The People We Keep

Sometimes I need a breather between dense and heavy books, but I require an honest, organic voice when a narrator is also the main character. April Sawicki is that gal, a 16 year-old high school dropout from a bad parenting family but with good people skills of her own. Plus, she has guitar and songwriting talent. Her journey away from her hometown of Little River, New York starts in mid-1994 in Ithaca, where she finds her groove and independence, and makes her first female friend. The ties she cut in Little River prepares her to know the difference between authentic people and the phony ones. Her path is a little bit zig-zaggy, and there are certainly tears shed along the way, but each experience adds to her maturity and song writing as she captures her feelings and learns more about the people and places around her. April is brave and vulnerable, loving/passionate but afraid of settling for something less than her desire for accomplishment, as well as a bit commitment-phobic. She’s too young to settle down. The lifestyle of vagabond (ish)-musician suits her, and the story of her adventures is irresistible. It’s about coming into her own.“I feel like I am actually here. Like someone dropped my mind into my body and it’s a shock to the system. I think maybe they were only walking side by side before this and now we are here together, both parts of me.” April demonstrates keen insights, which both protect her and keep her moving along. There are definite snags along the way, as she meets people, reaches out, attaches and detaches. Some are people she never sees again, but others are the people she wants to keep around. She accumulates and sheds, and along the way she captivates almost everyone she meets. As reader, you become her biggest fan, or you become April! I swung from one to the other. When I wasn’t rooting for April, I WAS April. That’s how finely tuned her character was written. Like she popped out of the pages into my life. Yes, we all could use a little April in our lives.

TW: If you are healing from trauma caused by family neglect, abandonment and/or abuse, or homelessness, this may not be the book for you.Ugh. I want to love this book. Was I drawn in by the story? Absolutely. Would I read it again? Probably not. There’s a lot of heartbreak in this book, for the characters AND the reader. Almost too much. I mourned for the main character for the entirety of the book. I mourned for the real children, teens, young adults in our world who live this as their reality.The book is an easy read in the sense that the story is easy to follow and vocabulary is common. But if you struggle with depression, anxiety, or any of the TWs from above, this might be a difficult read. It was for me.

This book is crazy sad. I think from the beginning all the way to the end— April’s life is something like a horror show you’re watching unfold. My perspective a mental health therapist maybe makes me particularly sensitive but April really was a victim of her circumstances, and there were no systems in place to help her. Even at the end, the culmination of this distressing novel, I don’t know if she has finally crossed the threshold into survivorship because it is only because of her circumstances as a continued victim that she is in the position she’s in at the end.This book is heartbreaking in every way. I didn’t want to like it and honestly if Larkin hadn’t tied it up the way she did at the end, I still wouldn’t have. April’s character makes me want to grieve all the children like her who really don’t have a chance unless someone makes a point to grab her, help her, and refuse to let her go.

there were some things i would’ve changed, however, after getting through the slow beginning it was pretty good. keep pushing through, it gets better

This book sheds light on what often happens to kids when they raise themselves . While I was invested In her struggles , there were simply too many people she makes genuine connections with to make any of them seem plausible.

Though this book started a little slow and could make a reader wonder where it was heading, the journey and story that take over do pull a reader in! I was able to take on April's emotions and feel as if I was living her experiences, even crying from the sadness and pain she felt at certain points throughout the story. The ending was a happy and satisfying one (though I wouldn't be opposed to a sequel).

Wow!!! I really enjoyed this book from start to finish, it was well written! I loved April, I disliked her at time and I was so sad for her at other time. This book runs the gambit of emotions and I think the reality of it is what makes it good. Of course we are not all traveling musicians but we all meet various people in different phases of our life some we keep and some we have to let go to show that we have learned and we have grown. We don’t always chose who and how we meet but we can decide who we get to keep.

I loved this. The story is compelling, but the way the characters came to life was profound. A Beautiful read .

Satisfactory book shaped book. With a cover and some pages. The words are printed on the pages, and they form a story.Story is good. Will recommend to any woman who I think wants to cry.

This book will break your heart before it will put it back together again. I loved it. The way all of the book came together so beautifully right when you think it’ll be a tragic ending.

I cried near the end. I felt like this book could be a true story. That there are people out there just like April. That people enter your life and are meant to be there forever

A book to have.April is such a great girl. She is 16 and she is alone. She never has a feeling to belong ti somone or somewhere. She has the feeling noone would miss her. And here she get me with whole my heart. She is also a musician and such sensitive person. She travels and never settles couse she in convinced is better for her to left everybody so they will not get hurt. Yes she does wrong decisions, but she is so young. We have to learn living. She see and feel more of wrong and good in the world that someone even in a lifetime does not. I never leave her."We have people we get to keep, who won’t ever let us go. And that’s the most important part."

I don’t think it’s normal, you can see the pictures. It’s expensive but the book papers is so rough and badly made.