Adios, Nirvana by Conrad Wesselhoeft

Wesselhoeft, Conrad. 2010. Adios, Nirvana. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Childrens.
ISBN: 9780547368955
Grades: 9 - 12
Realistic Fiction
Pub Date: October, 2010

Since the death of his twin brother, Jonathon is on a down hill spiral towards losing everything- friends, school, family and even his life. Unable to truly sleep he begins to act in self destructive ways that leads to an ultimatum at school: write the life story of a dying WWII vet and perform at the graduation ceremony or repeat his junior year. While this may sound like an odd either/or situation, Jonathon is a gifted poet and writer as well as musician. By spending time at at the Hospice where David, the vet resides, Jonathon begins to come alive through his music which he shares with others. Music plays a big part through out the novel and when combined with the beauty of poetry, the book reads like magic! He continues to ingest vast quantities of NoDoz and Red Bull, not sleeping, stressing over the upcoming production and more importantly, struggling to find the voice that is David's as well as his own. Yet foremost throughout the novel, he struggles to become the Jonathon who no longer lives behind his brother’s memory. Ultimately Jonathon succeeds in all venues but not without a lot of pain and struggles that YAs can definitely relate to.

Wesselhoeft's literary craft is superb with consistent bursts of beauty that spans poetry, analogies, metaphors and more. The many parts of this story are braided together and held by the character of Jonathon who reacts and behaves very true to YAs. The pacing is fantastic – even those not musically inclined will find appreciation in the musical passages as the author deftly places them in a story telling mode that advances the main character forward to some form of self discovery.
The reader comes away with understanding a variety of positions within this character’s life that helps to create the young adult that has evolved at the end of the story. Jonathon creates poetry but also sees life in poetic ways that gives the reader a new way of looking at life. Wesselhoeft has captured the internal essence of YAs without resorting to unnecessary sex, drugs, and violence. This is a superb book that is a must for high school collections if the caution below is not a problem.

Word of caution: The "F" word is used twice in this novel and there is the ingestion of frozen grapes that have been injected with vodka.