Adios, Nirvana

Reader: Elise
Age: 14
Title: Adios, Nirvana
Author: Conrad Wesselhoeft
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Pub Date: Oct. 2010
Galley: Yes
Nominate for Teens’ Top 10: Yes
Recommend: Yes
Convince us to read the book: The first and foremost recommending aspect of Adios, Nirvana is the characters. Jonathan's emotions are real, sharp, and another dose of reality. His reaction to his twin’s death (whose name is fabulous, and the story behind it adds so much to the characters!) is understandable and relateable without line of whininess that is so often stepped over. I love how he's gritty enough to be believable, but isn't thinking about sex all of the time. Hope! The author also carries these characteristics over to Jonathan's friends, 'thicks,' too. They're supportive and sensitive, without being mushy, and show a side that seems more balanced to modern teenage boys. The other set of characters that absolutely shone were his friends at hospice. The phrase, "float a turd," basically sums them up. And if you feel confused or intrigued right now, pick up the book. And the poetry. Finally! It's a relief to read a book where the poetry added in is very high quality. The poems help you relate to Jonathan, and convey his pain more than any number of paragraphs ever could.
Compelling Aspect of the Book: For a book whose plot was mostly internally based, this story was very fast-paced and sharp. Between stories of WWII, guitar adventures, taurine-and-pain filled nights, and mourning Telemachus, I could hardly put it down. This is the kind of book that has enough substance to study in schools, and the amount of reality it takes to draw everybody in.
Cover: The cover was awesome, compelling, attention grabbing, and fit the book to a T. Even several days after finishing, I still notice different ways the images convey themes, and events of the story. Also, I feel like it would attract the kind of people that would like this kind of book, which is a good thing, of course. The flaming guitar is much more well used than on a lot of covers now. Then we arrive at the title: this is the best name I've seen since Walk Two Moons. The conciseness, and yet utter uniqueness is perfect. "Adios, Nirvana." Wow. Yay!
Did you finish: Yes
Age Range: 14-18 and up
Quality: 5Q Hard to imagine a better book
Popularity: 4P Broad general teen appeal