Bang

Starred review from February 27, 2017
Ten years after accidentally shooting and killing his baby sister, 14-year-old Sebastian is haunted by the loss to the point of considering suicide. When he meets Aneesa, a new neighbor whose brown skin and headscarf also make her an outcast, their friendship challenges his views of his self worth. Suddenly, Sebastian is making pizzas for their YouTube channel and not solely focusing on feeling like a pariah, “the kid who killed.” But he can’t outrun his past, and a climactic revelation is a gut punch, returning to the agonized and primal feelings that are essential to this gripping story. Lyga (The Secret Sea) expertly scatters reminders of Sebastian’s burden in benign, tossed-off phrases (of friends with siblings: “half the time it’s like they just wish they could kill them”), the prominence of first-person shooter games, and his best friend’s father’s prized gun collection, each of which reveals another facet of his trauma. It’s a raw exploration of persistent social stigmas, a beautiful study of forgiveness, and an unflinching portrait of a parent’s worst nightmare. Ages 12–up. Agent: Kathleen Anderson, Anderson Literary Management.

Narrator Charlie Thurston turns in an energetic performance of Lyga's young adult novel. Sebastian, a high school senior who accidentally shot and killed his infant sister when he was 4 years old, can no longer live with the guilt and determines to end it all. Then he meets his new neighbor, Aneesa. His friendship with Aneesa, a practicing Muslim, gives Sebastian hope that life can be better. The tempo slows down a bit as the two create a YouTube channel featuring Sebastian making different kinds of pizzas but picks up when cruel baby-killer and Islamophobic taunts show up in the video's comments. Thurston's skillful pacing as Sebastian reaches the edge of suicide again will keep listeners glued to their earbuds. S.G. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine