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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of those books that reminds me why it's good to reach for a story outside your comfort zone. For me, ruminations on death and grieving are an immediate no, but I trusted the author enough to pick this one up and see where it took me. It's worth noting that the book isn't precisely about death and grieving, though it's part of the equation. It's about reaching out a hand to your friends when they go through the roughest patches of their lives. It's about celebrating each other at low points so that we get back up and keep fighting into a new beginning. But don't start thinking from that description that you won't suffer in the reading of it. Because here's my summary: this book messed me up. I knew it would, and it still came for me. I was crying pretty much immediately. It wasn't like that for every moment, but more of an on-and-off adventure. Every time I picked the book up, I wondered if this was another time when it would lash out and bite me.
I think these reactions are certainly a consequence of the thoughtful, unflinching look at life and death in these pages. But it only has so much reach because of the beautifully written, complex characters. While studying at Berkeley, a group of transfer students was placed on the same dorm floor, where their lifelong bonds were formed. The group lost Alec just before graduation to an overdose. It was a great tragedy that led them to forge an unconventional pact. It's unclear whether Alec's death was accidental or intentional, and the fear lingers that he left this world not knowing how much he was loved. In a drunken, post-funeral haze, it's suggested that each of them can cash in on their own funeral at one future, unspecified time when it's needed most. Each friend can light the Batsignal, and the others will show up to eulogize them and remind them of all they mean to the group. They all agree, to varying degrees of skepticism, but when the first is cashed in nearly twenty years later, it starts something meaningful and powerful for them all.
The story has a clever way of playing with the timeline to reveal information on the author's schedule. We see that fateful promise, and we bounce around between different funerals and a moment in the present when one of their number has called for his funeral after a terminal cancer diagnosis. We see Marielle's funeral first. Her life became about motherhood so soon after university that a divorce just before her daughter goes off to college feels like the end of everything. She hadn't envisioned her life going this way, without a career or seemingly a life of her own. Next comes Naomi. Her emotionally (and physically) distant parents have died in a plane crash. An event she'd never considered has destabilized her whole world and left her no path forward to get the appreciation she never received from them. Craig's funeral is called on his behalf. He's about to go to prison for art fraud, and his career as a gallerist is over. His whole existence has become wrapped up in his work, and now it's over with scary consequences to boot. Finally, we land on the Jordans, so-called because of their shared name. They got together just before Alec died and have been attached at the hip nearly ever since. They run a PR firm as a team, so even their professional lives are intertwined. Jordan beat cancer the first time, but just when he was about to successfully exit remission, it came back, and this time, there will be no victory over it. His husband, Jordy, suggests he call for his funeral as his last months tick by. There won't be another chance.
I feel like this book will haunt me, not necessarily in a bad way, but that's the mood. While I gave you a picture here of the scope of the book, I could never capture how much you come to care about these characters. The scope of the story covers these big topics but also the inside jokes lifelong friends share, the idiosyncrasies that make each person and the group as a whole tick, and the little things that make life worth living. It's as hopeful as it is draining, giving and taking to leave a reader transformed, eyes re-opened. Thanks to Putnam for my copy to read and review!
I think these reactions are certainly a consequence of the thoughtful, unflinching look at life and death in these pages. But it only has so much reach because of the beautifully written, complex characters. While studying at Berkeley, a group of transfer students was placed on the same dorm floor, where their lifelong bonds were formed. The group lost Alec just before graduation to an overdose. It was a great tragedy that led them to forge an unconventional pact. It's unclear whether Alec's death was accidental or intentional, and the fear lingers that he left this world not knowing how much he was loved. In a drunken, post-funeral haze, it's suggested that each of them can cash in on their own funeral at one future, unspecified time when it's needed most. Each friend can light the Batsignal, and the others will show up to eulogize them and remind them of all they mean to the group. They all agree, to varying degrees of skepticism, but when the first is cashed in nearly twenty years later, it starts something meaningful and powerful for them all.
The story has a clever way of playing with the timeline to reveal information on the author's schedule. We see that fateful promise, and we bounce around between different funerals and a moment in the present when one of their number has called for his funeral after a terminal cancer diagnosis. We see Marielle's funeral first. Her life became about motherhood so soon after university that a divorce just before her daughter goes off to college feels like the end of everything. She hadn't envisioned her life going this way, without a career or seemingly a life of her own. Next comes Naomi. Her emotionally (and physically) distant parents have died in a plane crash. An event she'd never considered has destabilized her whole world and left her no path forward to get the appreciation she never received from them. Craig's funeral is called on his behalf. He's about to go to prison for art fraud, and his career as a gallerist is over. His whole existence has become wrapped up in his work, and now it's over with scary consequences to boot. Finally, we land on the Jordans, so-called because of their shared name. They got together just before Alec died and have been attached at the hip nearly ever since. They run a PR firm as a team, so even their professional lives are intertwined. Jordan beat cancer the first time, but just when he was about to successfully exit remission, it came back, and this time, there will be no victory over it. His husband, Jordy, suggests he call for his funeral as his last months tick by. There won't be another chance.
I feel like this book will haunt me, not necessarily in a bad way, but that's the mood. While I gave you a picture here of the scope of the book, I could never capture how much you come to care about these characters. The scope of the story covers these big topics but also the inside jokes lifelong friends share, the idiosyncrasies that make each person and the group as a whole tick, and the little things that make life worth living. It's as hopeful as it is draining, giving and taking to leave a reader transformed, eyes re-opened. Thanks to Putnam for my copy to read and review!
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
slow-paced
Really wanted to love this book and it had its moments but I didn’t connect with characters or the humor of the book.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Love this author. Listen to the audiobook, he reads it himself and just makes it so much funnier.