Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley

1047 Words3 Pages

What make a novel good? If a novel has important insights, it is worth reading. Therefore, the novel Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley is a good novel. Firstly, the novel talks about how loss is unavoidable in life. Secondly, it shares a variety of insights on hope. Lastly, the novel shares insights on the journey of life. The novel, Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley, shares important insights about loss, hope, and journey.
To begin, this novel is good because it shares important insights about loss and how it inevitable in life with the death of Oslo, the disappearance of Gabriel, and the ending of Cullen and Taylor. Firstly, life has a funny way of stealing the things people love with death. This example of loss can be seen with the death of Oslo. The main character Cullen Witter loses his cousin, Oslo Foukes. Despite the fact that everyone is grieving, that Cullen’s Aunt Julia is rambling “on and on about wanting to die (Whaley4),” none of that will bring Oslo back. This shows that death is part of life and that no one can escape it. It shows that eventually, all things are lost, which is just life, and people cannot do anything about it. Secondly, no matter how great life seems to be going for someone, no matter how much it seems that the path of life is smooth for someone, loss is always there waiting to ruin someone’s life. This is easily seen in the novel with the disappearance of Gabriel. Before Gabriel Witter inexplicably disappears, Gabriel’s older brother, Cullen, had a life that seemed to be going great. Cullen and his brother always got along. Although Cullen didn’t have many friends, he did have Lucas, his best friend, and he was happy with just that. Furthermore, Cullen’s family was doing well f...

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...rney called life is only meaningful if there is a destination and if people reach it. The readers can clearly see that life is a road to anywhere that people make it through John Barling’s obsession with the Lazarus, Cabot’s questions, and Cullen’s thoughts.
Where Thing’s Come Back by John Corey Whaley, shares important insights on journey, hope, loss. The novel talks about how life is not a destination but a road to one, through John Barling, Cabot Searcy, and Cullen Witter. The novel also talks about a variety of insights on hope through Cabot Searcy, Lucas Cader, and Gabriel Witter’s family. The novel talks about how loss is a part of life and always crosses anyone who travels life through Oslo Foukes, Gabriel Witter, and Cullen Witter and Ada Taylor. What makes a novel good, depends on a variety of things. However, it helps if the novel has important insights.

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