Lani+Garver

WHAT HAPPENED TO LANI GARVER by Carol Plum-Ucci

What Happened to Lani Garver? is a fantastic book that was very well written. The beginning and middle was slow but towards the end was where it got really interesting. Carol Plum-Ucci was trying to show to what extent will people get rid of the "different" and "abnormal" and cover themselves up too. Tony was a great representation of what people do to try cover themselves. Tony was a closeted homosexual but didn't want his peers to know because he is in a non accepting friend group. He covers up his orientation because he doesn't want his friends to not accept him anymore. Which is why he deleted the phone calls to Lani, put the magazines at Lani's house, and burned them. He also gay bashes to cover his orientation.

Macy is a good representation of convenient recollection. Macy "overhears" Lani and Tony's conversation about smoking rings. Claire realizes that it would have been impossible for Macy to overhear this dialogue, but Macy is quite sure that this is what she heard. Macy's certainty about what she heard reveals the power of convenient recollection in one's life. Macy is unaware that she's lying, or that she's invented a new truth. She wants to believe that Lani is freak and can't think of anything else. She brainwashes herself and believes she is telling the truth about Lani.

Most characters in this book, in my opinion, are dislikable. Macy, Scott, Phil, Tony, Vince, and Claire's mom, weren't very nice. Tony and his possy killed Lani (or so we think) just because he was cisgender and liked to wear nightgowns. It really makes me sick that these people would go to this extent to get of the "different". They didn't even try to get to know. They just saw him as "other" and tried to get rid of him. There was nothing wrong with him, but people failed to see that. One thing that just let me hanging. What happened to Lani Garver? He could have drowned, or he is an floating angel. I believe he is an floating angel, but some part of me says angels don't exist on earth. This really gets me. I also have a question about the book. What did Lani fix in Claire's life? Floating Angels come to fix people's lives. I know that Lani came to fix Claire's life, but what did he fix?

Overall, this is a great book. I enjoyed reading it. I recommend this next year for the rising eighth graders, for it reflects many important things that are going on in society. It is very suspenseful and has its funny and happy moments. Carol Plum-Ucci did a great job of showing the themes in this book. I look forward to reading more of her books in the near future.

-August D.

I enjoyed reading the book __What happened to Lani Garver__. There were some things I liked and some things I disliked with this book. I liked how Carol Plum-Ucci had Lani not tell too much about himself to Claire or anyone else. I thought it meant he was hiding something about himself that could possibly be something totally unexpected or shocking. I liked his character a lot. He was funny and he really continued to have the suspense of the story going. There are some things that Lani said that were really confusing to Claire… and myself. One example is when Lani would talk as if he were from the past. I felt I had to pay very close attention to everything said in this book because there was so many little details I could miss. I found the topic of floating angels very interesting. I thought it was strange that Lani never told Claire his age, but I never thought he could possibly be a floating angel or anything that wasn’t “human like.” A few characters I disliked were Vince and Tony Clementi, Phil, Macy, and Scott. They were all very rude to Lani and they started being rude to Claire when they figured out they were “together” or friends. I do not understand at all why they had to pick on Lani. He was a perfectly normal “kid” that had his differences. I found it very hard to believe that Tony, a part of the fish frat, was a closet gay. It was so surprising that Phil, Macy, or Scott had not known. There was nothing wrong with Tony being gay, but he should not have tortured Lani the way he did. Phil, Scott, Vince, or Tony should not have done what they did to Lani. He did not deserve being killed. When the murder was taking place, all I thought about was the name of the book, __What Happened to Lani Garver__. I knew something was going to happen to him because otherwise the answer to the title was that he was murdered. But having him drown and not being found still did not answer the title. What actually did happen to Lani Garver? That’s the question that still lingers in my head. I want to know but I have to suffer the cliffhanger. This book was great and would definitely recommend it for reading bowl next year. - Jared Maner

Yeah, I definately agree with you. I think that not knowing about Lani really added some mystery to the book and made me want to hear more!! I agree with you on how Lani was talking in the past tense...it really confused me sometimes.

In this book I also had to pay attention a TON! It was really easy to miss crucial things in the story because it seemed like something new would be discovered in every sentence. I really liked how Carol Plum-Ucci added in how Claire felt pressure from her other friends to be someone she didn't want to be, it really made me upset in the beginning when Lani and Claire went on the bus to the clinic and she denied she wasn't eating enough. It just confirmed why I would not be a cheerleader. It is disgusting that girls do that to themselves.

I agree with Jared on the characters he disliked, they seemed really stupid and obnoxious; the type of people you shouldn't hang out with. But I disagree with Jared on the fact of why they made fun of him. I think that when a person "out of the norm" comes to such a place where it seems like everyone knows everyone, it makes sense because when someone sees something that is different or intimidates them, they will bother them to their best ability. I actually cried at the end! :( haha that never happens to me in books but I really got interested in this book, it was something that I would actually read, not just be forced to read! I am the same as Jared, I REALLLLY want to know what happened to him but it makes the story kind of more enjoyable when you are left wanting more!!! I realllly love this book and I hope it's still a Reading Bowl book next year, because the seventh graders need to read this!!!! Good book! ~ Christine Crais

I also really liked this book. But the ending was so sad. I thought that it was interesting when Lani said that he doesn’t fit into boxes, when Claire was asking him questions about himself, because throughout the book Lani is sort of a mysterious character, which makes the book interesting to read. Also it shows that Lani is his own person, and doesn’t hide himself up and pretend to be someone else, which at first is what Claire is doing with her friends. I also didn’t like Vince, Tony, Phil, Macy, & Scott because they were all very immature, and made the wrong choices in the book. They also just seemed like really scary people, and I don’t see why Claire was ever friends with them.

Like Christine, I liked how the author showed how Claire felt pressured by her friends, because Claire wasn’t really like her friends, and she didn’t believe the gossip that Macy spread about people. Also the author showed how Claire didn’t really feel like she fully fit in with them because in cheerleading, Claire says how she feels different because she is taller than everyone else, and how the coach even called her a cow, which makes her want to lose weight which isn’t healthy for her. I also think that Claire might have felt pressured by her mom, because there are references in the book of how her mom wanted to live her life. Throughout the book blood came up a lot in fights, when Claire falls out of the car, and when Claire writes gory songs and plays them on the electric guitar. I think that it is important to the book because it comes up a lot but I’m not sure why. Do any of you guys know? The ending for me was really, really sad, and I also really wanted to know what exactly did happen to him, but I think that not really knowing what happened made the book more interesting and mysterious. I also really liked this book, and I think that it should defiantly be a reading bowl book for next year. - Callie Clements

I also agree with what you said. There is a lot of information about Lani that we don't know. Claire wants to find out more about Lani in the beginning when she is trying to out him in boxes, but she realizes she can't. The things we dint know about Lani just make him a more mysterious character. There is so much we don't know about him, yet by the end of the book we feel like we know him so well. We get to know lank by the things he says and characteristics of things he does. Even if we didn't really know his gender, age, sexual affiliation we know him just as well as anyone else. This brings up an interesting point to me. Information like age, gender, and so on are things we always expect to know about someone. We think that we need to know these basic things before we can be friends with someone. This books makes me rethink that statement. Maybe all those things that at least I thought were the most important thing pretty much about a person arnt as important as I thought. Instead of basing someone of those facts we can get to know the, by their personality instead of gender or age. We love to put people in boxes. If we like it or not that's what we're doing all the time. Reading about Lani garver makes me rethink that too. Claire asks as she thinks harmless questions when Lani informs her that she is trying to out him in a box. We can learn a lot from Lani garver. Instead of trying to put all these people in boxes and group them to get to know them better, we again should just plain out get to know them. It doesn't matter if they are gay, straight, girl, boy, cheerleader we accept them for who they are. Overall this book really made me think about things that I don't usually think about.

-marie

**This is one of my all time favorite books its really depressing though. I liked the part about the floating angels and how Claire was wondering if Lani was one. He was so nice to everyone, like when Claire and Him were in the waiting room at the doctors and he went around talking to all of the patients, that most people would just ignore he really seemed to care about everyone he met. And always told the truth about everything even if it could get him hurt. It was so painful to read about him getting hurt at the bus station I could barely read it. But it was imposible to put the book down it was so interasting but terrifying. He also helped so many people like when he went with Claire to the doctor to help her with her eating disorder. It was so horrible that she got it trying to lose weight for cheerleading because her teacher didnt like that she was bigger than all the other girls and called her a cow! Lani helped her find out who she really was and incuraged her to play the guitar when her other friends hadnt really and made Claire feel ashamed of her talent.** **I really didnt like Macy she was so mean and didnt seem like she really cared about Claire. To me it just seemed that she wanted to be able to have total controle of someone and since Claire was quiet and shy in the beginning she chose her. If Macy had really cared about Claire then she would have been more suportive of her guitar playing and she would have realized Claire had an eating problems before Claire went to the doctor. But it was weird how Claire stuck up for Macy in the beginning even though she wasnt a very good friend does anyone know why she did that?** **Also the whole thing about mirrors and mist was really interasting and seemed to play a huge role in this book. How people see things different ways and thats how things happen. It sort of confused me so does anyone have anything to say about it?** **I think that why that blood is important in the book was because Claire was not happy in the begining of the book and once she was out of the pressure of her friends and the stress of her parents the blood and the nightmares went away. Claire found her place with the people in her band and exepted who she was and didnt pretend to be someone she wasnt. Then she was happy and didnt feel upset anymore. It is also forshadowing how something horrible was going to happen to Lani.** **I agree with Callie this should definently be a reading bowl book next year. It is really sad but interasting and makes you think about things** **- Amelia Hess**

I loved What Happened to Lani Garver because of the way it made me think. It’s one of those books where you could read it and be able to say, “Okay, it’s a story about a boy who was a runaway and gets murdered.” It has a good plot, but unless you stop and think about it, you aren’t getting the best part of it. It’s the message the book gives that is so important. I partially agree with Christine about why Lani Garver was made fun of; however, I think that there’s more to it than that. I think that although they didn’t want to admit it, everyone identified with a part of Lani. Lani was the only one strong enough to be who he really is, and that scared them. It was uncomfortable for them to think about themselves, so they bullied Lani. Perhaps Lani had traits that they also had but didn’t want, like Tony being gay. By bullying Lani for being himself, they were able to distance themselves from those things that they wanted to hide. Not only had they found a way of tricking others, but they were also tricking themselves, wanting so hard to not be that way that they almost believed they weren’t. This relates to the reoccurring theme in the book: convenient thinking. Lani talks about how people make themselves see reality in a different way because it’s more convenient, and I think it’s definitely true. One of the things this author does very well is make you think about yourself. As I read, I found myself trying to put people into boxes, including Lani. I think that this is another reason why he was bullied- when people don’t fit into boxes, it confuses people, which makes them uncomfortable. I made me look at how I label people all the time. When I walk down the street and see a person, I unconsciously am putting tags on them: boy, girl, old, young, mean and nice, based off of one small thing I know about how they look. The truth is that no one can be defined by just that, and none of us perfectly fit a stereotype. We are all different, and there are many ways of being a person. This book shows how important it is for us to remember that, and how bad things can become if we can’t accept it.

-Rose Shue

What happened to Lani Garver I think that this was an amazing book. I loved every page, and it was extraordinarily hard to put down. I think that Carol Plum-Ucci didn’t tell us a lot about Lani because it left so much up to our imagination. I know that, like Claire, I tired to put Lani into boxes. I did it subconsciously, but in my mind I was trying to place him. I think that everyone was mean to Lani because they lived in a place where everyone tried to fit in and basically be the same. Lani stuck out, thus bringing the wrath of the people, who want everyone to the same, on him. When I was reading, I felt like the town was a box, and every page the box was getting smaller and smaller, slowly strangling the people in it. Identified more with Claire than Lani. She was always trying to be nice to people. I feel like I always try to over compensate by being nice. Claire feels like she doesn’t really fit in, so she over compensates by always being nice. I think that Macy makes up things about other people because she feels insecure about herself. Also, I think that she hates Claire’s guitar playing because Claire was really good at. Macy is used to being the one with all of the attention, but when everyone loves Claire the attention is shifted to Claire. I think that Macy used Claire to make herself feel better. Like Amelia, I think she was a horrible friend. All of the violent parts really terrified me, I really wish that a Scott and his friend had gone to jail. Even just for a little while. What they did was almost as bad as what Tony did. All of that violence is NOT okay. It makes me so sad to think that anyone would ever do that. Unlike many of you, I don’t think that Lani died. The whole thing with the scrapbook and Lani being a good swimmer makes me think that. The only thing that I didn’t like about the book is that the ending is erroneous. I want the ending all tied up in a bow, and I want Lani to be alive and well.

-Becca S.