When I Am Through with You by Stephanie Kuehn
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: August 1, 2017
Date Read: August 2, 2017
Length: 304 pages
Source: First to Read
★★★★☆
“This isn’t meant to be a confession. Not in any spiritual sense of the word. Yes, I’m in jail at the moment. I imagine I’ll be here for a long time, considering. But I’m not writing this down for absolution and I’m not seeking forgiveness, not even from myself. Because I’m not sorry for what I did to Rose. I’m just not. Not for any of it.”
Ben Gibson is many things, but he’s not sorry and he’s not a liar. He will tell you exactly about what happened on what started as a simple school camping trip in the mountains. About who lived and who died. About who killed and who had the best of intentions. But he’s going to tell you in his own time. Because after what happened on that mountain, time is the one thing he has plenty of.
I liked this book a lot. The story grabbed me right away and I was completely hooked. This is the first time that I have read anything by Stephanie Kuehn but I quickly found that she is a fabulous storyteller. I ended up reading this book over two nights and really never wanted to put it down because I had to know what happened. I had a lot of fun reading this book.
This story is told by Ben. I really liked the way the story unfolded through Ben’s recollection after the event. From the book’s summary, we know that Ben does something to Rose but as I read the story I just couldn’t figure it out. Ben is really a likeable guy. He’s not perfect and doesn’t always know the answers but I just couldn’t see him causing harm to anyone. So I had to keep reading to find out what really happened.
The book takes Ben, his teacher, and a few more high school students on an overnight hiking trip. I was a little surprised by how much this group of kids got away with on the trip. Ben is the teacher’s assistant for the trip so he has a bit of responsibility but he doesn’t hesitate to have a little fun himself. There is a bit of high school drama which I really didn’t mind in this story. It felt realistic and really helped show who each of the characters really were.
There are a few surprising twists in the story and a whole lot of excitement before everything is over. I really had no idea what was going to happen to everyone as the story moved along. I ended up feeling for these kids as they tried to figure out how to handle the situation they found themselves in.
I would recommend this book to others. It was a really exciting story that was really hard to put down. I definitely plan to read more of Stephanie Kuehn’s work in the future.
I received an advance reader edition of this book from Dutton Books for Young Readers via First to Read.
About the AuthorStephanie Kuehn is a psychologist and author. Her first novel, Charm & Strange, won the American Library Association’s William C. Morris Award for best debut novel in 2014. Her novel The Smaller Evil won the PEN/Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. She is the author of two other critically acclaimed YA novels.
This sounds good. I am glaf you enjoyed it.
I had a lot of fun with it.
I'm picking this one up soon. I read a book by the author last year and I didn't care for it much. However, this one sounds like it will interest me more I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
This was my first time reading this author and I enjoyed it. I hope you have luck with it.
I’ve read one of Stephanie Kuehn’s other books and found it . . . confusing. I still want to read this one, though. I’m glad you liked it.
Aj @ Read All The Things!
I liked this one quite a lot. I hope to read more of her work.
The infamous camping trip scenario. Love those. Oh, I do like how the blurb drew me in and what you are saying about Ben and the others. I'll have to watch for this one.
I know I won't be signing any permission slips for my daughter to go camping with school anytime soon.
Now why are they all standing there
Its quite the cover isn't it?
Gosh, that title sounds ominous!
It does doesn't it!
I've been really looking forward to reading this one so I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! I think it's really interesting that the story is told with us slightly knowing the conclusion but not the whys of it. Great review!
Lauren @ Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf
There was a lot of suspense despite knowing how it would end. I hope you enjoy it if you get the chance to read it.
This sounds great. I like that it held your attention and that you were kept in suspense.
It definitely kept me turning the pages.
I just won this book from a giveaway recently and I can't wait to check it out. It sounds so good and I've seen nothing but good reviews for it so far. Glad to see you enjoyed it. Great review!
I hope you enjoy it, Julie! I was really surprised by how quickly it hooked me.
I am glad to hear you liked this one, Carole. It has been on my radar. I'm dying to know what happened!
I had to know what happened too! So much so that I had a hard time putting the book down.
This sounds like an interesting twist on the regular camping trips are a terrible idea plot! I'm curious about what this is all about. It sounds like a good read!
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it!
Nice to have a couple twists and not see them all coming. Man that cover makes my palms sweat. lol
The cover does look a bit creepy doesn't it?
I'm so glad to see you liked this! I can't wait to give it a read!
It was really a page turner for me.
I have actually heard quite a bit about this novel now and while it did sound interesting I passed on my chance to read and review it because of being abroad and my blog being in a temporarily not too present state. But I kind of want to read it because everyone seems to love it and it sounds like the perfect amount of mystery for me.
Sometimes it can be hard to read everything you want just because it is hard to fit it into your schedule. Maybe you can get to it when you have more time.