Accidental by Alex Richards
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Special thanks to Raincoast Books for sending a copy for review.
Summary:
Johanna has had more than enough trauma in her life. She lost her mom in a car accident, and her father went AWOL when Johanna was just a baby. At sixteen, life is steady, boring . . . maybe even stifling, since she’s being raised by her grandparents who never talk about their daughter, her mother Mandy.
Then he comes back: Robert Newsome, Johanna’s father, bringing memories and pictures of Mandy. But that’s not all he shares. A tragic car accident didn’t kill Mandy–it was Johanna, who at two years old, accidentally shot her own mother with an unsecured gun.
Now Johanna has to sort through it all–the return of her absentee father, her grandparents’ lies, her part in her mother’s death. But no one, neither her loyal best friends nor her sweet new boyfriend, can help her forgive them. Most of all, can she ever find a way to forgive herself? (Goodreads).
Thoughts:
Don’t you just love it when you find a book that isn’t centered around the typical “boy meets girl” plot? That is how I felt when I chose this book this month. In Accidental, Alex Richards finds an incredibly innovative way to weave a narrative about Johanna, a teenager who lives with her maternal grandparents. Under the impression that her mother passed away years ago in a fatal car crash, her world is soon shaken up by the surprise appearance of her father.
“I wonder if my grandparents owned that flag before or after I shot and killed their daughter.”
Richards finds a way to bring current political issues to light. With wholly fleshed out and beautiful characters, Accidental is a beautiful book that covers sensitive topics such as parental death, bullying, and gun violence, all while providing readers with an engaging read. At the beginning of the novel, we are introduced to Johanna, an artsy teen who loves to hang out with her friends and sew clothing. Then, she receives a letter from her father who she has never met. Learning of his existence and that he is in town leads to her arranging a date to meet him, and that is where the story actually begins.
This truth about who actually killed her mother is almost suffocating to Jo. The reason it punches the reader in the gut is that it really could have been any one of us: a fatal accident, a two-year-old stumbling across a loaded gun, a sleeping mother. The readers can see and feel themselves in her shoes. She doesn’t have memories of her mother, nor evidence that she even existed. The very few objects of importance she has barely have any story behind them. This enormous burden of truth pushes her under and causes her to spiral down a hole of self-hatred and depression.
Johanna’s friends Gabby and Leah try to help her out, but at times it can become too much for even them. While the idea of them being supportive and trustworthy comes across well on paper, it was also slightly underdeveloped. I felt that their relationship was artificial at some times, written in the stereotypical, “oh my god, best friends forever, etc” format. Even her relationship with newfound love, Milo, seems rushed and cheesy. With very little backstory on Milo, I felt that their relationship was unnecessary and very rushed. Milo as a side character would have made more sense than as someone Jo spills her heart out to the second day of meeting. There was no explanation as to what caused them to be so attached to each other and what made them so inseparable after knowing each other for less than a week.
From the looks of it, Johanna has an amazing support system, from her friends, boyfriend, and even her grandparents, though they don’t show it at times. But truthfully, the only person who can help Johanna is Johanna herself. She is being ridiculed online, and bullied by peers she spent years with and people she considered family and friends. She needs to find a way out.
Another thing that could have been explained further was how the truth affected Johanna. We read a lot about how she had constant panic attacks and how she fell into a downward spiral of hate, but the author could have elaborated further. I wanted to know more about her thought processes, and how it caused her to become so childishly involved in a mural as if her life depended on it. The mural itself surprised me. It wasn’t an in your face, no guns allowed in America type; it was more of a subtle, bigger picture piece. It was an authentic way for her to cope with her loss, and to show the world how guns affect real-life. Kudos to the author for laying down the groundwork for the readers to make their own decision on the issue.
Another thing about Johanna is how, while I felt very bad for her and empathized strongly with her, at times she came across as weird. She rubbed me the wrong way with her comments about “I’m not like other girls, I wear dark makeup, I wear edgy clothes, etc,” trope. I don’t know whether the author wanted her to come across this way or not, but Johanna was portrayed in a very off-putting way. Though it did not affect the storyline, it did change the way I perceived her at times.
The reason why the story redeemed itself for me was Johanna’s emotional growth throughout the novel. Through her very quick and surprising relationship with her father, she learns that people are not always as they seem. She also learns how her happiness and personal forgiveness depends on herself. I feel that this is a very strong step in the right direction, especially since it is very rare to find a character who actually learns to forgive themselves. The way Richards describes and writes Jo’s healing process is something I have not seen as much in Young Adult literature. How Johanna realizes that she is the only one who can forgive herself was an amazing addition to the overall no gun violence theme of the book.
Overall, this is a book about how gun violence can change lives and almost ruin them. Gun violence is a topic that should be brought up more and discussed frequently in media and literature. I would recommend everyone to read it despite their personal views on the topic. This book does not push the author’s personal views onto the readers; it more or less allows the readers to decide how they want to perceive this sensitive topic. While some people might expect the story to be centered around facts and statistics, which are mentioned, it focuses on something that cannot be measured as easily: how it affects the mental health of the victims. This beautifully written novel by Alex Richards is a must-read for all, teenagers and adults alike.
Reviewed by Aliza H.