Written by Sasha Zatz
Six Goodbyes We Never Said is a moving and beautiful portrayal of grief, mental health, and friendship. It will make you smile and cry all at once.
I really loved Naima and Dew. They felt so real as characters, both with their unique personalities, problems, and processes. It was really beautiful to see how their friendship started and grew, especially as the reader gets both of their perspectives. I think Naima was my favourite. I loved her fierce confidence, how she’s not afraid to stand up for herself and others. She is so relatable and I really felt the portrayal of her OCD and anxiety were so real and raw, and I think will be very relatable to people suffering similar things. Overall, the mental health representation was such a win for this book as it was #ownvoices and so genuine and real. I could really emphasise with the characters and the view from inside their heads shone a flashlight on their mental health issues and the way it affected them as individuals and those around them too.
The format of Six Goodbyes We Never Said gave it a very unique aspect. Though it is mostly told just from the point of view of Naima and Dew, on Naima’s end we also have voicemails from her deceased father and the unsent messages she sent in response. These unsent emails were so beautiful and gave another layer to Naima’s personality, the words she would not share with anyone, the truths she couldn’t bring herself to tell her dad. Dew’s recordings, Violet’s silver linings, and Naima’s would you rathers all made them such real, interesting people and made the book feel unique and interesting. Ganger’s writing style is prolific and full of personality. It’s unique and clever, making the story immersive and easy to get lost in.
This book portrays family and friendship in a poignant and real way. I really liked that the boy and girl did not have to be in love, but rather developed a complex and real friendship. The relationship between Dew and his adoptive family was a beautiful evolution, especially that between Dew and his foster sister Faith. This book embraced families however they are, grandparents, foster families, and step mothers, and it shows the reader that the typical family is not always the only one in which there is love, support and tenderness.
Grief and loss were important themes in this book. Both Naima and Dew have lost their parent(s) and are dealing with the aftermath in different ways. This portrayal was moving and heart wrenching, realistic and raw.
Overall, this is a beautiful book which discusses mental health issues and loss in a meaningful, relatable way with unique characters and an enticing storyline. Any fans of contemporary fiction will adore this.
Six Goodbyes We Never Said is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Two teens meet after tragedy and learn about love, loss, and letting go
Naima Rodriguez doesn’t want your patronizing sympathy as she grieves her father, her hero—a fallen Marine. She’ll hate you forever if you ask her to open up and remember him “as he was,” though that’s all her loving family wants her to do in order to manage her complex OCD and GAD. She’d rather everyone back the-eff off while she separates her Lucky Charms marshmallows into six, always six, Ziploc bags, while she avoids friends and people and living the life her father so desperately wanted for her.
Dew respectfully requests a little more time to process the sudden loss of his parents. It’s causing an avalanche of secret anxieties, so he counts on his trusty voice recorder to convey the things he can’t otherwise say aloud. He could really use a friend to navigate a life swimming with pain and loss and all the lovely moments in between. And then he meets Naima and everything’s changed—just not in the way he, or she, expects.
Candace Ganger’s Six Goodbyes We Never Said is no love story. If you ask Naima, it’s not even a like story. But it is a story about love and fear and how sometimes you need a little help to be brave enough to say goodbye.
