The story’s reverse chronology begins when time and tragedy have distanced the friends and concludes when they are in high school, relying heavily on each other for solace as they navigate their families, their futures, their budding sexual desires, and their own relationships. While readers may initially have to work to catch up with fifty years of history, the story’s backwards progression offers a gradual but compelling initiation into the group by steadily unraveling the friends’ shared experiences and uncovering the roots of their complicated bonds.

Stout also seamlessly weaves together the story's narrators as chapters alternate among the friends’ points of view (adult-Adie’s cryptic reference to an incident involving Jude’s mother’s car is eventually explained by high school-Breck). Their distinct but overlapping perspectives offer deep insight into each character and a multifaceted lens on their network of relationships, with Sebastian at its center. While he is the group’s guiding light, he is more than just a symbol, struggling with his family’s alcoholism, his sexuality, and his own mortality. Darker themes like sexual abuse, illness and death feature prominently, but they are handled with sincerity and empathy, and are balanced by Stout’s strong feel for exuberant teenage antics, plus her gentle emphasis on the hidden value of our connections.

Takeaway: Compassionate, unflinching look at deep friendships through life.

Comparable Titles: Kristin Hannah; J. Courtney Sullivan’s Commencement.

Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-