Vigil

by Nadia Wheatley

'You don't do anything when you die,' Tim argued. 'You're gone. Finito. Kaput. That's the whole point.' Dean said the same. But as the heat of summer blisters through the country town where his two friends have just died, Nathan becomes a kind of ghost, haunting the places where the Gang of Three used to hang out. It was only 10 years ago that their escalating games of dares and challenges led them to the edge of fear. Does this shared past hold some sort of clue to what has happened now? And what responsibility should Nathan bear? This suspenseful narrative mirrors the fractured state of memory, and moves between past and present while engaging with some of the big issues of our the legacies of history, the effects of prejudice, the allure of danger.

357 pages

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Nadia Wheatley is an Australian author.

Reviews

[Andy Kabanoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good coming of age story classed as young adult fiction although it certainly works for an adult audience. A young man returns to his home town for the funeral for his two childhood friends and relives the key moments of their youth and relationships. They're very different kids from very different families. Tackles the big questions of meaning of life; attitudes towards death; why we do the things we do.

[J.A. Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a teenager and it has stayed with me ever since. It certainly influenced me when writing my novel, Echoes of the Boab.

[Sharon Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently 'Vigil' is a YA book which surprises me somewhat - it reads like an Adult novel to me and I wasn't aware until I looked at author Nadia Wheatley's website that it is under the YA banner.

'Vigil' is a book about friendship and what happens when people move on or grow up. Nathan, Dean & Tim are childhood friends, thrown together into that friendship by being the odd ones out, and as Nathan's Nan says, Dean & Tim are like "chalk and cheese", Tim the nerdy type from an upper class family, Dean from the wrong side of the tracks.

Told from the point of view of Nathan after he comes home to attend the funerals of his two late friends and deal with the aftermath of what happened to them.

I actually would have given this novel a 4 star rating if it hadn't been for the incessant repeating of the Rock/Paper/Scissors game that Nathan uses in his mind as a distraction to avoid coming to terms with the reality of their deaths - that drove me nuts.

[Mz Niu booty · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of suspense. Loved it.

[Chris]

Destroy it with FIRE!!!