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A review by inkylabyrinth
Last Day by Domenica Ruta
4.0
Congratulations! It is well into June, and it appears that we have survived another year--dodged another bullet, or, another apocalypse--as we wave goodbye to May 28th, fading in our rearview window along with the first half of 2019.
Remember back in 2012, when lots of people were convinced that one day in December was the date the Mayan calendar stopped, deeming it to be the end of the world? Remember when nothing happened? Before that, it was the Y2K scare. (And those examples are only from my own lifetime--we as a species are pretty obsessed with the apocalypse).
Last Day is kind of like that, except almost everyone, all around the world, really believes that the apocalypse will happen on the 28th of May. The hilarious kicker is, nobody knows which May 28th. So each year, people from nearly every niche on our planet anticipate, celebrate, or go all out bonkers for the holiday. On May 29th, humanity goes back to normal, as if nothing had happened, because, well, nothing did happen. Rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat...
The world Ruta has created is one exactly like ours in every way, minus one gaping hole of a difference: a cursed day at the end of the fifth month of the year known ubiquitously around the globe as Last Day.
On this particular Last Day, the story bounces between several characters (a few too many of them, in my opinion), each with a unique view on how to get through the roller coaster of emotions that is Last Day. I would have liked some more diversity in the characters, but the ones Ruta did create were written well in their own voices.
There’s Kurt, an alcohol-guzzling, washed up tattoo artist who can’t stop treating women badly. He has a tattoo shop called “Redemption” that shucks out free tattoos every Last Day (as long as you let the tattoo artist pick the tattoo).
Then there’s Sarah Moss (who hates her name): a highly intelligent, asexual high schooler who, despite promising herself not to act out teenage cliches, does just that. Sarah used to lock herself up in her room with anxiety medication every Last Day, but Sarah vows to make this one different.
Also there is Karen, a young woman already beaten down by life after spending her childhood in several foster care homes, and who has a strange habit of swallowing inedible items when she is upset, among other “quirks”(/mental illness symptoms). Karen at least has Rosette, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness who drags Karen along with her to a new “pop-up church” led by a pastor with a new perspective on Last Day.
These three main characters are all looking for redemption, whatever that means to them individually. They make massive promises to themselves and they swear they will change their ways, using Last Day as their catalyst. Just like those hopefuls who make New Year's resolutions, these characters can't come to terms with the fact that May 28th, just like January 1st, is just another day on our little blue planet.
Watching this, and all the world, from above are three men in the International Space Station: an American and a Russian astronaut, along with a rich Japanese tourist.
Besides following these main characters, we briefly see other groups of people and other individuals leading up to May 28th. Despite their ignorance, all of Ruta's characters are connected to each other in some way. This is one of my favorite concepts in a book, but rather than being a delightful Easter egg hunt, some of the relations were muddled and hard to catch. I actually really wish we had more time with the Last Day-ers on the fringe that we only catch a tiny glimpse of--they reminded me a bit of some of the post-apocalypse groupings from [a:Margaret Atwood|3472|Margaret Atwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1282859073p2/3472.jpg]’s [b:The MaddAddam Trilogy: Oryx and Crake / The Year of the Flood / MaddAddam|18594761|The MaddAddam Trilogy Oryx and Crake / The Year of the Flood / MaddAddam|Margaret Atwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395435093s/18594761.jpg|26341230].
You’ve got the “Doomsdayers”, naturally, who hoard and prepare for a certain type of doomsday. Not much is said about them, but I likened them to those people who dig out bomb shelters and stock it with rations, determined that the End will be met with zombies or super military AI weapons gone horribly wrong.
Of course there’s the religious zealots, of every religion, each melding their own way to make it through Last Day, which they imagine as biblical--more of a gaudy, drawn out theater program than a bang or a whimper.
There are those who just want to party, get high, and see Earth go out with as big of a Bang as She was made in--no tomorrow means no consequences for anyone!--and there are those who are desperately clinging to Her, praying and begging, pleading to whichever Higher Power that is listening that they aren’t ready for their beloved Earth to die.
Last Day is a book that is difficult to place into a genre, though it feels like literary fiction more than anything else. It’s also a book that I think going in blind is best for the reader; the less you know, the better. However, I think a lot of readers will pick this up thinking it is a plot-driven dystopian fiction, as I thought before I dove in. It’s a study of many characters, all over the world, and their unique perspectives and experiences before and during Last Day. I wanted to give this book a three-star rating, but I decided that it deserved the fourth star after I realized how much the story impacted me emotionally. The ending played over in my head for days, and it's taken me over a month to write this review.
Many thanks to my new friend Lenoire for talking about this unique book with me! It really helped me process the book’s message(s) and meaning as a whole, as well as look at the characters from someone else’s perspective in addition to my own. And thank you so much to Spiegel & Grau and to Goodreads giveaways! I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
__________________________________________
Initial thoughts: I am so glad that I was able to take a short break from this & then come back & devour it.
This one requires a lot of patience but the reward is heartbreaking-ly & terribly good.
Remember back in 2012, when lots of people were convinced that one day in December was the date the Mayan calendar stopped, deeming it to be the end of the world? Remember when nothing happened? Before that, it was the Y2K scare. (And those examples are only from my own lifetime--we as a species are pretty obsessed with the apocalypse).
Last Day is kind of like that, except almost everyone, all around the world, really believes that the apocalypse will happen on the 28th of May. The hilarious kicker is, nobody knows which May 28th. So each year, people from nearly every niche on our planet anticipate, celebrate, or go all out bonkers for the holiday. On May 29th, humanity goes back to normal, as if nothing had happened, because, well, nothing did happen. Rinse and repeat. And repeat. And repeat...
Their love for the end was everlasting [...] They went back to normal, to their normal, in which fear and righteousness attended the mundane business of living. Standing over a sink of dirty dishes, a battered mother of three could look with tenderness toward the coming end.
The world Ruta has created is one exactly like ours in every way, minus one gaping hole of a difference: a cursed day at the end of the fifth month of the year known ubiquitously around the globe as Last Day.
Celebrating an imaginary apocalypse while schools filled with children were bombed by dictators and pipelines leaked millions of tons of crude oil into the sea. It was so obvious it was stupid, and Sarah hated herself for being sucked into [it].
On this particular Last Day, the story bounces between several characters (a few too many of them, in my opinion), each with a unique view on how to get through the roller coaster of emotions that is Last Day. I would have liked some more diversity in the characters, but the ones Ruta did create were written well in their own voices.
There’s Kurt, an alcohol-guzzling, washed up tattoo artist who can’t stop treating women badly. He has a tattoo shop called “Redemption” that shucks out free tattoos every Last Day (as long as you let the tattoo artist pick the tattoo).
Then there’s Sarah Moss (who hates her name): a highly intelligent, asexual high schooler who, despite promising herself not to act out teenage cliches, does just that. Sarah used to lock herself up in her room with anxiety medication every Last Day, but Sarah vows to make this one different.
Also there is Karen, a young woman already beaten down by life after spending her childhood in several foster care homes, and who has a strange habit of swallowing inedible items when she is upset, among other “quirks”(/mental illness symptoms). Karen at least has Rosette, an ex-Jehovah’s Witness who drags Karen along with her to a new “pop-up church” led by a pastor with a new perspective on Last Day.
These three main characters are all looking for redemption, whatever that means to them individually. They make massive promises to themselves and they swear they will change their ways, using Last Day as their catalyst. Just like those hopefuls who make New Year's resolutions, these characters can't come to terms with the fact that May 28th, just like January 1st, is just another day on our little blue planet.
Watching this, and all the world, from above are three men in the International Space Station: an American and a Russian astronaut, along with a rich Japanese tourist.
Besides following these main characters, we briefly see other groups of people and other individuals leading up to May 28th. Despite their ignorance, all of Ruta's characters are connected to each other in some way. This is one of my favorite concepts in a book, but rather than being a delightful Easter egg hunt, some of the relations were muddled and hard to catch. I actually really wish we had more time with the Last Day-ers on the fringe that we only catch a tiny glimpse of--they reminded me a bit of some of the post-apocalypse groupings from [a:Margaret Atwood|3472|Margaret Atwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1282859073p2/3472.jpg]’s [b:The MaddAddam Trilogy: Oryx and Crake / The Year of the Flood / MaddAddam|18594761|The MaddAddam Trilogy Oryx and Crake / The Year of the Flood / MaddAddam|Margaret Atwood|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1395435093s/18594761.jpg|26341230].
You’ve got the “Doomsdayers”, naturally, who hoard and prepare for a certain type of doomsday. Not much is said about them, but I likened them to those people who dig out bomb shelters and stock it with rations, determined that the End will be met with zombies or super military AI weapons gone horribly wrong.
Of course there’s the religious zealots, of every religion, each melding their own way to make it through Last Day, which they imagine as biblical--more of a gaudy, drawn out theater program than a bang or a whimper.
There are those who just want to party, get high, and see Earth go out with as big of a Bang as She was made in--no tomorrow means no consequences for anyone!--and there are those who are desperately clinging to Her, praying and begging, pleading to whichever Higher Power that is listening that they aren’t ready for their beloved Earth to die.
Despite what felt like a never-ending fountain of oil spills, carbon emissions, and toxic waste, the planet had yet to smolder into one big ashtray. Life marches on. It always did. It probably always would, at least in her lifetime and for many thousands of lifetimes after hers. No big deal. It was a dramatic holiday of self-inflicted upheaval drawn out into a public performance. Collective catharsis and all that.
Right?
Last Day is a book that is difficult to place into a genre, though it feels like literary fiction more than anything else. It’s also a book that I think going in blind is best for the reader; the less you know, the better. However, I think a lot of readers will pick this up thinking it is a plot-driven dystopian fiction, as I thought before I dove in. It’s a study of many characters, all over the world, and their unique perspectives and experiences before and during Last Day. I wanted to give this book a three-star rating, but I decided that it deserved the fourth star after I realized how much the story impacted me emotionally. The ending played over in my head for days, and it's taken me over a month to write this review.
The signs were everywhere. [...] There were too many people in the world, and not enough resources to sustain them, not even enough names to go around. [...] How many movies were exactly like other movies? How many times could people tell the same story? The world was running out of ideas. If there was any death knell for humanity, it was not peak oil or global warming or beehive collapse but the superfluity of Sarahs.
Many thanks to my new friend Lenoire for talking about this unique book with me! It really helped me process the book’s message(s) and meaning as a whole, as well as look at the characters from someone else’s perspective in addition to my own. And thank you so much to Spiegel & Grau and to Goodreads giveaways! I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
__________________________________________
Initial thoughts: I am so glad that I was able to take a short break from this & then come back & devour it.
This one requires a lot of patience but the reward is heartbreaking-ly & terribly good.