Book Report: Remembering Raquel By Vivian Vande Velde
In the book remembering Raquel, by Vivian Velde, Raquel Falcone is a 14-year-old girl who is a freshman in a school in New York. She has a blog page which she calls Gylindrielle’s World. Gylindrielle’s World is a place where’s there’s no hate and everyone and everything is at peace with each other.
Raquel and her best friend, Hayley Eveski, interact with each other by using Raquel’s blog page. Raquel uses this blog as a way to let out her feelings which attracts a user named Warrior Guy who although does not know Raquel personally creates a bond of friendship between them. Although Raquel may seem as an open person online she is portrayed as a totally different person at school. Raquel doesn’t socialize much with her classmates so her classmates don’t pay any attention to her. She is basically invisible at school. All of not paying any mind to Raquel changes when she is coming home from the movie theater and is struck by a car and dies because of the impact. Despite the fact that many of her classmates felt pity for her death, many had different reactions as well as reasonings to why she had died by a car impact. Even though her death was filed as an accident and no one saw what clearly happened assumptions were made and Raquel was the talk of the town. “Could I have stopped whatever it was that happened from happening? Shouldn’t a best friend be able to do that?- Hayley Eveski, best friend.” Hayley’s statement shows a bit of what is known as survival guilt. Hayley was really close to Raquel so by her best friend dying a part of her also died with her. Not many people had the same reaction as Hayley did when they found out Raquel died.
The following quote shows this. “My first thought, on hearing that Raquel was dead, was: Oh crap, that makes me the class fat girl.- Vanessa Weiss, classmate.” This is a perfect example of how you really don’t know how someone will react to your death.
Their reaction can be what most is expected or something that is not expected at all. By this quotation you can tell that Vanessa Weiss and Raquel Falcone were not close at all. This book has taught me that every minute of life is valuable because you never know when your last moments on this planet will be. Nothing is impossible. Even though this story is fiction, it can be a real life situation. For instance when you look at Raquel’s situation she’s just a teenager who happens to be the same age as me going to the movies. You really don’t think nothing of it. No one expects a tragedy to happen until it does. Raquel was just in what most would consider being in the wrong place and time. This can happen to anyone really but the reality is no one truly understands situations like these until they, themselves go through it or a loved one does.
I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks a short story can’t be powerful. Remembering Raquel is told in perspectives of those close to Raquel as well as those who weren’t. It’s definitely a good book to read and it might even leave you wondering how you’d be remembered by those close and not so close to you.
