned and is sent to live with an estranged grandmother in the woods of New England. I was disappointed since the book did not contain the depth of internal conflict I expected. Relationships were predictable. Laney suddenly has visions of people in her family and school and the story often moves along in this way. Too contrived for my taste. The ending is tied up in a neat little package. Too shallow for me based on the horrific circumstances that lead Laney to this point in her life.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read books about school shooters before, but this is the first I've read about the family left behind. A beautifully sad story of surviving, moving on and choosing life. When Laney's brother commits a stunning attack on her school and family she is left behind to wonder why he killed, and why she still lives. Sent to live with her hermit-like grandmother in a snow bound cabin, Laney is forced to listen to herself and the world around her.
Best for High School.
This review is based on an ARC provided to me by the publisher.

[Scarlet · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting to read a book about the people left behind after a terrible tragedy. In this case, it's Laney who is left motherless after her brother and his friend open fire at their school in a suicide mission. Told through a lot of internal thought and visions, we follow along with Laney as she deals with her loss, her guilt, and her new life with her grandmother in a remote part of New York(?).

I enjoyed this book the whole time while reading, but the end felt a bit rushed. Still, I would recommend.

[Margaret McGuire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read books about school shooters before, but this is the first I've read about the family left behind. A beautifully sad story of surviving, moving on and choosing life. When Laney's brother commits a stunning attack on her school and family she is left behind to wonder why he killed, and why she still lives. Sent to live with her hermit-like grandmother in a snow bound cabin, Laney is forced to listen to herself and the world around her.
Best for High School.
This review is based on an ARC provided to me by the publisher.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really know how to put how I felt about this book into words. It was beautiful, the writing was sublime. The characters, the setting, the emotion: everything felt so real. I wish I had read this book in one sitting as opposed to over a couple days (while at work heh) because I know that this is a book I could get totally immersed in.

Small piddly little gripe: insta-love. She barely sees the guy and she loves him. And his secret was pretty predictable. But I don't care, because I really enjoyed everything else in the book.

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerfully moving YA novel. Laney comes to grips with the awful actions of her brother, West, and his friend, Mark, and a school bus full of students. Through her visions, she's able to better understand why her life has been so hard and how to move on to a happier existence. This story is full of graphic, heart wrenching scenes. Faint of heart....beware.

[Shardan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from Goodreads First Reads.
My first thought after finishing this book: Myfanwy Collins is such a good writer!
This book is about a fifteen-year-old girl named Laney, who is sent to live with her grandmother after her brother is involved in a murder-suicide. This story is powerful, heart wrenching, and I felt Laney's pain throughout every page.

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a really well written book. It kept me turning pages. It's very dark in it's theme, and the magical realism element of Laney having visions to let us know how other characters felt didn't work that well for me. But overall, I found this a really enjoyable, quick read. The book has some beautiful lines and character insights.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young adult novel about facing the worst things the world can hand out and learning how to heal. Read my full review here.

[Robert Difranco · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow I am very glad that I entered the drawing for this book... in the beginning if the story I was a little confused. in the end everything made sense and the book came together very well. very good book I would recommend reading!!

[Kelsey Baguinat · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting and beautifully written. Laney and her family will stay with me for a very long time.

[Georgiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this six stars if I could.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! Well written & keeps you guessing by giving you glimpses of the past that do not let you put this book down. Tragic at the start. Hope in the end.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a riveting and heartbreaking novel by Myfanwy Collins. Enjoyed it very much.

[Kimbo Slice · Rating 4 out of 5]

very unique story about a school shooting in that it explores what it would be like to be the sibling of the shooter and the fallout and the stigma that comes with that.

[Lynne Reeves Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poignant novel of the aftermath of tragedy. Told from a young girl's experience, it's a bittersweet novel about hope and healing.

[mc · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Book of Laney is about loneliness, atonement, and letting go. It's beautifully written, never depressing despite the matters, and is always captivating. It's a surprisingly satisfying read.

[Leigh Shulman · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautifully written book. The language alone made me want to read more. Laney's story is unique but one that is so full of poignant pieces. The Book of Laney weaves together so many different thoughts and ideas -- from the horror of murder to a young teen's self loathing and lonliness -- in such a delicate and expert manner. I didn't want to stop reading, and when I had to, my thoughts constantly drifted to Laney.

I left the pages of this book with the eduring sentiment that were we able to see the deepest truth of each person we know, we could only feel compassion. And perhaps that compassion is best turned inward to the self as well.