Don't Forget Me, Bro

Don’t Forget Me Bro

by John Michael Cummings

published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press

2015

ISBN n/a

Why read? Review

Challenges: 100 Books in a Year

How does one deal with death?  This is the crux behind John Michael Cummings’s through-provoking novel, Don’t Forget Me, Bro. 

When Mark’s older brother, Steve, dies, Mark must travel home to both mourn his brother.  Home, though, is not the happy place that it should be.  Mark has always blamed his father for Steve’s mental disability as well as for his own problems.  Once home, though, Mark starts to learn some startling truths about Steve, about his family, and, most of all, about himself.

Don’t Forget Me, Bro is a very character-driven story, which is what it needs to be to tackle a topic such as dealing with death.  Mark is very real, even if his personal story is not the easiest to swallow.  And although Steve never appears, Cummings does a good job of making him a central character.  The rest of Mark’s family is also very well-rounded.

If you are looking for a light read, Don’t Forget Me, Bro is not it. But if you are looking for something with a little more depth – and a little despair tinged with hope – the John Michael Cummings’s book is the one for you.

Rating 4/5