Reviewed by Cheryl

TITLE: What Happens After

AUTHOR: Dennis Abrams

PUBLISHER: Harmony Ink Press

LENGTH: 181 pages

RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2020

BLURB:

Collin and his best friend, Nate, are high school juniors living in a suburb of Houston, where the politically and culturally conservative attitude makes coming out beyond difficult. One night they decide it would be a bit of harmless fun to sneak into a gay club in the city—a chance to dance, check out guys, and meet others like themselves.

They couldn’t be more wrong.

In minutes everything Collin took for granted is destroyed when a shooter’s bullets tear through the club. Collin survives, but that’s only the start of his ordeal. In the aftermath he has to face the loss of his friend, survivor’s guilt, the pain of his wounds, and judgment when he’s outed on a national level. Making it through his last year of school feels impossible when life as he knew it will never be the same.

REVIEW:

First, can I say that I adore the cover. It’s stunning.

I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to get into the book as the style of writing is very different to what I’m used to reading. It’s more of a stream-of-consciousness style. It’s told from the first-person perspective of a young man who survived a shooting at a nightclub, during which his best friend died.

It’s filled with short, choppy sentences and sentence fragments, and probably breaks a good handful of The Rules. However, once I got used to the style I was hooked and it didn’t take long to get fully invested in the story and the main character, Collin.

The book isn’t easy to read. Collin goes through hell and takes us with him. Not only does he have to cope with survivor guilt and flashbacks, he also has to face horrendous treatment from the mother of the friend who died. It is almost unbelievable how she uses social media to abuse him, as well as curses and humiliates him in public. Although Collin feels weak and broken, he copes better than I think I would have. His mother’s response is awesome and feels so real. I totally empathise, although if it had been my, child, I don’t think anyone could have stopped me from slapping the woman. I might also have gone on a vendetta against her as she clearly did against Collin.

Collin’s parents are really the bright lights in the story. They are not only supportive but sympathetic and very responsive to his needs. They seem not only to be good parents, but also good people, especially as their son was outed in such a sudden, tragic and public way.

It’s a sad commentary on the world today, to say that such shootings are becoming far less rare than they used to be, and we have all heard of them, and no doubt had a considerable amount of curiosity about what happened and the people it happened to. We avidly read news stories and interviews, watch YouTube clips and news reports and never once think about what the nature and extent of our interest means for the survivors or the families of those who died. Our interest mainly comes through general concern as well as natural curiosity with a dash of the morbid. Although our concern usually comes from genuine sympathy, it still has an effect, and we can hurt innocent people without ever realizing or even knowing about it.

Collin’s journey is an inspiration. It gives us incite to the life and trials of someone who was placed in an impossible situation and suffering not just on the day but over and over for a considerable period of time.

Somehow, even though we are quick enough to accept that everyone is different, we have expectations of how people handle things, including tragedy. We are expected to “get over it” and there is a negligent belief that once the immediate aftermath dies down, they go back to normal pretty much straight away, and we get annoyed when they take much longer. “You’re not still (talking/thinking/obsessing over/worrying about/going on about) that are you?” This story really brings home that recovery does not come quickly and certainly isn’t easy. Sometimes, surviving is hard work.

This is an important book that needs to be read. I have commented before that there are books that should be on reading lists in schools and colleges. This is another of them. People need to read stories like this, so they have a greater understanding of difficult situation, and maybe find a better way of helping people who have gone through them, even if it’s only by showing that not everyone is a thoughtless idiot.

Another important lesson taught by this book, is that whether you are gay, straight, bi, trans or any other shade of the rainbow, you can make a difference. Your voice might be the only ray of sunshine in a life that has become dark and suffocating. Your actions might literally be the difference between life or death. Join alliances, clubs and societies, provide a safe space in schools and colleges, report bullying, and most of all let people who are suffering know they are not alone.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Harmony Ink

Amazon