Things I'm Seeing Without You

By: Peter Bognanni

Narrated by: Emma Galvin

Equal parts heartbreaking, funny, and life-affirming, this is a story about love after the most profound loss, for fans of Jesse Andrews, Rainbow Rowell, and Jennifer Niven.

"Required reading." --John Corey Whaley, winner of the Printz Award

Seventeen-year-old Tess Fowler has dropped out of high school, tossed her laptop in a freezing lake, then jumped in after it fully clothed. Why? Because Jonah was the boy she knew only through texts and emails but understood to his very core. Jonah was the only boy she’d told she loved and the only boy to say it back. And Jonah was the boy whose suicide she never saw coming.

Jonah’s death has sent Tess pinwheeling into grief and confusion. But even though he’s gone, Tess still writes to him. She wants answers to the yawning chasm of questions that’s become her life. At the same time, she’s trying to find solace in her father’s alternative funeral business. Who knew that arranging last rites for prized pets could be so life-affirming? But love, loss, and life are so much more complicated than Tess ever thought . . . especially after she receives a message that turns her already inside-out world totally upside down.

As funny as it is heartbreaking and completely unputdownable, Things I’m Seeing Without You shows us what it means to love someone, to lose someone, to wade through the beautiful/strange agony of the aftermath, and somehow love again.

"Sometimes hilarious, always affecting." --VOYA
"Nails the messiness of grief." --SLJ
"Compelling . . . a draw for fans of Nicola Yoon." --BCCB

Critic reviews

"Required reading for anyone who’s ever loved or lost someone...but especially both."
–John Corey Whaley, National Book Award finalist and winner of the Printz Award

"Bognanni nails the messiness of grief...The book will satisfy readers of realistic fiction with its dark humor, optimistic outcome, and thoughtful exploration of grief and family dynamics."–School Library Journal

"A compelling mix of romance and soul-searching, this will be a draw for fans of Nicola Yoon."–Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"An original, well-told story that ties together strands of love, loss, and coming of age. Readers will not want to put down this sometimes hilarious, always affecting novel."–VOYA

I'm perplexed

The story was good. Plot, characters, and "wait? what?" factor was well thought out. My heart was stolen by both main characters. Then, all of a sudden, they took my stolen heart, threw it on the ground, and killed it with one blow.
Mr. Bognanni, did you run out of ideas and suddenly decide the book had to end? I understand, to a degree, that being an artist of words can be difficult. Especially when you're putting those words together to form a novel. However, do not write a story that makes your readers laugh and cry amongst many other emotions and then flop the ending off a cliff. I say this with the upmost respect as I could not write a book if someone offered me millions to do so.

Fantastic quick read

I originally bought this book because I liked the cover but the story behind the cover was oh so good! I laughed and cried and then laughed until I cried it's a really really great book!