Reviews - We All Looked Up

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Okay so a lot of people here do NOT like this book and I was not expecting that. I finished reading it and it’s become my new favorite book. I came here to write this review and all of the top reviews are one star and people HATE IT??? Their reasoning is valid, but this is my favorite book because of the way it’s changed my perspective. I subscribe to the ideology of absurdism, and the characters coming to term with the inherent meaninglessness of life but still becoming content with it and accepting their existence as it existed was such an amazing thing for me. I stress about the future so horribly, forgetting to live in the present moment. This is reminding me to continue in my life without letting the future overrun it, because the future may not ever come.

novaturient_bibliophile's review against another edition

3.5

emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is a perfectly decent book if you go into it with no expectations of greatness. Unfortunately, I saw this book getting hyped up on Pinterest and decided to give it a read. Worst decision of my life.
This EASILY could have become a quintessential teen novel if it was actually widely relatable to teens instead of just having them as characters. So much of the action/plot was SO far removed from the realm of high school and just entirely implausible to SO many groups of teens.

Not to mention, it tried to touch on so many ideas and criticize so much but yet it conveniently left out issues such as race and queerness that the author clearly had bias on based on his offhand comments.
Besides that omission of minorities, all of the “impactful” lines were beyond cliched. I feel like the author tried to subvert this by using the teacher’s little speech at the beginning about “the best books saying nothing new”, but instead it just angered me even further.

And don’t even get me started on the relationships or the characters. Genuinely just a crap show of cliches and misogyny, with muddled “development”.

The only thing about this book that I truly liked was how the author incorporated asteroid-themed figurative language throughout. It truly hammered home the whole concept of the book even when the plot itself went a bit off the rails.

Overall, this was a majorly disappointing book because I truly believed that I would read this before my senior year and it would change my perception of everything. Yeah, right. I was able to answer a Jeopardy question about Pyrrhic victory but that is the only lasting impact that this book will ever have on me.

nimav's review against another edition

1.0

I have a hard time reading books that don't REALLY interest me. And when I started reading this I immediately felt like it wasn't for me. The general idea of the book appealed to me, but I could not sympathize with the characters and the general mindset of the book?? If that makes sense?

marianneereads's review against another edition

3.0

Be sure to stop by my blog on 3/25 to enter to be part of the Giveaway!

Boricuan Bookworms- Book Reviews.

Question: How could you look the end of the world in the face and not go crazy? Answer: You couldn’t.

We All Looked Up has a wonderful cover. I think it’s one of the first things that drew me to the book. I’m pleased to say that I was not fooled by a pretty cover.

I found this story quite enjoyable, first of all, because it really makes you think. It’s about the end of the world, and what would you do if you knew exactly when it was going to end. I like how it was explored and I think it was very realistic.

The writing is so beautiful. Seriously. I would just stare in awe at a lot of paragraphs because the author really has a way with words.

The best books, they don't talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you'd always thought about, but that you didn't think anyone else had thought about. You read them, and suddenly you're a little bit less alone in the world.

The book is narrated in 3rd person with the point of view various characters. Each character is completely different, but I really really enjoyed Eliza’s point of view most of all. I think that she was one of the most cynical voices of the lot. She had a view of the world that made her POV all the much more tragic. It made the book much more heartbreaking.

Eliza thought about all the things she’d hoped to do in her life, all the lives she’d wanted to live. She could see them now, jagged paths cut into the shadowy future, lit up in small bursts of light.

My only issue with this book is that it tried so painfully hard to be teenage. In some POVs, the word “like” was added to almost every other sentence. (I.e. “He, like, wrecked my life.” “I’d be, like,…” “Because, like…”). There was also some really obvious jargon that was meant to sound teenage (totes, totally, dude, bro) but came off as forced most of the time. There was also some chaos (and I mean chaos) at the middle of the book, where everything felt sort of disjointed and not really going anywhere. I had to force myself to get past that part.

However, once we get past that little rough patch, the book uses the wonderful and brilliant writing to end it on a very beautiful and poignant note. It’s an open ending, but in the very best way. It made the book feel almost alive.

Overall, Tommy Wallach uses wonderful prose and writing to deliver a story that’ll make you think about the preciousness of life and the importance of living.

“People talked about their days being numbered, but really, everything was numbered. Every movie you watched was the last time you’d watch that movie, or the second-to-last time, or the third-to-last. Every kiss was one kiss closer to your last kiss.”