Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me access to this book. I really enjoyed this book and will be recommending it to readers. The plot, the well-developed, three-dimensional characters kept me focused throughout this book - cover to cover.

"...our lives are the sum of our mistakes as well as our triumphs, right?" Lyga proceeds to map out a tale of horror, life, love and friendship based on that one fragment alone. I will not give you details to spoil the book for you, but I will say that Lyga took an extremely tough subject matter, and brought it into a simpler, gentler reality where it would eventually live for all of us if this had been our experience. There are monumental and simple truths that had me saying, "wow, yes, exactly right,", all through the mind and life of a 14 year old boy. Well done, great YA novel, but one adults can deeply appreciate also.

This is one of those books that coincide with what is happening in the world. Hopefully, it will open the eyes of some teens.

When Sebastian was 4 years old, he had picked up his father’s handgun and accidentally fired it at his 4-month old sister. For ten years, he has lived with the horrific fact that he was the toddler who shot and killed his baby sister. Despite the companionship of his new friend Aneesa to distract him from his dark thoughts, he believes it will be a gun that can put an end to his pain.

Wow. I’ve been a fan of Barry Lyga’s writing since devouring his I Hunt Killers series a few years ago and his latest book has knocked me off my feet. In the very first chapter, it jumps right into the moment where Sebastian unknowingly shoots his sister, however it’s narrated by Sebastian in a very detached and clinical way given that he was so young at the time. The use of “I’m told that I…” was very effective and eerie in conveying the cold facts.

The novel has some lighter moments, some really great character dynamics between Sebastian and his friends Evan and Aneesa and some really powerful moments with his mother and father. Lyga explores the complexities and strengths of the different relationships in Sebastian’s life in a really strong way. However, underlying those moments is a much darker tone, one where Sebastian contemplates his options on how to put an end to the suffering that his actions have caused both himself and his parents.

It is a truly heartbreaking story that could be challenging to read at times for some readers, given the nature of the plot. That being said, the narrative is so captivating and I could not put the book down. The writing is raw and hard-hitting. The mere idea of the horror that starts the plot of this story is so gut wrenching of a thought to comprehend. Once again, Barry Lyga has not disappointed. This novel has solidified him as one of my favourite authors (if his Jasper Dent series hadn’t already). I love how his books hold elements of darkness, the protagonists deal with issues of inner conflict and the characters have compelling friendships.

See my review on The Hub
: http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2017/05/15/qp2018-nominees-hate-u-give-angie-thomas-bang-barry-lyga/

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started reading this one, and it hit me like a punch to the gut basically on page one. Sebastian Cody accidentally killed his baby sister when he was four-years-old. He hasn’t been able to live with himself since. The accident tore apart his family and left him racked with guilt over something he can’t even remember. Because of his, he knows that one day (he’s not sure when) he’s going to end his own life. It’s the only way he knows how to atone for his crime. In his mind, every single day he’s alive is just borrowed time. That is, until he meets Aneesa and everything starts to change.

Look, guys, I’m just going to be honest with you. This book will blur your vision. And by blur your vision I mean it will make you ugly cry through the last third of it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I will also tell you that Bang is totally and completely worth the tears. You will DEVOUR this book. I finished it practically in one sitting, because I had to know what was going to happen to Sebastian. I really cared about him and thought that it was insane of him to want to kill himself over something that he did when he was just a toddler who didn’t know any better. I mean, it’s not like he’s a horrible person who purposefully murdered someone. He was FOUR. I got so mad at him while he was calmly and nonchalantly planning out his suicide attempt.

I want desperately to talk about the ending, but I can’t without giving things away, so after you read this message me and we’ll talk, mmmkay? Let’s just say the ending is NOT what I expected. There are some major twists coming, and you might need a seatbelt just to hold on.

What I can say without spoiling things is that this book features food prominently, which you know makes me as happy as apple pie (See what I did there?). The descriptions of gourmet pizza had me drooling and ordering pizza pretty much immediately. Because, honestly, pizza? Who can resist ooey gooey pizza??? Not this girl, that’s for sure.

All in all I thought that this book was magnificent. The message is incredible and the voice is unique, plus there is such a fun premise involved with Annesa and Sebastian’s YouTube venture. (Yes, I did just say that a tearjerker novel has a “fun” premise. No, I am not sorry.) It’s an odd book, but one I think we all need to read and discuss immediately. It’s just that good.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I expected some level of feeling and depth as many of his others include richly-developed characters in real situations and how they work through them-- some more spectacular than others (serial killers anyone?) But Sebastian is a boy with a heavy burden: at four years old he shot his four-month old sister with a gun left unattended. The tragedy of picking up the piecing leaves Sebastian feeling sad with thoughts of suicide in part because he can't forgive himself but because he doesn't really know/remember what happened at such a young age. His mother doesn't discuss it and dad left pretty quickly after the tragedy. There's an unspoken sadness between mom and son.

It's when Aneesa, a Muslim-American girl in a Muslim-American family moves in and the past doesn't have to be important as he begins his journey of peaceful co-existence. He wants more, she really doesn't. As with romance (or the potential for it) usually with a female main character needing a male main character to "save her" and "put her back together", I always roll my eyes a bit. Could it have been someone else? Sure. I know he has Evan and there's a reason Evan exists in Sebastian's life too, but Aneesa is there to demonstrate a power to overcome and still be fine.

Always appreciate Lyga's ability to include characters of different backgrounds as natural as the air we breath. This is one of his writing strengths and a testament to his character development.

Pretty good, rounded ending. Not much to say here, pretty typical Barry Lyga work.

The concept of this book is incredibly heartbreaking, but I’ll confess that it didn’t really tug at my heartstrings the way I expected it to—at least not at first. Which isn’t to say that I didn’t like it, but for some reason I just wasn’t blown away or wrecked like I’d expect with this sort of book. The first three-quarters of the book were almost … cute. The possibility of budding romance between Sebastian and Aneesa was sweet—and I loved that he started to see worth in his life through her. I also appreciated the perspective that Aneesa gave to the story as a Muslim (it was especially interesting that her mother was not Muslim because you certainly don’t see mixed families of that type very often). But I just didn’t feel particularly emotionally moved and the book took me a little while to get through …

And then there was the final quarter of the book, which is amazing and blew me away. Sebastian is suddenly forced to stop avoiding his reality and face everything, and as a reader I was also forced to take note. There were a few twists that I wasn’t expecting, and the emotional depth of the story skyrocketed at the end. I was suddenly very connected to a story that I had just been cruising along with at first. Since it took me three-quarters of the way through the book to get there, I settled on 3.5/5 Stars for my rating, but this book was well worth the read!

An important book about self-healing and accepting others for their differences. Although well written, the depressing tone throughout most of the book was just too much for me.

Great book, but too mature for my middle schoolers!

I really wanted to like “Bang”. It seems that I’m in the minority in not feeling it. Unfortunately, the book just did not resonate with me.

It isn’t that there is not good writing or that the characters aren’t well-developed. Both were good. The problem for me, I believe, is that so many issues were packed into one book that it didn’t have time to focus on any of them enough. Gun control, Islamophobia, mental illness of several types, and the income gap are a few of the things covered.

I can’t recommend “Bang”, but if the blurb sounds good to you, give it a try. Maybe it’s just me.

I checked out Bang by Barry Lyga on our school's Overdrive ebooks site. The opening literally blew me away! The narrator states that his sister is gone. She's gone because he killed her! He was four years old at the time and now he's telling the story ten years later. The narrator, Sebastian is just living, but not enjoying anything. He's consumed by guilt and doesn't believe he has any right to be happy. Sebastian has been biding his time until the tenth anniversary of his sister's death because that's when he plans on taking his own life. This story is difficult reading at times, but other times it's friendly and healing. I'm not going to spoil the book for you because it will take the curiosity away and this story is worth reading! Bang is contemporary, realistic fiction for a young adult audience and my rating is 4.5 stars.

THINGS I LOVED:

The vocabulary. The English major in me was internally happy dancing for joy. Honestly, if I could get away with it, I would totally use this to teach SAT vocabulary. It’s awesome. And oddly enough, it works for the main character. He’s quirky and collects antiquated tech like no one’s business, so embracing elevated vocabulary suits his complex personality.

The conflicted, debilitating slew of guilt, depression, and uncertainty weighs on Sebastian heavy enough to rival Atlas. The emotions are poignant, gut-wrenching, and you kind of just want to hug him and tell him it’s not his fault. It’s impossible to escape your past in a small town and to be blamed and ostracized for something you did as a toddler? It’s completely unfair, dangerous, and totally happens. Even if you break this story down to bare bones foundation, living with the catastrophe results of a mistake can be too much, too haunting, and crush you from the inside out. Bang explores these heavy ideas in a way that’s relatable and so incredibly honest.

The mystery. Throughout the book, there is so much leading that you’re basically being tugged along on this train of thought. You know that Sebastian plans on doing something terrible, ending it all with a gun in a perfect circle of how his life metaphorically ended as a toddler. But there’s a twist. I did not see it coming. There’s just enough to keep you hanging on, desperate to know how it ends.

THINGS I’M TORN OVER:

Aneesa. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED Aneesa and the fact that she calls people out on their stereotypes, is honest about her fears, and is 100% a proud Muslim young lady. I adored how vocal she was about misconceptions about Islam, how she called out the haters, and truly loved who she is as a person. That sort of confidence and openness is inspiring. In some ways, I did like that Aneesa, having her as a friend, was helping Sebastian deal with his suicidal thoughts; I didn’t like that she was the ONLY thing. Sebastian’s so-called male best friend was a fleeting character that had little to no presence and everything was on Aneesa-not that she knew Sebastian was suicidal. Aneesa isn’t really that interesting. Despite the fact that she’s nice and opinionated, she’s pretty bland, at least for me. There weren’t any particularly memorable lines or scenes that made me say, Aneesa is a character that will stick with me for a while.

The focus. This book is all over the place. While it does do a fairly good job of getting back to Sebastian’s thoughts when he’s going to bed at night and thinking about his life, the book turns into pizza after pizza for ages as he builds his YouTube channel and it felt like so much of that could be cut because it slowed the pacing and made me want to close the book.

Nowhere near enough confrontation with his parents. They don’t talk about it. They ignore everything and have for years. No wonder Sebastian is flooded with emotions that he doesn’t know how to express or positive ways to deal with his overwhelming sense of guilt and failure. The two big scenes that do happen were…explosive. I felt rage. So much rage.

Far too often, these 'ripped from the headlines' type plots are all about sensationalism, forcing the reader to face teh high emotions of the moment. And that's where this book shines. While the plot centers around a media frenzy, its an event that occurred a decade prior to the novel's events. So the emotional turmoil is the continued fallout from that moment.. This allows us to connect with the characters at a much deeper level, to see not their surface pain but their deep and abiding brokenness. Is it shocking? Certainly; it centers on a violent incident involving small children and a protagonist who plots his suicide pretty much from page one. But it goes beyond the shocking to explore real issues of grief, guilt, and isolation without ever becoming maudlin or entirely eschewing light-hearted moments.

This is a riveting story. I never thought of the people in these types of stories after the tragedy. You feel empathy for them while the tragedy is in the news but once it's over.....Sebastian is a warm loving character that you truly feel bad for. He has suffered for years and feels that he is not worthy of love and friendship. He feels that the world can not see past "the boy who killed his sister". This is a great read and you are trapped between will he take his own life or will he not"? A great read!

I almost didn't read this book because of the content. I didn't know, as a mother, that I could stomach reading something about one child killed (accidentally) by another child. However, I felt that it would be an important read. I was right. I have never read another book that addresses a particular incident in which a child is directly responsible for the death of a young sibling. (That doesn't mean they don't exist. I just have never seen it personally addressed in a YA novel).Bang also touches on the aftermath of a tragedy and how it affects children for years and maybe decades. As an educator, I thought this was an important book for me to read because 1) it deals with tragedy from a male perspective which, as most primary and secondary educators are female, is unfamiliar to us and 2) it teaches us how tragedy experienced at a young age still affects the day to day life of our students. Kudos to Barry Lyga for taking on this topic.

This book was absolutely a revelation for me. I had simplified the synopsis in my mind and the reality of this read was anything but simple. Sebastian's story is a tragedy, to be sure. So, how does it also end up being hopeful and filled with a twisty sort of joy? I am flabbergasted by my reactions to this book...I could NOT put it down and I cried so hard when it was not the obvious time to do so! I will be buying this book for my Library and encouraging lots of kids to read it.