Reviews for The Gunners

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The loss of a friend from a group of childhood companions brings to light what has been hidden for 30 years.Sally is Mikey's first friend. Each living in a run-down neighborhood with single parents, they find in each other comfort and kindness. The rest of the neighborhood kidsAlice, Sam, Lynn, and Jimmyjoin with the twosome in a group of playmates whose relationships will last a lifetime. They call themselves The Gunners, after the name on the mailbox outside the abandoned home that becomes their hideout. There, they "invented jokes and games and secret languages, made plans, made trouble, bad-mouthed their parents, played cards, gambled, told stories, plotted against bullies, bickered, made up, luxuriated in boredom, and dreamed of the lives they would one day live, far from Lackawanna." Their group goes merrily ongrowing up, learning more of the world, falling in love, drinking, exchanging secretsuntil, all of sudden when they are 16, Sally dissociates from her friends completely, refusing to speak to them, avoiding their calls and efforts to engage. Fifteen years later, the group is reunited at Sally's funeral. Mikey, who is suffering from early-onset macular degeneration, is the only one who never left Lackawanna, and he is at once happy to be with his friends once more and devastated by the second loss of Sally. Each member of the group is convinced it is his or her fault that Sally left them, both times. Each has changed greatly over the years and is grappling with where to go next. When startling secrets are revealed, Mikey has another layer of self-exploration and sadness to sift through. Kauffman (Another Place You've Never Been, 2017) has created vivid and compelling characters struggling with what is in some ways the most universal dilemma: how to grow up. Mikey especially is mature and thoughtful but not at all precious; and the boisterous, hilarious Alice is charming despite her best efforts to behave otherwise. In fluid prose, Kauffman lays bare the lessons of youth and truth.A layered and loving bildungsroman of friendship. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

They called themselves the Gunners after the name on the mailbox of the abandoned home they hung out in as kids: ringleader Alice, Jimmy the whiz kid, rambunctious Sam, piano-prodigy Lynn, steadfast Mikey, and sweet but secretive Sally. Now thirtysomethings, five remaining Gunners reunite in their small hometown outside of Buffalo after Sally's suicide. Sally had distanced herself from the group by the time they were all teens, and in the intervening years, she and Mikey, who also stayed in town, didn't even greet one another at the supermarket. As the night after the funeral and the weeks following it unfold, in this collaboratively narrated, then-and-now story, the living Gunners reveal, in turn, the burdens they knew Sally was bearing and the ways they each feel they caused her departure all those years ago. A little bit like The Big Chill, Kauffman's (Another Place You've Never Been, 2016) quiet and deep second novel reconciles the responsibilities we carry and the secrets we keep with the outsize pleasure of being known and loved by a chosen family.--Bostrom, Annie Copyright 2018 Booklist


Publishers Weekly
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Kauffman's perceptive, funny, and endearing novel (after Another Place You've Never Been) is set against the backdrop of a funeral in snowy Lackawanna, a depressed suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. The seemingly light (but deceptively profound) story follows a once-close-knit group of six friends as they navigate the stresses of adulthood while grappling with long-held secrets from the past. Called "The Gunners"-after the name on the mailbox of the abandoned house they hung out in as kids-30-year-old Mikey, Lynn, Alice, Sam, and Jimmy reunite for the first time since high school to pay their respects to their sixth member, Sally, who committed suicide. As with any coming-to-terms-with-past-decisions-and-getting-older exercise, the friends reminisce about old times and share their triumphant successes and embarrassing failures. Despite the well-trod premise, Kauffman's prose never veers into campy territory. The admissions of her characters provide deep insight into their individual personalities, and also into human vulnerability more broadly. These include Mikey's fear surrounding his waning eyesight and conflicted sadness about his strained relationship with his father; Sam's intense shame about a defining moment he had with Sally long ago; and Alice's outlandish behavior that masks an entrenched inner turmoil. Reminiscent of The Big Chill and St. Elmo's Fire, this remarkable novel is just as satisfying and provides readers with an entire cast of characters who will feel like old friends upon finishing. Agent: Michelle Tessler, Tessler Literary Agency. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Featuring six childhood friends who grew up in Buffalo, NY, and call themselves the Gunners, Kauffman's new work will remind many readers of the film The Big Chill. Once close, the friends have grown apart over time, with several having moved away. The suicide of Sally, estranged from her friends since high school, brings the group back together. Kauffman skillfully weaves reminiscences of their antics as children and teens with insights into their adult lives. Mikey, the only one to remain in the area, is the most fully developed personality, but Alice, Lynn, Sam, and Jimmy are all distinctive, well-conceived characters. During a weekend spent together, the Gunners wrestle with questions about why Sally took her own life and why she had alienated herself from them. As they grapple with guilt and long-held secrets, they slowly come to some conclusions. -VERDICT Neither dark nor despairing, this work admirably expresses the satisfying comfort derived from the survival of such long-term friendships even as it evokes sadness about the losses and challenges that come with transitioning to adulthood. A successful sophomore effort after Kauffman's well-received first novel, Another Place You've Never Been.-Faye Chadwell, Oregon State Univ., Corvallis © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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