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335th out of 439 books
—
514 voters
Remembering Raquel
Fifteen-year-old Raquel Falcone is, as one of her classmates puts it, the kind of kid who has a tendency to be invisible. That is until the night she's hit by a car and killed while walking home from the movies.
In brief, moving chapters, we hear about Raquel from her classmates, her best friend, her family--and the woman who was driving the car that struck her.
The loss oft...more
In brief, moving chapters, we hear about Raquel from her classmates, her best friend, her family--and the woman who was driving the car that struck her.
The loss oft...more
Hardcover, 137 pages
Published
November 1st 2007
by Harcourt Children's Books
(first published October 15th 2007)
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Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com
The facts as we know them: Raquel Falcone was fourteen years old. She was the class "fat girl." She loved her father, and her father loved her. Her best friend was Hayley Evenski. She died when a car hit her as she was leaving the movie theater.
The things we don't know: Pretty much everything else.
Told in alternating chapters that are more like the thoughts and ideas of those who knew her (and those who really didn't), REMEMBERING RAQUEL is a short but powerf...more
The facts as we know them: Raquel Falcone was fourteen years old. She was the class "fat girl." She loved her father, and her father loved her. Her best friend was Hayley Evenski. She died when a car hit her as she was leaving the movie theater.
The things we don't know: Pretty much everything else.
Told in alternating chapters that are more like the thoughts and ideas of those who knew her (and those who really didn't), REMEMBERING RAQUEL is a short but powerf...more
Raquel is the kind of girl who is invisible to the rest of her classmates in school. When she is hit by a car and killed, suddenly everybody has an opinion about Raquel. Told from the perspectives of her best friend, her parents, classmates and the woman who was driving the car that hit her, each chapter offers a brief look about how Raquel was viewed when she was alive.
I was eager to read this book because Vivian Vande Velde is one of my favorite authors. The story is told in an interesting per...more
I was eager to read this book because Vivian Vande Velde is one of my favorite authors. The story is told in an interesting per...more
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I liked this book just fine, until, suddenly, it just ended. Just like that night. It was going along just fine . . . and then it was over. No resolution. No building up to something. Just over. Just like that. And I was left wondering what the hell I just read. And why had I bothered.
I mean, I guess maybe that was the author's point. That that feeling I was feeling was the same feeling the father was left with now that his daughter was dead. But still . . . This just didn't work for me.
I mean, I guess maybe that was the author's point. That that feeling I was feeling was the same feeling the father was left with now that his daughter was dead. But still . . . This just didn't work for me.
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Nov 03, 2010
704ruby
added it
This book is about a girl named Raquel who dies in a car accident. She was a nobody until she died. She was completely invisible to everyone. She was known as the class “fat girl”. She lived with her father and her only friend went to a different high school. Even when her teacher told everyone she had died kids had to look twice to see who was missing.
This book is broken up into very short chapters of different people in Raquel’s life talking about her or her memorial while at the same time m...more
This book is broken up into very short chapters of different people in Raquel’s life talking about her or her memorial while at the same time m...more
I love stories like this. A tragic event happens, and we are left with conflicting accounts of what really happened. Truth becomes subjective, if not completely unattainable. It's what I loved so much about Akutagawa's
Rashomon
(perhaps better known in its Akira Kurosawa adaptation).
Before her tragic death, Raquel was a virtual non-entity in her school. Shy and overweight, she flew under most students' radar. After her death, her classmates try to make sense of their own mortality by latching...more
Before her tragic death, Raquel was a virtual non-entity in her school. Shy and overweight, she flew under most students' radar. After her death, her classmates try to make sense of their own mortality by latching...more
2 likes · like · see review
Ok its more of a pre-teen (you know that awkward stage) books. But, honestly, a book should liberate our minds and should not restrict from what should be appropriate and not to be read for any age. (maybe erotica books and LOTR for the close minded and elven-Old-English phobic!)
Remembering Raquel is a recollection of stories of how they knew Raquel. KNEW was the word since at the very start of the story they were preparing Raquel's funeral. She was hit by a vehicle, causing her untimely death....more
Remembering Raquel is a recollection of stories of how they knew Raquel. KNEW was the word since at the very start of the story they were preparing Raquel's funeral. She was hit by a vehicle, causing her untimely death....more
Nine years and one day after a boy I knew was killed when he stepped off a curb and was hit by a car, I read a book about a girl who stepped off a curb and was hit by a car. Perhaps this is why this book resonated so deeply with me. The difference between real life and the book, though, is that in real life the boy was well-known and well-liked, whereas Raquel is well-known by only a few people.
Remembering Raquel is told in a series of short "chapters," each told from the point of view of a diff...more
Remembering Raquel is told in a series of short "chapters," each told from the point of view of a diff...more
Apr 17, 2008
Heather
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
death, point of view, high school
Shelves:
teenfiction
Raquel is hit by a car and killed while walking home from the movies. No one knows for sure if it was an accident, a suicide, or how exactly it happened. Each chapter focuses on how a friend, family member or classmate responds to Raquel's death.
1 like · like · see review
Jan 25, 2012
Mina^_^
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Recommended to Mina^_^ by:
Goodreads
I liked this book, but it made me kind of sad as well just thinking about what people will do to get attention and how fake they will act just to seem like the kind of person everybody knows that you're not. Especially at a funeral that makes it even worse.
Raquel is shy, unpopular, and a little on the heavier side. Well she was anyway.this is a bout a young girl losing her life way before her time. Whether it be due to her wanting to end her own life, not paying attention or just plain clumsines...more
Raquel is shy, unpopular, and a little on the heavier side. Well she was anyway.this is a bout a young girl losing her life way before her time. Whether it be due to her wanting to end her own life, not paying attention or just plain clumsines...more
This is a book about how others remember a 14 year old girl who had few close friends. Each chapter is told from the perspective of another person who knew (or, knew of) Raquel.
It is a short but thought provoking read. I started out a bit angry with some of the voices telling their memories and stories. I imagine the author wanted readers to consider the many ways people react when confronted with a loss, and the many lives someone (even someone as “invisible” as Raquel”) can touch.
I would fee...more
It is a short but thought provoking read. I started out a bit angry with some of the voices telling their memories and stories. I imagine the author wanted readers to consider the many ways people react when confronted with a loss, and the many lives someone (even someone as “invisible” as Raquel”) can touch.
I would fee...more
This YA book is told in brief first person reflections about the life of Raquel, a young teen who has been struck and killed by a car. The reader forms a picture of this ultimately likable young lady through the reactions and narratives of her father, her close friends, those who should have been friends but weren't, the people standing with her at the time of the accident, and even those who were regular online gaming friends who had never met Raquel face-to-face. While the mystery of ho she di...more
Fifteen year old Raquel Falcone is the school fat girl who is invisible to her schoolmates. She is now dead after being run over by a car and her popularity skyrockets. The story is written from the point of view of everyone else as the reader is left to piece together the nature of Raquel's death. Surprisingly the reader sees how much her death has effected the community, school and family, despite her being "invisible."
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This story was amazing! It took me a few chapt...more
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This story was amazing! It took me a few chapt...more
This is my first time to read a book by Vivian Vande Velde. Im not much of a reader but i loved this book. Remembering Raquel is about a girl who dies and then all of a sudden all the people who didn't care to much about here, seemed to start missing her. When in reality they did not care. They just wanted attention. That goes to show how people act in real life. Not just books. Although this book was good it had some quarks. One part of the book that kind of made me mad, was when the most "popu...more
The story is told from multiple perspectives: her best friend, her father, the people with her when she stepped off the curb in front of the car, the woman that actually hit her, and various students from school.
No one, except her best friend, really knew much about Raquel. She was shy, a little overweight, and someone that tended to be invisible. She didn't have any true friends at school, but you wouldn't know that after her death. Kids who never had anything nice to say about her weight, her...more
No one, except her best friend, really knew much about Raquel. She was shy, a little overweight, and someone that tended to be invisible. She didn't have any true friends at school, but you wouldn't know that after her death. Kids who never had anything nice to say about her weight, her...more
Mar 14, 2009
Rory M.
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
mean girls
Shelves:
young-adult-literature
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This book, although a bit short, was actually pretty good. I would have liked a bit detail, a bit more information on who Raquel was, but honestly, I still really liked it. I couldn't put it down and I thought the format (each chapter is told by a differnt character) was pretty unique. I'd definitely recommend this book, especially for someone who didn't have time to read a long book.
Raquel Falcone steps off a curb on her way home from the movies one night and is hit by a car and killed. The story, told from alternating viewpoints of her classmates, teacher, family, and witnesses, records their thoughts and reactions. Was it suicide or an accident? The truth may be far more complicated, and more tragic.
Most of her classmates never really knew her, partly because she had been on the shy side, and partly because she had been the fat, unattractive kid in class. The story also t...more
Most of her classmates never really knew her, partly because she had been on the shy side, and partly because she had been the fat, unattractive kid in class. The story also t...more
About a teenage girl who died and those who remember her---or don't. It made me think of how fragile young people are, and how particularly teenage girls--need stability and security. This was tender, but not particularly deep, which is okay. It even had some humor. It was interesting and worth the hour that it took to read.
I've pretty much loved every Vivian Vande Velde book I've read and this is no exception though it was a bit of a different style. It made me laugh and cry a lot. I think it really made a difference also because I've just moved away from home, but still really heart-wrenching and funny book.
A series of reflections about Raquel Falcone, an unpopular teenager who dies unexpectedly are given by those who knew her and didn't know her while she was alive. A quick read. Leaves the distinct impression that no one really knew Raquel and makes one wonder if anyone really knows them.
this is the first book i've ever read in one day. it was really good. i liked how there were so many different point of views so you could see what everyone thought about the whole thing. and i really liked the chapter about raquel's blog. this book was really good and simple.
This book is so good. I read it waiting for my mother at the Orem Library. This book will bring out the real person in us. Will we be Raquel, or her classmates that are quick to judge? This book is an inside look at ourselves, and that is why I loved it so much.
Okay, so there wasn't really a plot. It was definitely a concept album—to build a character who was never directly in the story, but becomes someone real. It was nice, to see characters develop by remembering someone else.
But yeah. No plot.
But yeah. No plot.
This was a pretty interesting book. Each chapter is told by a different character expressing how they had a connection to Raquel and how her death effects them. Quick read, I read it only about 2 hours.
This book is real sad, yet realistic. I already knew ANYONE can die at ANY time, but reading about it gave me a sense of acceptance of death. Honestly I'm really scared of death, 'cause my gramps is dying from Cancer this ver moment. This book has really helped me cope...
Ever wonder how will you be remembered by your friends and colleagues? Will they remember how much fun you were at parties, or how smart you were? Have you made enough of an impression to even be remembered? Remembering Raquel by Vivian Van De Velde explores these questions and more. Raquel was not a popular girl. She had very few close friends and did not stick out in school by being the smartest, funniest, or dumbest in class. When she dies in a freak accident, her family, friends and classmat...more
It might be an effective story to make teens consider their treatment toward one another, but it didn't do much for me. I did like the various perspectives on Raquel's life and death.
Eh....o...k. i liked it in the beginning but it was so short. i thought something big was going to happen but....nothing. the story is a girl dying....wheres the action?
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Vivian Vande Velde (born 1951, currently residing in Rochester, New York) is an American author who writes books primarily aimed at young adults.
Her novels and short story collections usually have some element of horror or fantasy, but are primarily humorous. Her book Never Trust a Dead Man (1999) received the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She says that she really likes to write for...more
More about Vivian Vande Velde...
Her novels and short story collections usually have some element of horror or fantasy, but are primarily humorous. Her book Never Trust a Dead Man (1999) received the 2000 Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Novel. She says that she really likes to write for...more
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“And there was this sweet-looking little old lady with her white hair in a bun and everything, the typical grandmother type, and she was swearing her head off. I guess Alzheimer's had brought out her inner sailor.”
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