Where Things Come Back
by John Corey Whaley
Review by Danny M.
Winner of the 2012 Michael L. Printz and William C. Morris Awards, Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley is a deeply touching and enjoyable read. Whaley writes of Cullen Witter, a thoughtful teenager who struggles with his small-town life in Arkansas, and weaves his story with that of a young missionary in Africa. As the story progresses, we see that these two stories become ever closely related.
The title, Where Things Come Back, symbolizes many aspects of the book’s conflicts and resolutions. The most apparent example involves a birdwatcher named John Barling, who comes to Cullen’s town believing that a woodpecker presumed extinct has been sighted in the area. Among Cullen’s struggles lies the woodpecker craze of his town: everyone loves the prospect of this woodpecker being alive. As the plot progresses, however, we see that
other things “come back” to this town, in ways that shape not only Cullen’s story, but also that of the missionary and those he impacts through his own journey.
I would highly recommend this masterfully-written book to anyone willing to think about the happenings of life in a new and profound way. This may not be the best book that I have ever read, so in my mind it is not five-star quality: However, it does deserve at least four stars.
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