Customer Reviews

Chasing Brooklyn

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lisa's gift to fans of I Heart You, You Haunt Me, this is not a sequel, and definitely stands alone. There's loss. There's love. And above all else: there's hope. It's also my favorite book she's written thus far. What I love about all of Lisa's books is that she has a way of making me like things I normally wouldn't. I'm not really a big verse novel person. Nor am I into ghost stories. And I'm generally not a fan of anything that makes me cry. But I adore her books. I would love to figure out how she does that, but it remains a mystery. Maybe she has magic powers I don't know about. Somehow she manages to make me forget that I'm reading poems instead of paragraphs. In fact, I think this story would lose its power if it were written traditionally. The verse feels so intimate--like diary entries--that you really connect with the characters on another level. And while the format makes for a quick read (my first time through only took a couple hours) I would strongly encourage anyone to read slower (or to read it twice) because there are subtleties woven through the words that are too easily lost while speed reading. Bottom line: It's a wonderful story to sip and savor--not gulp--and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves touching stories about living with loss and finding a reason to keep going.

This is another wonderful book from author Lisa Schroeder. I love the lyrical quality to Schroeder's writing and this surpassed the her other two books, Far From You and I Heart You, You Haunt Me.

I wasn't expecting to be wowed by a book written in free verse, but the sparseness of words makes the story of overcoming grief even that much more special. This is one of those stories that will stick with you long after you put down the book.

About the Book: Brooklyn's boyfriend Lucca died a year ago. And now her friend Gabe has died of an overdose. Brooklyn is loosing sleep and being haunted by Gabe in her dreams.

Nico lost his brother Lucca and is trying to escape the pain. But when Lucca starts to leave him messages to help Brooklyn, Nico and Brooklyn find themselves being drawn to each other and having to face emotions that have been buried. They just need to learn to let each other in.

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I LOVED IT!! I really enjoy novels in verse and I think Lisa Schroeder writes them beautifully, but she blew me away with Chasing Brooklyn. This is a book you'll want multiple copies of-one to keep and one to pass around to friends.

The novel is told in alternating voices-Brooklyn and Nico's. I wasn't sure how this would work with a novel in verse, especially since each alternating part was short to start. But Lisa Schroeder pulled it off and gave Brooklyn and Nico distinct voices and soon I was swept up in both stories.

I was so drawn into the book I couldn't put it down. I stayed up waaay past my bedtime to finish this one. (That's what I get starting this one thinking "I'll just read a little bit before I fall asleep...) It's a book that has such gorgeous lyrical writing you just want to get lost in the words.

Chasing Brooklyn is an emotional read and the journey the reader takes with Brooklyn and Nico is one that will stick with you. You'll want to keep this one around for multiple re-reads because these are characters you won't want to leave behind. Yes, it's a ghost story, but most of all it's a love story and a beautiful tale about two people who need each other to heal. Both Brooklyn and Nico are hurting and you feel their pain and want to reach in and help them. Their journey to each other is heartwrenching and heartwarming at the same time.

There's a cameo from a character in I Heart You, You Haunt Me. Chasing Brooklyn isn't a sequel, but takes place in the same school. I re-read I Heart You, You Haunt Me before I read Chasing Brooklyn, but that's not necessary. Lisa ties the two novels together nicely and reader's won't be lost if they haven't read the first one. (Although really, you should read that one too-it's also amazing!)

Chasing Brooklyn is easily one of my favorite reads of 2010 and earns a place in my top books of all time. I think it's Lisa's best book and I can't wait for more.

Chasing Brooklyn

In the book Chasing Brooklyn it involves a girl named Brooklyn. Brooklyn has had many people leave her in her life and she wasn't ready for some important people to leave her. She went into a slight depression until someone who was somewhat close to her, Nate, helped her get through her latest problem. Nate was such a good friend to Brooklyn because he knew what Brooklyn was going through. They had entered themselves in a triathlon. This was not only a physical race but an emotional race for them.

I think that this book was a good book because it was an easy read. This book might look big from the outside but it is actually such an easy quick read that you would enjoy it. Some bad things about the book are that I think the book could have been formatted differently so that it might have been an easier read. Some good things about the book are that I liked how it switched point of views each chapter to show the similarities and differences of Brooklyn and Nate. To me I think that this would be a good book for people in middle school grades such as sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Chasing Brooklyn will hook you in and drag you into the lives of two different people that will revel to you a shocking twist.

Having read and enjoyed 'I heart you, You haunt me' all I needed to see was Lisa Schroeder's name to know I wanted to read 'Chasing Brooklyn', which is another book written in verse and set in the same location as the former. Ava, the protagonist from 'I heart you, You haunt me' even makes a cameo appearance.

'Chasing Brooklyn' is the story of two grieving teenagers and their path to healing. A year after the death of Lucca, Brooklyn's boyfriend and Nico's brother, his best friend Gabe dies under suspicious circumstances (many speculate that it was suicide). That's when Brooklyn starts having nightmares starring Gabe as the villain and Lucca begins haunting Nico.

I went into this book expecting another heartrending, yet beautiful read, but when compared to 'I heart you, You haunt me', some of the sections in Chasing Brooklyn felt contrived rather than part of the natural grieving process. I also expected more to happen with the haunting of Brooklyn and Nico respectively. In the end, the hauntings were more of side thought.

Those complaints aside, this was still a beautiful book with an ethereal quality to it. Because of the short, punchy, and often evocative sentences, this was a very quick read. The story development between Brooklyn and Nico, unfolding via alternating chapters from each of their perspectives, was sweet if a bit predictable. Halfway through the book, it was easy to figure out what was going to happen, but sometimes it's not about the destination, but the journey--and so is the case with this book.

I wish I could say I adored this book as much as 'I heart you, You haunt me' but I can't. I did enjoy it, but at times I was pulled out of the story and felt an emotional disconnect from the characters. Still, this was an emotionally moving story. It's mild in sex, drugs, violence, and coarse language. (In fact, I believe only one or two curse words were used within the entire book.) It also stresses the importance of forgiveness and courage to move forward in the most difficult of times. This is a book I would have no problem recommending.

Teen girls and reluctant readers will enjoy this book written in free verse. The sparse language and lack of descriptive detail keep the story moving forward and also bring out the emotions experienced by the characters in a more stark manner than does the typical novel written in prose.

This story, told in alternating voices, is about Brooklyn and Nico -- both are being "haunted" and experience visions and visits. Nico by Brooklyn's boyfriend and his brother Lucca and she by Lucca's friend Gabe. The two boys are dead -- Lucca in a car wreck and Gabe a suicide. Both are trying to pass along an important message to Brooklyn and Nico -- to choose life instead of wallowing in solitude and despair.

Although a bit contrived and predictable, the journey that each takes is a bittersweet effort to reconnect with friends and family. Brooklyn and Nico learn that the path to happiness involves making choices to stay involved and active in the world without staying constantly in the past. It's about getting over a terrific and horrible loss, and somehow finding peace and the desire to go on despite the pain and grief.

Recommended for high school libraries.

CHASING BROOKLYN

LISA SCHROEDER

YA contemporary

Simon Pulse

Rating: 4 Enchantments

Brooklyn's life comes crashing to a halt after her boyfriend Lucca's death. It's been a year now. Lucca's friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. His ghost haunts her dreams. She doesn't know what Gabe wants and why he's bothering her. She can't sleep.

Nico is Lucca's brother. His way of dealing with Lucca's death is by running. Then one day he finds a note telling him to help Brooklyn. He feels that Lucca is haunting him. Even worse, he doesn't know how to help Brooklyn considering he hasn't seen her in the year since Lucca's death.

Brooklyn's nightmares escalate. So do the notes to Nico. Nico decides to reach out, not knowing what to say to his brother's girlfriend. Both are being haunted but struggle with telling each other. But until they can trust again, neither Gabe nor Lucca can rest in peace.

I loved this novel! Yes, this story deals with spirits but it doesn't read like any other paranormal novel out there. Schroeder nailed it right on the dot on what a loved one feels after the tragic death of a loved one. I loved how she was able to weave back and forth two points of view effortlessly. Both voices are unique in showing how Lucca's death has affected them and how at first they avoid coming to grips with their feelings. Powerful and strong, this novel sweeps the reader into not only the tragic sense of loss but how two individuals are able to reach out to each other.

The free verse in this novel has its own special beauty too. Each beat resonates with the reader on how painful it is to lose someone you love. Schroeder digs deep and shows a range of emotions that come from loss. But it doesn't stop there. The book also shows how faith and trust can be a healing balm.

A must read for Schroeder fans.

Lisa Schroeder is the author of I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME and FAR FROM YOU. Lisa lives in Oregon with her husband and two sons. Read more on her at her website [...].

Kim Baccellia

ENCHANTING REVIEWS

January 2010

Chasing Brooklyn is the companion novel to I Heart You, You Haunt Me about a girl named Brooklyn who tragically loses her boyfriend Lucca in a car accident and then a year later his best friend Gabe from a drug overdose. The pain and guilt is almost too much for Brooklyn to bear, especially when Brooklyn is haunted in her dreams by Gabe. Nico, Lucca's brother, also is having a difficult time handling the deaths and he too is haunted, but not by Gabe. Lucca has a specific job for him - to help Brooklyn. The question is, how is he supposed to do that, especially when she finds it so difficult to open up to him? Chasing Brooklyn is a mesmerizing novel about love, loss, and healing. A fast, easy read, do not miss this one, but I recommend you read I Heart You, You Haunt Me first, even though it isn't at all necessary to follow the story. It's just that these YA verse novels are so, so goooooooood!

I am fond of YA novels, but this one left me cold. There was a lot of angst - free-floating anxiety, guilt, and teenage brooding. But the writing didn't seem to lead anywhere. The emotional level at the end was much the same as at the beginning, and the writing concept (poetry) wasn't particularly literary or talented. Still, it's an unusual format and a Goth teenager might enjoy it.

I love this cover. And I love the title. And I just really love this book. I'm so glad some thoughtful reader nominated it for a Cybils award this year, because I honestly don't think I would have picked it up otherwise. And I have no good reason for that except I think I somehow got the mistaken impression it was just another problem novel and I wasn't in the mood. Shame on me for making my ignorant assumptions and not giving this lovely novel a try before now. CHASING BROOKLYN is Lisa Schroeder's third novel for young adults but the first that I've read. I'm happy to say it will definitely not be the last! Interestingly, it's billed as a companion novel to Schroeder's earlier I Heart You, You Haunt Me. I believe it features a couple of side characters from that book, but I found no trouble at all falling into this story without having read the first. It stands very strongly on its own two feet. I haven't read a really good novel in verse in quite awhile and I just adore them when they're well done. CHASING BROOKLYN is a perfect example of a novel in verse that is lyrically light on its feet, but pulsing with that breathtakingly uncertain blend of loss, longing, and love.

It's been a year since Brooklyn's boyfriend Lucca died in a car crash. One year since it became difficult to draw breath in and out every day, to get up every single day and make food for herself and her dad and then eat it, to go to school and pretend she's fine and not coming apart at the seams. To the outside world--her worried friends, her lonely father, her faraway mother and little brothers--she puts on a bright face. In her journal each day and in frequent letters to Lucca, she pours out the grief that consumes her. A talented artist, Brooklyn has all but forgotten her work. That creative spark seems to have dwindled in the past year until now it barely exists at all. And she wonders whether or not it is possible to recover from such loss. Maybe she never will. Nico has spent the last year mourning the death of his beloved brother. Lucca was always the golden boy--Mom and Dad's favorite, bright and shining and full of life. And the two brothers were best friends. Now it's just Nico. And their house is filled with silences he doesn't want to face. So Nico runs. And runs. He runs so fast and so far, like he's training for the race of his life. And then one day a message. Just a whisper. Barely discernible but there. "Make sure Brooklyn is okay." Nico is confused and afraid he's beginning to hallucinate. Surely Brooklyn is just fine by now. She looks fine every day at school. She doesn't look like she needs her dead boyfriend's older brother checking up on her at all. But Nico can't ignore the messages as they keep coming, more and more insistently. And so he finds himself reluctantly chasing Brooklyn.

What a simply lovely story is here. CHASING BROOKLYN is a surprisingly gentle, swallow-in-a-single-gulp read that left me smiling and feeling as though the sun had just come out after a particularly dreary day. One of my favorite things about it is there are no bad guys, no snide caricatures, no backstabbing or flashy, disingenuous "best friends." There is just honesty and unhappiness, kindness and real affection. Having lost loved ones myself, Brooklyn and Nico's experiences washed over me with the unmistakable rush of authenticity. The hint of the paranormal sets up several heart-pounding moments, but the focus remains steadily on how real people in the here and now reach out to each other and are able to build hope from the shared experience of loss. Here are a couple of my favorite entries:

***

Sat., Jan. 7th--Brooklyn:

In a funeral home

there's no cross to give you hope.

There's no bible to give you peace.

There's no minister to assure you all is well.

In a funeral home . . .

There are still flowers which I love.

There are still people who I know.

There is still death which I hate.

In a funeral home . . .

There is a family without a son.

There is a band without a guitarist.

There is a school without a classmate.

In a funeral home . . .

There is a coffin with a boy.

Sun., Jan. 15th--Nico:

Spaghetti Sunday

is my favorite day of the month.

The third Sunday of every month,

Ma makes a big batch of spaghetti with meatballs,

and relatives fill our house like fish fill a net

on a good fishing day.

The guys eat and watch football or basketball or baseball,

depending on the season,

while the girl eat

and talk births or weddings or funerals

depending on the month.

Ma's spaghetti slid into Lucca's heart as a toddler

and never left.

I know when she makes it,

she thinks of him,

how he'd come in and ask for a sample of sauce

as it simmered on the stove.

She'd fill a wooden spoon just for him.

He'd slurp the sauce.

She'd reach up and wipe his chin.

He'd say, "Perfection, Ma."

She'd smile, looking at him, and say, "Yes. It is."

I always wondered,

did he know she wasn't talking

about the sauce?

***

Hard not to like them after reading those, isn't it? Both of these kids were so clear in my head from the very beginning. I could smell the spaghetti sauce bubbling in Nico's kitchen. I could hear the click of the door closing as Brooklyn said an empty goodnight to her father once again. I loved Brooklyn's and Nico's journal entries and how they articulated the ways in which grief shaped their lives in the year after losing Lucca. It's easy to want the best for both of them. And it's impossible to resist Nico's halting efforts to find Brooklyn and help her in whatever way he can. The boy is a keeper if ever there was one. CHASING BROOKLYN is a sweet and haunting story and absolutely one that should not be missed.