Customer Reviews

We Were Here

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Reading outside my favorite genres is something that is sometimes difficult for me to do... but I try to when I can so that I can recommend books to lots of different readers. This effort on my part is sweetly rewarded when I find books like We Were Here.

This is a story of a boy who must face his past and deal with the fact that he is not the only person on the planet who wasn't given an easy life. In fact Miguel finds out that his is just one story among many.

After being sent to a boys home Miguel meets Rondell and Mong. Despite barely knowing each other they decide to runaway and go to Mexico where Mong supposedly has some connections that will lead them all to a better life.

What they really find is friendship, hard times and the knowledge that in order to move on to the future you have to face your past.

This is a really great book...the story is honest and straight forward but not overwhelming. The author does a great job of giving us all the details without being overly emotional or going for the shock factor. This book made me want to read all of Matt de la Pena's books, he is a great writer!

I'm a big fan of de la Pena's writing and in this latest book he delivers a deeply moving, highly literary, and incredibly engaging novel that both teens and adults can thoroughly enjoy. De la Pena nails the urban language and voice of his young protagonist, Miguel, and his two unlikely friends, delivering a powerful character study of three boys who are of different races, religions, and are all overcoming deep personal tragedy. It is a book that takes you on a journey through the eyes of these teens who are struggling to find their way in life. This book will move you, entertain you, and break your heart. And if you don't believe me, just look at what the "experts" have to say:

". . . fast, funny, smart, and heartbreaking." - Booklist

"A story of friendship that will appeal to teens and will engage the most reluctant readers." - Kirkus Reviews

I must admit that I couldn't say it better myself.

Read this book.

We Were Here is Matt de la Peña's latest book and it's a clear winner. The characters are great, funny and sad adventures, and a great storyline that keeps you hanging on until the end.

I don't want to give away most of the story; but, it's about Miguel, his developing friendship with two other boys from the group home and their adventures and mis-adventures, and his relationship with his brother and mother. There are some twists and turns that the reader does not see coming and the mystery of Miguel's past keeps the reader hooked to the end. The characters were so believable and he nailed their personalities perfectly. I laughed, I cried, and couldn't put the book down.

Very satisfying read and a great ending. This book for young adults would be great for all readers including relunctant readers.

We Were Here deserves any and all awards and accolades coming to it, and probably many that haven't been thought of. Not since I've read Pete Hautman's books have I been so taken by a book written for teens.
I teach young adult literature in a middle school and come across HUNDREDS of books each year, and most of them, frankly, are not all that terrific; worse, I know my students won't like them. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this book to my students (6th graders) because the content and language is much more suitable for high school students.
I do, however, urge everyone else to pick up this book. De La Pena is a gifted and natural storyteller who knows how to capture an audience and keep them up long after darkness has fallen. This is the kind of book that will keep students up with the flashlight long after the lights have gone out.
Borrowing themes from Of Mice and Men and Catcher in the Rye - which Miguel, the main character, is reading - Pena takes Miguel, the main character, on a gritty adventure of heartbreak, hope, mystery, tragedy, and redemption. If this all seems too cliched, it is not; in Pena's yarn, it is a true original.
Some more conservative readers might not want to read this book because of the urban slang and the theme of being a minority in this country. But Pena doesn't beat you on the head with it: the true gift is the story itself; the rest is just The Way It Is.
The last YAL book I read that I was so taken with was Godless by Pete Hautman, which won the National Book Award; if there is any justice in this world, De La Pena will soon be crafting his acceptance speech.
Quick p.s. - I met Matt at this year's NCTE conference...super nice guy; doesn't seem to realize his genius!

I purchased this for a 16-year-old foster child I work with as a volunteer for CASA. She read it cover to cover in less than a week. She related to the young protagonist and his situation, and because she is from the Stockton, Calif., area, she recognized the places mentioned in the setting. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to understand young people who have been in this type of situation or to any young person like this young man who is looking for someone who understands.

The central motif of Matt de la Peña's novels is that youth is consumed with its own transience. Whether they are wayward foster kids trying to rise above poverty or biracial teenagers juggling dual identity, de la Peña's characters are tied by the common thread of knowing how quickly youth fades. At times, this seems a rebuttal against the tiresome conventional wisdom (so often expounded by adults) that adolescents think they're immortal, when in fact they are plagued by the opposite: a constant struggle for a sense of tomorrow. To be young, in de la Peña's world, is to be haunted by one's own mortality. And as the title of his third novel, "We Were Here," suggests, this time is no exception.

What separates de la Peña's latest book from his previous ones - and what ultimately raises it above them - is its use of the first-person point of view, a popular technique for many a YA novel, and which, in de la Peña's case, is less a gimmick to hook adolescent readers than the basis for a grudging confessional that not only rings true, but allows for rich introspection and street wisdom that only the first person can provide.

The story is a collection of journal entries written by Miguel Casteñeda, a bright teenager who is sentenced to a group home in San Jose, California, after committing an unnamed but presumably serious crime. When Miguel and two other "inmates" break out of the home and head for Mexico with six hundred and forty dollars of stolen cash, de la Peña plunges us into his exploration of what it means to be young and disenfranchised in America. Miguel's partners on this adventure are Mong, a volatile and terminally ill Chinese kid who is consequently immune to fear, and the astonishing Rondell (de la Peña's most inspired character to date), a giant illiterate black kid with a history of violence, who is so pure of heart he becomes emblematic of all youths who are fated to delinquency because they are never given a chance in life.

The story moves at a rocket's pace, largely because of the strength of its prose - Miguel's cadences and street slang have the feel of a new language being invented: he calls Rondell "a retarded ape who smelled like when a rat dies in the wall of your apartment" - and the immediacy of the journal concept. Just when we get comfortable with the idea that Miguel has already survived what's coming, we are reminded that each entry is that of a living journal, in which the next day could bring something even Miguel does not anticipate.

As the boys travel south and hide out along the California coast, Miguel reads novels ("The Color Purple" and "The Catcher in the Rye" figure most prominently) and recalls happier times with his mother and older brother Diego, whom he idolizes. But those memories have soured in his mind, and Miguel has a death wish - he doesn't go looking for death, but when threatened with it he can think of no reason to stay alive. Given his charm and intellect, Miguel's self-loathing seems curious, and one hangs around for the rest of the story in part to find out the cause. (Its ultimate revelation is both shocking and satisfying.)

It gives nothing away to say that the boys never reach Mexico, because the focus of this story (as with youth itself) is the internal journey of the individuals. They begin with no vision of tomorrow, and by the end they have grasped the full breadth of their reality, both daunting and full of possibility. They are fully aware of the urgency of the future and at the same time cannot deny the limitations of the now. As Mong's hipster female cousin puts it: "Sometimes I wonder if growing up isn't the saddest thing that can happen to a person."

Ultimately, the adults are the characters in this book who are afflicted with naivete. From the head of the group home, who tries to be "cool" with Miguel, to a suspicious grocery store owner who can't see beyond his own prejudices, the adults (like so many when viewing adolescence in retrospect) are the ones harboring illusions about youth. Their hindsight is not 20/20; it's myopic.

Even we the readers may need to check our eyes. Those used to de la Peña's previously optimistic, though touching, portrayals of teenage romance will be struck by his latest book's starker realism. And though it is deceptive to measure a single novel against an author's entire body of work, in this case it is also necessary in order to recognize the full extent of de la Peña's achievement. Just as the youths are rebelling against the false or limited views of the adults to whom they look for guidance, de la Peña stages a coup against his own literary legacy. It is his most accomplished work so far, and if he keeps this up, then he (and we) can relish many, many tomorrows.

I now own and have read all three of Matt de la Pena's books. I'm way past in age the target audience that the reviews I've read state. This is such a good read, I finished it in just a matter of days. Keep 'em coming, Matt...I can't wait for the next one. You make the de la Pena's very proud!!

Wow! This book is awesome. I've long been a fan of de la Pena's work. But this is my favorite. The narrator, Miguel, is so real. And I just wanted to take Rondell home with me. Great teen novel! Highly recommend.

Miguel's life wasn't so bad before what he did. His crime landed him in juvi and then a group home, where he knows he doesn't fit in. Sentenced to write in a journal, Miguel chronicles the events and people surrounding him, including his ex-roommate from Juvi, Darnell and Mong, a kid too crazy to think twice about killing you, if he felt like it. What Miguel never could have expected was that Mong and Darnell would convince him to run away from the group home in an attempt to start over in Mexico. The trip that ensues is an unexpected story of friendship and redemption. WE WERE HERE is one of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching books I've read, and it is not one you want to miss.

this book was given to me to read by a friend, i don't read much but this book is an amazing book and it made me feel like i was the character himself, very interesting. i recommend this book to all.