All We Can Do Is Wait

by Richard Lawson

Overview

Debut author and Vanity Fair film critic Richard Lawson makes your heart stop and time stand still in his extraordinary and life-affirming novel that's perfect for fans of If I Stay and We All Looked Up.

In the hours after a bridge collapse rocks their city, a group of Boston teenagers meet in the waiting room of Massachusetts General Hospital:

Siblings Jason and Alexa have already experienced enough grief for a lifetime, so in this moment of confusion and despair, Alexa hopes that she can look to her brother for support. But a secret Jason has been keeping from his sister threatens to tear the siblings apart...right when they need each other most.

Scott is waiting to hear about his girlfriend, Aimee, who was on a bus with her theater group when the bridge went down. Their relationship has been rocky, but Scott knows that if he can just see Aimee one more time, if she can just make it through this ordeal and he can tell her he loves her, everything will be all right.

And then there's Skyler, whose sister Kate—the sister who is more like a mother, the sister who is basically Skyler's everything—was crossing the bridge when it collapsed. As the minutes tick by without a word from the hospital staff, Skyler is left to wonder how she can possibly move through life without the one person who makes her feel strong when she's at her weakest.

In his riveting, achingly beautiful debut, Richard Lawson guides readers through an emotional and life-changing night as these teens are forced to face the reality of their pasts...and the prospect of very different futures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780448494111
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	02/06/2018
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.50(h) x 3.00(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Richard Lawson is the film critic for Vanity Fair and a co-host of V.F.'s Little Gold Men podcast. He has written for The Guardian, The Atlantic Wire, Gawker, and Out magazine, and has contributed to the Dinner Party Download radio show. Though currently living in New York City, Richard was born and raised in Boston.

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Prologue
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "All We Can Do Is Wait"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Richard Lawson.
Excerpted by permission of Penguin Young Readers Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

★ 11/27/2017
Lawson’s empathetic, wrenching debut zeroes in on five teenagers from various demographics and family situations, who meet in the waiting room at Boston General Hospital, seeking news about whether their loved ones survived a bridge collapse. Chapters shift among Lawson’s complex and carefully drawn characters, offering distinct points of view and providing aching insight into the personal pain that colors their perspectives. For Alexa, a wealthy high achiever, the accident triggers guilt and rekindles an old grief; her brother, Jason—stoned, closeted, and miserable—suffers with guilt and grief of his own. Skyler, of Cambodian heritage, fears facing the world without her strong, dependable sister, and working-class Scott waits for information about the girl he loves. Meanwhile, Morgan deals with a private tragedy while the world focuses on the public catastrophe. Debut novelist Lawson, formerly of Gawker and current film critic at Vanity Fair, builds suspense as readers learn information the characters don’t know, while twists and revelations about the teenagers’ motivations for coming to the hospital result in a gripping and emotionally invigorating story. Ages 12–up. Agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2018
Gr 9 Up—Relationships built out of a common tragedy are not uncommon, and this is the boat that teens Jason, and Alexa, Scott, and Skyler are in. They meet in the waiting room at Boston General Hospital after a terrible disaster, and are anxiously awaiting any news about their loved ones. After a storybook summer on the Cape, siblings Jason and Alexa are now more distant than ever. Scott is waiting to hear about his on-and-off girlfriend Aimee, because while their relationship is tumultuous, he is sure they have a future. The last thing Skyler needs in her life is for her sister, Kate, to be in trouble. Kate is Skyler's support system, especially lately. Skyler needs Kate's strength, but Skyler might have more strength than she realizes. Together along with another teen, Morgan, they meet and learn more about one another in a few hours than some people share in a lifetime. Hospitals are great equalizers, and in this novel, the waiting room is an ideal setting for flashbacks and world-building. The teens' individual stories are written well, and the city of Boston is almost another character. The protagonists are realistic, their actions are sympathetic and believable. The ending lacks closure but accurately represents the nature of relationships based on circumstance. VERDICT A solid debut, purchase and recommend to teens wanting a fast and enjoyable reading experience.—Morgan Brickey, Arlington Public Library, TX

School Library Journal

2017-11-13
A lot can happen in the hospital waiting room in the wake of a tragedy.When Boston's Tobin Bridge collapses into the Mystic River, it takes nearly 200 drivers and passengers with it. A third-person omniscient narrator alternates through the perspectives of five teen characters—strangers who are connected to the victims—as they wait with hundreds of others at the hospital for news about the incident. Siblings Jason and Alexa are "well-to-do New England WASPs" from Back Bay whose lives have already been transformed after the death of a close friend—closeted Jason's secret boyfriend. Cambodian-American Skyler, who is raised by her grandparents, is mixed up in an abusive relationship with an upperclassman. Scott and Morgan, who are both white, have their own secret back stories. Vanity Fair film critic Lawson's teen fiction debut is a careful exploration of the rippling effects of tragedy. Alternating viewpoints give multiple sides of the same story, while flashbacks give the important contexts of the characters' lives before the accident. Boston-savvy readers will know and appreciate all the local references. But the promising premise doesn't quite deliver and is spoiled by a too-tidy conclusion. Patient readers will fall for the characters; others will wonder if it's worth the wait—even with lives on the line. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews

"Chapters shift among Lawson’s complex and carefully drawn characters, offering distinct points of view and providing aching insight into the personal pain that colors their perspectives....a gripping and emotionally invigorating story." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A remarkable story that explores growing up through the lens of mortality...Young readers looking for a change of pace will be rewarded by this quiet yet powerful meditation on life and death." —Booklist

"A captivating example of what contemporary realistic fiction does best." —VOYA

"Moving, heartbreaking, hopeful, and touched with humor and insight into teen lives, this story will ring true and give readers pause." —School Library Connection 

“A gorgeous, elegantly spare story about the genealogy of love and connection in a moment of crisis. Timely and stirring.” —Jeff Zentner, Morris Award-winning author of The Serpent King and Goodbye Days
 
“A profound and empathic story about love, loss, and growing up, All We Can Do Is Wait captures both the magic and uncertainty of youth in all its beautiful and triumphant sadness. I wish I'd had it when I was young.” —Sam Lansky, author of The Gilded Razor

"Tender-hearted, clear-eyed, full of the rage and wonder of youth, this novel does the dazzling work of bridging that delicate suspense between adolescence and adulthood. You will be moved beyond measure." —Amber Dermont, New York Times bestselling author of The Starboard Sea
 
“All We Can Do Is Wait sparkles with wit and tenderness as it takes us on a mysterious and unexpected journey to the place where grief and longing meet. Lawson's characters are heartbreakingly human—sharp edges and all—and readers new to his work are sure to come away as fans.” —Bennett Madison, author of September Girls

From the Publisher