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booksrbrainfood's review against another edition
2.0
I liked the premise of this book and certainly the hype drawn in the comparison to Station Eleven was enough to draw me to it. The problem was that the flow of the book itself didn't hold together well enough for me. It was hard to follow at times and while parts of it were decently good, other parts needed work.
#LastDay #NetGalley
#LastDay #NetGalley
ramonamead's review against another edition
3.0
While the comparisons to Station Eleven aren't accurate, this is a unique, intriguing novel. The writing is skilled, full of feeling and vivid imagery. We meet a series of flawed humans who we follow throughout the course of one day. These characters are deep, complicated, and despite their mistakes, worth rooting for. I enjoyed the story and the connections the characters make. As a whole, though I found it unsatisfying. Perhaps it went over my head, or I haven't had enough time to throughly process the whole thing. While the story is pretty bleak, it's also thought provoking and the writing alone is worth reading. I say definitely give it a try!
Many thanks to NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Many thanks to NetGalley for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
janetlweller's review against another edition
3.0
Despite not really being able to connect with the main characters (an astronaut on the international space station, a 40 ish tattoo artist, a teenager, and a bi-polar woman) I enjoyed the first 3/4 of this book. It centers on May 28, a day celebrated throughout the world as "Last Day", ie: the world will literally end. Despite the world going on, this day has been a holiday throughout different cultures for thousands of years, and Ruta does a nice job of exploring how different parts of the world observe it. (Many do irresponsible things, and Americans usually have a big bonfire, everyone burning something symbolic). The book bounces between characters, and while at first they seem random, their interconnectedness surfaces in interesting degrees. However, I had major issues with the ending, both the actual story, and how the story is written, that really reduced my enjoyment of the book.
janetlweller's review against another edition
3.0
Despite not really being able to connect with the main characters (an astronaut on the international space station, a 40 ish tattoo artist, a teenager, and a bi-polar woman) I enjoyed the first 3/4 of this book. It centers on May 28, a day celebrated throughout the world as "Last Day", ie: the world will literally end. Despite the world going on, this day has been a holiday throughout different cultures for thousands of years, and Ruta does a nice job of exploring how different parts of the world observe it. (Many do irresponsible things, and Americans usually have a big bonfire, everyone burning something symbolic). The book bounces between characters, and while at first they seem random, their interconnectedness surfaces in interesting degrees. However, I had major issues with the ending, both the actual story, and how the story is written, that really reduced my enjoyment of the book.
meeshreads's review against another edition
4.0
Each of the characters in this book were so different from each other and well described, I could completely picture them going about their Last Day activities. I wasn't sure where the story was heading but the ending was perfect.
kylieqrada's review against another edition
4.0
A series of vignettes following a cast of unrelated characters in a world where every May 27th is celebrated as the potential last day of Earth. Spoiler alert: there's no big coming together of the characters. However, I found that the way the story wrapped up meant that I didn't need it. I will admit, this was a tad depressing, and I will give trigger warnings for elder abuse, neglect of a child, a sexual relationship with a LARGE age gap, fat shaming, and severe mental illness. However, I found myself really enjoying this. I feel like sometimes we just need a reminder that everyone has their sh*t, ya know?
cozyinthenook's review against another edition
2.0
My boss recommended I read this book. I didn’t understand why the author introduced so many irrelevant characters. I expected them to be connected somehow, but they weren’t. I didn’t particularly care about any of the characters or their journeys. I felt like a lot was said, but nothing really happened. Was that the point?
peaches_and_plums's review
4.0
An interesting weave of several different story lines. The ending was bleak AF though.
goldbergsk's review
3.0
3.5 stars rounded down to 3, since the ending was so upsetting I had nightmares.
Last Day tells the story of multiple characters, connected by varying degrees of separation, as they celebrate the international holiday "Last Day,' which is an annual celebration of the anticipated end of the world. These characters range the gamut from an asexual adolescent on a journey of self-discovery, to a special needs woman trying to track down her family, to a tattoo artist attempting to make amends, to astronauts on board the ISS, and many others.
In addition, inter-spliced between the chapters are short vignettes describing the history of the Last Day holiday, and the various ways that different countries and cultures observe and celebrate. As a side note, these vignettes were honestly some of my favorite parts of the book, and were some of the most creative and expansive bits of world building, in a book that aimed to increasingly 'build a world' as it went along. There is part of me that wishes there could be a graphic novella accompaniment that goes into further details of the history and present day Last Day celebrations--I would buy it in a heartbeat.
As for the book itself.
There is a lot of good here. The initial central characters are well formed and distinct in their voices, though at times there was a bit too much of growing mystery about their pasts which was never explained. The Last Day vignettes, as I mentioned above, were fantastic. I admire the ambition of this book, and think it's a new take on the apocalyptic fiction genre--though I would NEVER make a comparison to Station Eleven. This is squarely in the apocalyptic/actual apocalypse space, not in the post-apocalyptic/ 'we can learn about life by seeing how people deal with encountered death and tragedy'
But as the book went on, it got a bit too big for its constraints. More and more characters and settings were added, particularly in the last few pages, to little benefit, and at the expense of spending one last moment with our main characters. The ways that all the characters connected became increasingly more tenuous and forced, sometimes to the point of improbability. The ending, as I noted above, was truly disturbing and upsetting, though I guess that's not really a negative--it's just a thing to be aware of. Of all the post-apocalyptic books I've read, this one is the most bleak--not only in the end of the world, but in its belief in the ability of characters to ever change and grow.
Ultimately, while I think this book was very well-written and will appeal to a lot of people, I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed it.
Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the free ARC, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Last Day tells the story of multiple characters, connected by varying degrees of separation, as they celebrate the international holiday "Last Day,' which is an annual celebration of the anticipated end of the world. These characters range the gamut from an asexual adolescent on a journey of self-discovery, to a special needs woman trying to track down her family, to a tattoo artist attempting to make amends, to astronauts on board the ISS, and many others.
In addition, inter-spliced between the chapters are short vignettes describing the history of the Last Day holiday, and the various ways that different countries and cultures observe and celebrate. As a side note, these vignettes were honestly some of my favorite parts of the book, and were some of the most creative and expansive bits of world building, in a book that aimed to increasingly 'build a world' as it went along. There is part of me that wishes there could be a graphic novella accompaniment that goes into further details of the history and present day Last Day celebrations--I would buy it in a heartbeat.
As for the book itself.
There is a lot of good here. The initial central characters are well formed and distinct in their voices, though at times there was a bit too much of growing mystery about their pasts which was never explained. The Last Day vignettes, as I mentioned above, were fantastic. I admire the ambition of this book, and think it's a new take on the apocalyptic fiction genre--though I would NEVER make a comparison to Station Eleven. This is squarely in the apocalyptic/actual apocalypse space, not in the post-apocalyptic/ 'we can learn about life by seeing how people deal with encountered death and tragedy'
But as the book went on, it got a bit too big for its constraints. More and more characters and settings were added, particularly in the last few pages, to little benefit, and at the expense of spending one last moment with our main characters. The ways that all the characters connected became increasingly more tenuous and forced, sometimes to the point of improbability. The ending, as I noted above, was truly disturbing and upsetting, though I guess that's not really a negative--it's just a thing to be aware of. Of all the post-apocalyptic books I've read, this one is the most bleak--not only in the end of the world, but in its belief in the ability of characters to ever change and grow.
Ultimately, while I think this book was very well-written and will appeal to a lot of people, I'm not sure I can say I enjoyed it.
Thank you to Net Galley and Random House for the free ARC, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
christie's review
3.0
The premise of this book is interesting, but I just couldn't get behind the characters or the plot. With so many different people involved in different story lines, it was a little hard to follow everything that was going on for each character.