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Description edit
She knows what it's like to die. Now Death wants her back.
Seventeen-year-old Pierce knows what happens to us when we die.
That's how she met John Hayden, the mysterious stranger who's made returning to normal life—or at least life as Pierce knew it before the accident—next to... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
A near-death experience, a horrible incident at school, and a move from Connecticut to Florida have turned seventeen-year-old Pierce's life upside-down, but when she needs him most John Hayden is always there, helping but reminding her of her visit to the Underworld.
Characters edit
- Pierce Oliviera: Seventeen-year-old girl trying to make a new start with her mom in Isla Huesos, her mother's old hometown. She died and came back to life. Looks like Snow White with delicate bone structure, thick dark hair, and wide dark eyes.
- John Hayden: Mystery guy who keeps saving Pierce
- Deborah Cabrero: Pierce's mother. Preserver of Spoon-bills.
- Alex Cabrero: Pierce's cousin.
- Mr. Mueller: Teacher and coach at Pierce's old school
- Kayla Rivera: Social outcast and D-Block student whom Pierce and her cousin Alex befriend.
- Grandma Cabrero: Pierce's grandmother.
- Richard Smith: Cemetery Sexton.
- Chris Cabrero: Pierce's uncle and Alex's father. Just out of jail.
- Jade: Pierce's counselor.
- Hannah Chang: Pierce's best friend from her old school
- Seth Rector: Senior class president and varsity quarterback at Isla Huesos High School.
- Tim: Counselor for the New Pathways program at Isla Huesos High School.
- Bryce: Friend of Seth Rector.
- Grandpa Cabrero: Pierce's grandfather.
- Nicole: Student at the high school.
- Mr. Alvarez: Principal of the high school.
- Farah: Popular senior girl at Pierce's new school.
Quotes edit
-
“As a death deity, Hades was, of course, disliked by the spirits of a good many souls who weren't satisfied with where they ended up after they passed through the Underworld. The Furies -- this is what the spirits who disliked him so much were called.”
Richard Smith -
“Personally, I've never been a fan of the Hades/Persephone myth. So much drama, with him kidnapping the poor girl in that distasteful manner and forcing her to live with him down in the Underworld against her will, and then Persephone's mother having to intervene . . . I never enjoy stories where the mother gets too involved. Let the kids work it out for themselves, I always say.”
Richard Smith -
“The five rivers of the Underworld. Acheron, Cocytus, Phlegethon, Lethe, the river Styx. Good Lord, girl. Do they teach children nothing useful in school these days? The Underworld.”
Richard Smith -
“Because no life -- if it was led by a decent person -- should go unremembered. So if, for instance, a soldier was betrayed by people he thought were friends, his body tossed from a ship and abandoned to the waves, his family left to wonder forever what had happened to him, never knowing if he was alive, if he was well . . . That is a certain kind of hell all its own.”
Richard Smith -
“Who's Homer?”
Pierce Oliviera -
“Have you ever heard of hyperbole? I highly suggest you look up the word, Miss Oliviera if you intend to pursue a relationship with a death deity.”
Richard Smith -
“My death had been no one's fault but my own.”
Pierce
Setting & Locations edit
Isla Huesos, Florida -- Spanish explorers called it Isla Huesos, Island of Bones, because it was covered with the human bones from an Indian burial ground that had been washed up from a storm.
- Westport Academy for Girls: private school in Connecticut
- New Pathways: special section at Isla Huesos High School for "troubled" students.
First Sentence edit
Anything can happen in the blink of an eye.
Themes & Symbolism edit
Series & Lists edit
This is book 1 of 2 in The Abandon Trilogy. (standard series)
Followed by Underworld.
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN: 9780545284103
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN: 9780545284103
Page Count: 320
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PZ7.C11165Ab 2011
- Dewey: FIC CAB
Subjects edit
- Books › Teens › Authors, A-Z › ( C ) › Cabot, Meg
- Books › Teens › Literature & Fiction › Love & Romance
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Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Meg Cabot - Abandon Trilogy: Info about the book on the author's website
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