The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver
- Publisher: PUSH
- Release Date: June 1, 2021
- Genre: Young Adult
- Page Count: 235 pages
preorder links on author’s website! | content warnings on author’s website | author’s playlist on Spotify
Hi, I am Hsinju (she/they/他), a queer Taiwanese book reviewer and blogger currently residing in Illinois. Today (May 26th, 2021) is the first day of Hear Our Voices Book Tours for Mason Deaver’s sophomore novel The Ghosts We Keep, a story about the nonbinary, gay 16-year-old Liam “Lee” Cooper (he/they) struggling with the death of their older brother Ethan.
Contents
Synopsis
When Liam Cooper’s older brother Ethan is killed in a hit-and-run, Liam has to not only learn to face the world without one of the people he loved the most, but also face the fading relationship with his two best friends.
Feeling more alone and isolated than ever, Liam finds themself sharing time with Marcus, Ethan’s best friend, and through Marcus, Liam finds the one person that seems to know exactly what they’re going through, for the better, and the worse.
This book is about grief. But it’s also about why we live. Why we have to keep moving on, and why we should.
Theme Analysis
The main theme of The Ghosts We Keep is grief, and here I analyze other elements of the story that has grief threaded within.
The book opened with Liam working at a froyo shop right after Ethan’s death, so the aspect of food immediately came to my attention. As the story develops, we get some scenes from right after the funeral where family friends keep sending food as condolences to the Coopers, who are now a family of three, and they end up having so much food they need to give some to Liam’s Nana. This is food as something meant for comfort, and yet—like all those empty but well-meaning “how are you feeling” greetings—a burden when excessive. But there is also no doubt how food is a love language, too, especially when Liam and their father go to diner as their alone time later in the book.
Then there is music. Liam creates music. He plays the piano and writes songs and so does his best friend Vanessa. It is something they shared. But very early in the story, we also learned that Liam was wearing a Dear Evan Hansen T-shirt when they found their brother’s body. It is a bond Liam shared with Ethan. And the fact that this story dealt with death and some misguided actions of angry, sad, and frustrated teens, it mirrors a lot of the main idea of the musical Dear Evan Hansen, where Evan, who struggles with social anxiety, becomes a celebrity when he decides to fake a friendship with the dead boy Connor who he doesn’t really know, and everything blows up from there. Both the book and the musical share the theme of grief and messy teens doing what they think are right. Also, both Evan and Liam relearn familial love through the process of hurting, being hurt, and becoming better people.
Review
Even if you’d never been through the teenage rebellion phase, you must know someone who had. In Deaver’s The Ghosts We Keep, we have a full cast of queer high schoolers who aren’t happy and nice. They are teens with all the messiness of trying to understand themselves, each other, and the world.
Liam “Lee” Cooper (16, nonbinary, gay, he/him/they/them) lost their brother Ethan, who was the star baseball player of the high school, to a car accident. Their parents are dealing with the loss of a son, their best friends Vanessa (bi, Black?) and Joel (bi, trans, Vietnamese) are dating, and Liam feels left out all the time, which leads them to hang out with Ethan’s best friend and teammate Marcus. But Liam never expects to learn more about his brother, himself, and everyone around him.
The title of the book is The Ghosts We Keep. There are many ghosts in the story, none of them in the paranormal sense. The ghost of Ethan’s legacy, Marcus’ secret, Liam’s undiagnosed depression, etc. A lot of things are going on internally for Liam, but they don’t really understand them. Liam lashes out at his parents and friends’ and brother’s friend, but we get that his self-defense mechanism when feeling hurt is to hurt others instead.
Almost all characters are struggling with Ethan’s death, the Coopers, Marcus, and peripherally, Vanessa and Joel. They don’t always make the best decisions when dealing with emotions and we feel the intensity of their struggles. There is no romance involving Liam in The Ghosts We Keep, but there are other romances in the story.
As someone who uses both she/her and they/them pronouns (and don’t really mind any other pronouns), it is wonderful to see Liam using both he/him and they/them pronouns! I also appreciate that almost all the secondary characters (sans the parents) are queer, with at least one transguy, two bi teens, and one gay guy on top of Liam being gay and enby. The story is set in a town in North Carolina and there are religious ceremonies, with little to no homophobia (there is some unintentional misgendering though), so that was refreshing to see as well.
Queer teens in books are almost never allowed to err, but Deaver’s The Ghosts We Keep is messy and heavy and not pretty, and I like the candid representations of these high school students who are far from perfect. Despite the restless and sad atmosphere of the book, it ends on a hopeful note of learning how to move on while keeping the memory of the deceased.
content warnings: grief, death of sibling, misgendering, suicidal thoughts, self harm, PTSD, depression, ageism
About the Author
Born and raised in a small North Carolina town, Mason Deaver is an award-nominated, bestselling author and designer living in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Besides writing, they’re an active fan of horror movies and video games. As you can see from the photo on the right, they’re a big fan of plants as well.
Instagram @mason_deaver | website masondeaverwrites.com
Tour Schedule
- May 26
- Of.books.and.bone – Review
- Melaniereadsbooks – Book Recs
- Midnightbooklover – Review
- Artiecarden – Reading Vlog
- Hsinjulit – Theme Analysis
- May 27
- Rainbow Reader – Journal Spread
- Melancholic Blithe – Playlist
- Booksnkoffee – Original Quiz
- Kagunderman – Blog Interview
- May 28
- Kathy Trithardt – Reading Vlog
- Bryanhoardsbooks – Playlist
- Chaibooksandthemoon – Dream Cast
- Jrundy – Blog Interview
- May 29
- Paperbackwishes – Review
- Emmm_reads – Book Recs
- Thepetitepunk – Favorite Quotes
- Rampant_Reading – Reflection
- Quirkybibliophile – Fan Art
- May 30
- SaltyBadgerBooks – 15 Thoughts While Reading
- FinithaJose – Favorite Quotes
- Dineaesthetics – Tiktok Review
- Readerinthedxrk – Look Book
- May 31
- Honorary Trickster – Reflection
- Siobhán – Journal Spread
- Thepictureofashjayy – Blog Interview
- June 1
- Quills and Stardust – Blog Interview
- Lu is lost in books – Favorite Quotes
- Cracked Spines – Reflection + Graphics
- Sagarific – Video Book Review
For more of my reviews and other whatnots, follow my blog, Twitter, Instagram, and friend me on Goodreads.
3 Comments
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dianthaa
Great review Hsinju, I loved your thoughts about the themes
saima @ storieswithsaima
This was such a wonderful review, hsinju! I adored Deaver’s debut novel and I’m so excited to read another book by them!