Remembering the Good Times

Reader reviewed by Morgan J


I really enjoyed reading the book, Remembering the Good Times. The story really taught me things about friendship. One of them is never, letting school work get you too much. I mean yes it is very important to do but if you get one bad grade there is always time to do your best again. Trav one of the characters in this heartfelt story had a very huge problem with everything always having to be perfect. Travs parents are very perfect people. Kate and Buck get really worried about him always letting himself down for things that he didnt have to stress about.

This story taught me that to be a good friend you have to stay by their side trough thick and thin. Like Kate and Buck did with Trav. Whatever Trav did his friends were there for him. I just wish that Trav wouldnt have been such a perfectionist about everything. I didnt even seem like he wanted to just be a teenager and have fun.

When Trav took his life it reminded me of my friends dad. You see my friends dad had depression and doubt like Trav did. So thats how I connected with the story. When Trav and kate found out about Trav I really could imagine their feelings and questions. My friends dad took his life this past summer and having your best friend call you and tell you something like that just breaks your heart. In this case I never even knew her dad so it was even harder to say good bye to a man I never seen.

This book taught me to always except you for who you are. Know and that to always treat people with a lot of respect because people always need someone to brighten up their day. So always say compliments to others so that they know that you at least like them in some kind of way. To you it may be weird but for someone else it can make the biggest difference. Always try to make someone else happy.

By: Morgan Johnson
Period 6

Reader reviewed by Katie R.

Bravo! 3.5 star story. This story was a story that made you want to read on to see what would happen next. The friends were a very unlikely trio. I think that this shows that even if you are best friends with someone, you might not exactly know what is going on in that persons mind. The characters in the story are so different thats it strange that they are even friends. Some things in the story that kind of confused me was when Skeeter was beaten up by the teachers caring husband. I liked the part in the story when you had to wait and see what was going to happen. It made me want to read the next chapter! Some parts in the story were very, very, random! Yet, other parts were sad. For example, the two deaths were very sad. I cannot believe that the Scotty died! And then later, when Travis got back from his trip to Iowa, I was kind of suspicious about how he was giving his old, and very close items away! I thought that something strange would be coming up. If I were Kate and Buck, when they had to go to Kates house during school, I thought maybe it was Polly who had died, but I was wrong! It was about Travis. I also felt bad for Traviss parents, who were mostly blamed for Travis feeling the way he did, which was not entirely the parents fault. I think this story is an overall okay story, and I recommend it to people who do not have a problem with suicide, and people that think they would like the story from reading this review, even though I do not exactly like this story. ENCORE! :]

Reader reviewed by Amanda B.

Personally I did not like this book. The topic it is on bothers me, seeing as I do not like discussing or reading about suicide. I really hated this book and though it was stupid on many levels. The only part I remotely liked was the poem Trav writes for Kate. Though everything else to me was pointless, and I saw no point in reading this book. It was awfully annoying and I hated it very very much! Here is the one, I repeat ONE part I liked:
The days of winter enter in,
The darkness nibbles at the days,
The heavy clouds pull down the sky,
The first deep snowfall stays, and grays.

Too long to wait for springtime now,
Here in this cold and darkening room,
Only time for remembering
The pear trees are in bloom.

Besides that I thought that it was very stupid and annoying. I did not like it because it talked about suicide and I thought it was pointless. I also thought it was stupid how Trav and Buck sort of had a secret fight over Kate. A basic summary of this story is that Buck and Kate meet in the orchard. Then after they started school they met Trav. Then a few years later Trav kills himself. The only interesting part of him commit suicide was he did it in his and Kates clearing in the orchard. I thought this book would have been better but it really is not. I would NOT recommend Remembering the Good Times to anybody I know. All-in-all I hated this stupid pointless book.

Reader reviewed by alan h

I disliked the book remembering the good times because I couldnt get into the book. It would have been better if the friends would have more arguments and a fight about who has a better grade or who has a better life like Trav did. The beginning of the story wasnt very interesting either. It could have started out at a school or a gas station. A good example would be that buck was walking threw school not paying attention to what he was doing and knocked all her books down and then went to pick them up and she asked to be friends or he could have saw her walk by a gas station and ask if she wanted a coke. I think that would be a good intro.

The only thing I liked about the book was the two deaths of Scotty and Trav. Trav suicide because he didnt think everything in the world he did for his parents was perfect so he hung himself and Scotty was killed in a robbery at the Sunoco gas station. And another thing I liked about the book was the costumes Trav, Kate, and Buck wore to the dance. Trav wore a solider costume. Kate wore a faded pink dress and buck wore a raccoon jacket that was really old because it was missing patches of fur. The last thing I liked about the book is when buck fights Skeeter just to get his dads work hat back and he does.

Reader reviewed by beth s

I did not like this book because in my opinion it does not appeal to my age group. We like more interesting books like: mystery, humorous, and some of us like nonfiction. R.T.G.T seems more like an old people book, or for smarty-pants and nerd (people who like to work.) There were a few good parts in this book, I would tell you but it would ruin the book. The book takes too long to read, and plus who really likes reading anyway. Some people do, like me, but I did not like this. So if I like reading and I did not enjoy this book why would someone who does not like reading enjoy this book? To me it does not have any character, chorizema, interesting topics, or good description. So I took some time to ask some people from a variety of ages and here is what some said, I liked this book, it shows that you should always look back and remember the good times Said an anonymous individual. On the other hand another individual said, I absolutely hated this book, it fits old people, it is not for modern day kids/ teens, we like fun books, more up to date books. In my judgment I agree with the second individual, I too think it for older people, it just does not fit any of the things I would look for in a book. If you are looking for a good book, I would not recommend this one, unless you like boring books.

Reader reviewed by Emily B.

In the book Remembering the Good Times nothing really excited me. Thats why I really didnt have fun reading the book. Normally I do have fun reading a book because it is very exciting to read the book. I didnt like it because you have your main characters Trav, Kate, and Buck. They are best friends and they do everything together. Thats what the book is basically about. It gets very boring to read because it happens over and over again.
I also dont like how they are also friends with the oldest and meanest women in Slocum township named Polly. Even though Polly is Kates great aunt and Kate and her mom live with Polly doesnt mean they have to hang out with her all the time. I think it would be kind of weird hanging out with an old lady all the time. Trav and Polly have a lot in common so I can understand that. They both like the past and what is happening in the present. Something was happening in another country and Trav knew about it and he was only 12 at the time. No one knew what he was talking about except Polly because she is old and she reads that kind of stuff.
What I also dont get is why Trav took his life by hanging himself. It seemed like he was doing fine. He had great grades and fantastic friends that cared a lot about him. I mean, cmon, he was a very rich kid with nice parents. What wouldnt you love about his life. I would want to be him if he had all those things.

Reader reviewed by Brady B

Remembering the Good Times

My personal opinion on this book is that it is extremely lame, and not very interesting to my point of view. I think that through out the book there were some parts that were just a waste of paper and some went way too far into detail. I also think the beginning wasnt very mind grabbing as well. I think that the book might be for people who have really dull and boring lives and have nothing else better to do than read. I also think that the ending was EXTREMELY disappointing because the whole story seemed like it was leading up to something great, but at the end of the book Trav killed himself and it didnt even really tell why.

I think the author wanted us to feel bad for Trav. I myself didnt feel bad for Trav, I think he is the stupidest one of all because he really had no logical and reasonable reason to kill himself. If anything Kate or Buck shouldve been the ones to kill themselves because of their home life, considering the fact that Buck was living in a tiny trailer without his mom. Trav had both parents, rich, nice house, and couldve probably had anything he wanted, but then he goes and kills himself. So in my personal opinion, Trav is stupid, inconsiderate, and unthankful. I think this because he had a better family life a better economical life and all around better surrounding and he just kills himself. What is wrong with that kid? This is my opinion on the story I hated with a passion.

Reader reviewed by Erin S

I thought Remembering the Good Times was an okay book. There were parts in it that seemed kind of pointless, and others that were just plain, old boring. Other than those occasional lame spots, the book was quite good. Something that bothered me though, was that they had a lot of useful information that basically just took up space. The climax of the story didnt come until the very end, which was when Trav died. I think if the author had made him die more toward the middle of the book, and then had Buck and Kate become a couple the story would have been more interesting to me. Im really into the love story kind of books, so thats why I think that. Also, I think that whole chapter where Buck went to see his mom should have been taken out of the book, because it was basically useless except for the fact that Kate and Trav became closer. And another part I didnt really like was when Kate had Mr. Slater beat up Skeeter, because it was . . . random. It also didnt fit Kates character, which slightly confused me. One part that I did like though was when Trav was gone for a summer and Buck got to spend some more quality time with Kate. That let me see how Buck really felt about her, and it was nice that they got to have some one-on-one time together. So all in all, I thought the book was fairly bad, except for a few parts that were okay.

Reader reviewed by Ashley M

I didnt really like the book because it took to long a lot of paper work, And how the the characters acted in the story. It kind of tells how the people are stressed out so then they would what to kill them self so than they can get rid of the pressure. The characters where ok but not the best. How the story ended was not complete. Whats the point of the story if the kid didnt what to read it? There was a lot of kids that didnt like the book but thats just their opinion about the book. Theres a lot of books you can read instead of this one. The part about of the buck joined the football team because he felt left out. There is a lot of people that committing suicide and it is really sad. I liked the character named Polly whom has a messy room and is kind of old. Some times she is nice. And kind of reminds me of my grandma that pasted away when I was three. And how she tried to scare buck away from the house. There is a lot of people that can agree about the book and they can disagree about the book. So then thats what I thought about the book. The part when trav kills him self is they where sad about it when they found out. That is not mush to tell about the story. So this is why I wouldnt like to read this book.

Reader reviewed by brett

The book Remembering The Good Times is not really that great of a book; unless you like short simple and to the point stories, then its a good book for you. The book could have definitely been stronger in a number of areas. For instance, it could have taken a bot longer to get to the point that Trav kills himself and explained a few things more. Like where Locum was from (what state). T couldnt believe how many people have actually killed themselves. The story starts out of Slocum, and then they meet Skeeter surprisingly didnt do anything to him. Sskeeter stole Bucks dads hard hat and it made Buck really angry. Buck was debating whether or not to go after him to get his hard hat. He chooses to get into a fight wit Skeeter. He got beat up pretty bad. But at least he got his hat back. Trav and Kate showed up to stop the fight and get the hat then pull him away. Buck was taken to Irenes there he was fixed up like he was brand new. Trav was having a house party and his parents invited Kates mom and Bucks dad. They ended up going together and everyone thought that it was special. Kate and Trav dressed up as a couple and Buck was jealous at the party and was kind of mad at her. Trav was gone the whole summer and when he came back he totally changed, he was mre muscular. One day Trav hung himself where there hideout was. That is all that the book RTGT is about.