Download PDF The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried Shaun David Hutchinson Books

Product details Hardcover 304 pages Publisher Simon Pulse (February 19, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1481498576

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried Shaun David Hutchinson Books Reviews

• Third book I've read by the author and they continue to be great reads.
  Couldn't put it down once I started and by the end made me reflect on past and current friendships.
• I absolutely loved this book.
• This is a perfect example of having all the right ingredients but the mix failing to gel. Hutchinson, best-selling author of We Are The Ants, gives us the story of Dino, the gay son in a family of morticians who silently rebels against the expectation that he will join the business given his talent for applying make-up to corpses. As the novel begins, we learn that his former best friend July, with whom he had a falling-out a year before, has died of a brain aneurysm at age 17. The night before the funeral, Dino decides to work on her make-up and is shocked when she comes back to life. It is mentioned frequently that she isn’t a zombie but non-dead.
  
  As Dino and July struggle to understand the reason for her resurrection and the concurrent worldwide suspension of death, the story gets bogged down with gross-out descriptions of decomposition, their toxic friendship and caustic humor, Dino’s confusion about his relationship with Rafi, his transgender boyfriend, and July’s unpleasant personality and insensitive jokes about the LGBTQ community. Comments like “I don’t tell you how to gay; don’t tell me how to act” and “I mean, what’s the point of being gay if you’re not going to be in theater” make the friendship between them seem really implausible.
  
  The plot is solid enough to keep the momentum going, but the underdeveloped characters and their inability to honestly communicate the reasons and responsibilities for the dissolution of their long-time friendship make it a frustrating read. More focus on the development of the relationship between Dino and Rafi and an acknowledgment that sometimes, when people grow and change, friendships fall apart might have made the story more compelling. Although some younger teens would appreciate the disgusting zombie humor, I wouldn’t buy this for our school library.
• The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried follows Dino who's family owns a funeral home and as a result he has to take care of an ex-best friend named July who died recently. Although she is supposed to be dead, weird things begin to happen and now that she is up and moving no one is dying like they should.
  
  The cover and synopsis pulled me in but the story fell short. Although the plot was interesting and unique, the characters were flat and the friendship between Dino and July didn't really seem like much since they hadn't been friends for awhile and seemed to have moved on before her death. I am sure the author had a point in a lot of the death talk since their was a significant scene but it was lost since I felt no connection towards the characters.
  
  The book is also filled with a lot of fart jokes, rotting flesh smells, and just weird disgusting things decaying bodies do. I am sure others would find these things to be hilarious but I am not one of those people.
  
  It may have fallen short in numerous areas but the relationship between Rafi and Dino was cute even if their characters lacked a bit of development. Overall, it just wasn't for me but I am sure others will love what this book offers.
  
  (I received a digital copy from the publisher. All opinions are my own.)
• Since Dino’s parents own a funeral home, he doesn’t really mind spending time around dead bodies. It’s just a normal fact of life. But when his ex-best friend, July, comes back to life as he’s prepping her body for her funeral, things start to get a little weird. She’s not really dead, but she’s not really alive, and it’s having an effect on death everywhere else.
  
  As they start working on the mystery of July’s current state, July and Dino have to figure out why their friendship really ended. But doing so means exploring some pretty painful things of the past, and realizing that neither of them really had the whole picture.
  
  I was so, so happy to get an advanced copy of this book! Shaun David Hutchinson has probably become one of my favorite authors, and so far, my favorite book of his is The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza. The Past and Other Things that Should Stay Buried hasn’t surpassed it to become my favorite, but it was still a masterpiece of its own accord.
  
  One of the things that I love most Hutchinson’s works is the way that they often examine friendships. This book in particular did this best, as July and Dino try to figure out why they stopped being friends. The reality is that it took July’s death in order for them to make amends, which is something that happens all too often in real life. We get the good, the bad, and the ugly of teenage friendships, and everything about July and Dino’s relationship feels real. Well, except for the fact that July is not-dead.
  
  The emotions are also a strong aspect of this book. We feel Dino’s love for Rafi; we feel his anxiety about not being good enough, we feel his frustration with July. And through July’s chapters, we’re able to get the other side of the story. We feel July’s frustration with Dino; her struggles with accepting that she’s died; her sadness at not getting to do the things she wants to do. The emotions are what carry you through the story, and their not emotions that are unique to just teens; they’re emotions that everyone can relate to.
  
  While I related to the emotions in the story, the main reason this wasn’t pushed ahead of Elena Mendoza is because I related to her a bit more. The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried is a bit more subdued than that, but still 100% enjoyable.
  
  Hutchinson’s book will take you on a weird, wild ride that you won’t want to put down until it’s done. And even then, you’ll probably want to go back and read it again.