What Happened to Lani Garver

... Claire, who tells us the story of WHAT HAPPENED TO LANI GARVER. It is a horror story about a person--well, let's say, a being--who arrives with his mother on Hackett Island, where Claire is a native. Sporting an unusual hairstyle and graced with delicate features, it is unclear whether LANI (pronounced "Lonny") is a boy or a girl. ...

Claire is a native. Her boyfriend is a member of the fish frat--"that's the sons of Hackett's commercial fishermen, who are sometimes lifeguards and usually very hunky." Her friends think she should be happy, set in her position among the high school elite, healthy after missing most of junior high due to treatments for acute juvenile leukemia.

But Claire, who still has her share of problems, sees the neatly folded boxes of her life crumble when she becomes friends with Lani. And what happens as a result is a tense tale that won't let you go.

"We don't talk about the drowning around the island. We don't really talk about what led up to it, either. If I hear Lani's name, it's usually in mentions of him having gone to our high school for only two days, and isn't that weird, as if the greater mysteries never existed. Maybe that's the way people need to remember it."

While reading WHAT HAPPENED TO LANI GARVER, my stomach all knotted up, I kept asking myself, "Could a whole group of kids really be this horrible?" ...

Richie ...

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is all that I have been talking about since the moment I finished it.

At first glance, one might think Claire has it all. This high school cheerleader has a devoted best friend, a sought-after boyfriend and a group of elite buddies. But if you look closer, you'll see not everything is as it seems. Claire's parents are divorced, her mother slowly turns to alcohol more and more, and Claire is in remission from leukemia, which took her out of school for a year.

Enter Lani Garver, the new kid at school. He is a few years older and quite a bit wiser than his small-town peers. At first, his long hair, slight build and tendency to giggle make his classmates think that he is a girl. He sets them straight but is still regarded as a freak by most.

Claire's path crosses with Lani's a few times in as many days. A whirlwind friendship begins that defies the teenage laws of who you hang out with. With Claire as the protagonist, it becomes not just Lani's story but hers as well: her eyes being to open, and she learns - at times, the hard way - how the world works, how cruel some people can be, how kind others are.

This book is an amazing piece of work. It is a realistic anatomy of a hate crime that will make you think and leave you wondering about the state of the world. It is an emotional experience. I would not doubt that "What Happened to Lani Garver" will catch the attention of critics and book awards alike. This is the very definition of a must-read.

I picked up What Happened to Lani Garver because a friend had told me "Don't have any expectations from the back cover... just read it and form your own opinions." That intrigued me, so I read it, and omigod I just read the greatest book of my life! What Happened to Lani Garver left me in shock.
Ok, so it dealt with your typical "hard issues" found in teen books these days: eating disorders, death, homosexuality, high school social pressures etc. (I say hard issues in parentheses not because these topics are to be taken lightly, but because these books are so loosely written that it seems as though every teenage girl has an eating disorder or has a boyfriend who commits suicide. not true. It also seems as though "teen books" are now being geared towards - and rightly so, judging by their content - to 11-13 year olds.) The great thing about that was that it didn't make them the central focus of the story. Claire, the main girl character, had an eating disorder, and Lani Garver, the main other character, had to help her with dealing with it - but that was merely a side story. Carol Plum-Ucci is very talented, and this is the perfect example of her capabilities.
This book was so refreshing, and just such a pleasure to read. I don't only mean that it was a good story, but it was almost like talking to a friend that you don't see very often- a real pleasure! I highly reccomend this book to everyone who wants a serious read.

First of all, this is a GREAT book that is hard to put down once you start reading it. You'll wonder, do angels really exist? Lani (pronounced Lonnie) seems feminine and masculine at the same time. With his girlish features, he becomes the outcast at the high school....and it doesn't help that he's new to town either. Luckily, he finds a friend in Claire, who is in remission from leukemia and whose friends are too creeped out about her courageous battle with cancer to talk about it with her.

Lani, as Claire finds out, is a good listener and also gives good advice. But when the other people in town accuse Lani of being gay and propositioning one of the town drunks, things go a little haywire. Should Claire stick with the friends she's known for years or this he-she, Lani, who has only been around a few days? Is she seeing things conveniently or is what she sees the truth?

This book, once I opened it, was a hard one to put down and it kept me going right up until the ending. If you're looking for a book that will hold your attention and keep you on the edge of your seat, this book is definitely for you.

This is a wonderful book, even better than The body of christopher creed" also by this author. Lani Garver is intelligent beyond his years and such a incredibly kind person. But because he is different and refuses to let himself be categorised by anyone, he is picked on and treated cruelly.
Both Lani and Claire, the protagonist, are very likeable characters. Claire has a very endearing naivety and it is easy to relate to her feelings about her family, friends and Lani.
I would say this is a great book for anyone homophobic to read as it really makes you question your assumptions. Lani is a very enigmatic character, just like Christopher was. If there was one thing I didnt like about the book, it was the give-away first chapter which kind of summed up the story. Even so, it still manages to keep you in suspense.
The book made a very large impact on me and I think it will teach us not to marginalize people.It will also leave you wondering, "What happened to Lani Garver?"