Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

Bibliography: 
Whaley, John Corey.  2011. When Things Come Back. New York, NY: Atheneum. 9781442413337 

Plot Summary:

Cullen Witter is a 17 year old with a big imagination and hates his life in the dull and boring town of Lily, Arkansas. Cullen desperately wants to leave the dead end town, but fears he will be stuck there for the rest of his life, like everyone else in Lily. Cullen’s oh-so-boring-life changes completely when his brother goes missing and his whole town is turned upside down thanks to a strange obsession with a rare bird which may or may not even exist.

Critical Analysis:
There is quite a lot going on in this book! The author weaves two stories into one odd plot and constantly leaves the reader wondering what one story has to do with the other; eventually, the story unravels in the end. When the book nears its ending, readers will be surprised at the odd twist of events that surround the two seemingly unrelated stories. The plot is a strange mix of teenage life in a small town, death, suicide, kidnapping, the appearance of a strange bird, and more.

Cullen Witter is the main character of the story and he is your typical angry-at-the-world teenage boy with a chip on his shoulder. Throughout the entire story Cullen’s imagination often runs away with him when he thinks up strange scenes in his mind. Often the scenes involve everyone around him turning into a zombie and he is either saving the day or ruining the day. One thing I like about Cullen’s character is that his strengths and weaknesses are so obvious to the reader and not so obvious to Cullen; it is almost as if the reader knows a secret. It is interesting to watch Cullen learn more about who he is through the course of the story. The other characters in the story offer a wide range of typical teenage personalities which work well with the main character’s personality, especially in a small town.

The setting (Lily, Arkansas) is expressed in a realistic way by the author. The exact time frame which this story took place is unknown, though it is easy to speculate it is set in the “now” thanks to the reference of laptops and cell phones in the story. Cullen’s disgust with Lily is obvious and he often makes humorous comments concerning the town such as:

     “Lily is the kind of place you’d like to move to some short time before you die. If at any other time in your life you think you need the peace and quiet of Lily, Arkansas, then you should either see a therapist or stay there for a week and try to find anything half-entertaining to do.” (p. 10)

The setting plays a large part in the story since the majority of the characters in the story have the clichéd “small town attitude” that books depicting small populations tend to have. Everyone in Lily knows one another and this feeds into the emotion Cullen feels concerning his missing brother. Since the town is so small and everyone knows each other, Cullen has to constantly deal with people telling him and his family how sorry they are for his brother’s disappearance which does a great job of keeping the pain of Gabriel’s disappearance in the forefront of his mind.

If I had to pinpoint the theme of this story I would say it is about getting second chances in life. The story doesn’t unrealistically state everyone who is given a second chance succeeds and readers will learn this with characters such as, John Barling, Cabot Searcy and Benton Sage. Alma Ember gets a second chance at life after she leaves her husband and ends up back in the safety of her hometown (Lily). Cullen’s first impressions of Mena Prescott are that she is his best friend’s annoying girlfriend, but later in the story he gives her a second chance and sees her for the good person she really is (you’ll have to read the story to find out why!). It is hard to reference good examples of the second chances experienced in this book without risking a spoiler alert, so I will stop here.

In terms of style, one thing I liked about this book is how natural the dialogue appeared. The dialogue was smooth and believable and you could almost imagine listening to similar conversations amongst real teens. In other words, the language and behavior were believable for teenagers:

“Guess what, my kind clerk of a friend?”
“What?” I asked.
“I have big news.”
“Well?” I hated when someone would tell me they had something to tell me instead of just telling me.
“I got you a date!”
“A date?”
“Yes, and I don’t mean the fruit.” Lucas chuckled.
“Funny. With who?”
“Are you ready for this?” he asked, both his hands pointing at me.
“Yes! Tell me!”
“You may want to sit for this one, Cullen.”
“I’m going to kill you and go on a murderous rampage if you don’t –“
“Alma Ember,” he interrupted with confidence, leaning against the counter and close to my face.” (p. 48)

As you can see from the dialogue above, it is easy to imagine two teenage boys engaging in such a conversation over a girl.

Cullen Witter is the storyteller for the majority of the story and his narration style is quite interesting. I do not know about you, but when I was a teenager I could think of any number of things all at once and still jump back to my original thought; Cullen does this too! I think Cullen’s scatterbrained thinking makes the story more realistic to young people today. While some of Cullen’s tone is serious, a great portion of it is silly and humorous.

Recommended for teens ages 14 and up.

Review Excerpt(s):

• Michael L. Printz Award Winner (2012)
• William C. Morris Award Winner (2012)
• Booklist (2011) – “An intriguing, memorable offering teens will want to discuss.”
• School Library Journal (2011) – “…the ending is worth the wait, making a promising statement about faith and taking one day at a time.”

Connections:

• Pair this title with other great favorites such as:
       Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
       Looking for Alaska by John Green
       I am the Messanger by Markus Zusak
• Encourage the teens to engage in "follow-up research" (Vardell 2008). Help them determine whether the town of Lily, Arkansas is real (p. 10 references the town's location) and if it is not real, help the teens figure out where it might have been based off of the book's details. You might also encourage them to research other facts/details from the story such as, the woodpecker, locating the song title to the lyrics mentioned in the book, and so on.
• Engage the teens in a questions and discussion session about certain aspects of the book, the characters, and events that took place in the story. Be sure to give the teens time to ponder each question you ask and allow them to answer the questions. Encourage the teens to "speculate, support their guesses, and make connections to other literature and other life experiences" (Vardell 2008).

Reference:
Vardell, Sylvia M. Children's Literature in Action: A Librarian's Guide. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2008.