Barely Missing Everything, Matt Mendez
Barely Missing Everything, Matt Mendez
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Barely Missing Everything

Author: Matt Mendez

Narrator: Ramón de Ocampo, Cynthia Farrell, Timothy Andrés Pabon

Unabridged: 7 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/05/2019


Synopsis

“There are moments when a story shakes you...Barely Missing Everything is one of those stories, and Mendez, a gifted storyteller with a distinct voice, is sure to bring a quake to the literary landscape.” —Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of Long Way Down

In the tradition of Jason Reynolds and Matt de la Peña, this heartbreaking, no-holds-barred debut novel told from three points of view explores how difficult it is to make it in life when you—your life, brown lives—don’t matter.

Juan has plans. He’s going to get out of El Paso, Texas, on a basketball scholarship and make something of himself—or at least find something better than his mom Fabi’s cruddy apartment, her string of loser boyfriends, and a dead dad. Basketball is going to be his ticket out, his ticket up. He just needs to make it happen.

His best friend JD has plans, too. He’s going to be a filmmaker one day, like Quentin Tarantino or Guillermo del Toro (NOT Steven Spielberg). He’s got a camera and he’s got passion—what else could he need?

Fabi doesn’t have a plan anymore. When you get pregnant at sixteen and have been stuck bartending to make ends meet for the past seventeen years, you realize plans don’t always pan out, and that there are some things you just can’t plan for…

Like Juan’s run-in with the police, like a sprained ankle, and a tanking math grade that will likely ruin his chance at a scholarship. Like JD causing the implosion of his family. Like letters from a man named Mando on death row. Like finding out this man could be the father your mother said was dead.

Soon Juan and JD are embarking on a Thelma and Louise­—like road trip to visit Mando. Juan will finally meet his dad, JD has a perfect subject for his documentary, and Fabi is desperate to stop them. But, as we already know, there are some things you just can’t plan for…

About Matt Mendez

Like his characters, Matt Mendez grew up in central El Paso, Texas. He received an MFA from the University of Arizona and is the author of the short story collection Twitching Heart and young adult novels Barely Missing Everything and The Broke Hearts. He lives in Tucson, Arizona. You can visit him at MattMendez.com.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kari

I’m not crying you’re crying 😭 Full review to come Disclaimer: This author is represented by the agency I work for. While this didn’t affect my opinion of the book, I wanted to be transparent.......more

Goodreads review by Tina

This review was originally posted on As Told By TinaI received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.Trigger Warnings: Drug Use, Domestic Violence, Gang Violence, Assualt, Murder, Alcohol use, Gun V......more

Goodreads review by Morris

Set in El Paso, this is a very timely read considering what is going on in our country. It touched on so many bleak issues facing poc, particularly latinos/latinas, that if I list them I'm sure to forget quite a few. In spite of this, the book still manages to maintain an undertone of hope. It can g......more

Goodreads review by Shayne

What an important book! This debut young adult novel is representative of an overlooked culture in contemporary literature. I will admit, however, that I had some difficulty with the Spanish dialogue that was not translated. I could determine most of it from context, but I'm sure I missed some impor......more