Trigger warnings: This story follows a kid who works at a funeral home and his observations of funerals, so death is a pretty prevalent theme. There's also alcoholism and gun violence.
Synopsis: Just when seventeen-year-old Matt thinks he can’t handle one more piece of terrible news, he meets a girl who’s dealt with a lot more—and who just might be able to clue him in on how to rise up when life keeps knocking him down—in this wry, gritty novel from the author of When I Was the Greatest.
Matt wears a black suit every day. No, not because his mom died—although she did, and it sucks. But he wears the suit for his gig at the local funeral home, which pays way better than the Cluck Bucket, and he needs the income since his dad can’t handle the bills (or anything, really) on his own. So while Dad’s snagging bottles of whiskey, Matt’s snagging fifteen bucks an hour. Not bad. But everything else? Not good. Then Matt meets Lovey. She’s got a crazy name, and she’s been through more crazy than he can imagine. Yet Lovey never cries. She’s tough. Really tough. Tough in the way Matt wishes he could be. Which is maybe why he’s drawn to her, and definitely why he can’t seem to shake her. Because there’s nothing more hopeful than finding a person who understands your loneliness—and who can maybe even help take it away.
Review: This is only the second book I've read of Jason Reynolds' but I can already tell he's incredibly talented. We follow Matt after the loss of his mom and he is in search of a part-time job. He finds employment at a local funeral home. We see Matt work through the loss of his mom, his dad's fall into alcoholism, and pressures of new love all while he's working at the funeral home. I liked that Matt wanted to go to funerals, because I think it did a great job of showing how different funerals are. While I was reading this, I couldn't help but wish I had this book in my life when my dad passed away. It does a really good job of showing that death, funerals, and grieving takes many different forms. There isn't a cookie-cutter way to deal with death. Matt is also hit with the sad reality that there isn't a certain age where everyone just dies. He attends funerals of people much older than him and people just a couple years above him. I will say, there were a couple moments in the story that seemed like Matt got off from some of the funerals he attended. I think I understand his mindset of going to the funerals, but there were still some weird moments.
While the book focused mostly on Matt's time with funerals and dealing with grief, it does a great job of shedding light on other issues. We see the very different ways Matt and his father handle grief and this brings up alcoholism. The romance in The Boy in the Black Suit was also solid. The progression of Matt and Love's relationship felt genuine and neither of them used the other as a crutch for their grief. If I were to add one thing to this book, I wish we had a few more scenes about Matt and his dad so we can get a better idea of their distance from one another. We do see Matt gravitate towards Mr. Ray as if he's a father figure which definitely helps. Still, this was a fantastic book.
Wonderful story about a kid understanding grief and love while he works at a funeral home.
5 howls
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