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A review by runnerjules
They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera
2.0
I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I actually did. I guess that is my punishment for reading a YA novel, being a woman over 40 myself.
The core idea of the book has something intriguing and fascinating about it, and it would have made for a brilliant masterpiece, had it been written in a completely different way. Maybe it is just me expecting too much, being too old fashioned or too cynical after having lived twice as long as the public this book was written for. But I do believe there are some serious missed opportunities that completely ruined the experience for me.
The story goes like this : somewhere in a parrallel or future universe, people are able to forecast death and civilians receive a call from "Death Cast" right after midnight with the announcement that their last day on earth has begon. No one knows how the people will die or when it will happen, in the morning or at the end of the day, but certain is that by midnight 24 hours later, the person who gets the call will be dead.
The book tells the story about two teenage boys (17 and 18 years old) in New York, who do not know each other, but who both receive the call no one wants to receive. Using an app called "Last Friend" they get in touch and spend the day together. Well... until they die, that is (quite predictable).
As said, a lot of possibilities here, topics like regrets, last wishes, how to say goodbye could make for intriguing story lines if handled in depth. But there it is : there is no in depth in this story. Nothing. Just that both die in the end, and that, well, is quite predictable given the title of the book and the concept of Death Cast.
What turned me off reading the book :
* the story is about absolutely NOTHING. Nothing happens, no interesting story lines or twists and turns. Just two souls being completely lost while they actually have every chance to make something out of the day. Completely unrealistic. It drags on for ever and ever, boring and long, and then when the interesting part comes, well, yes, the part where they die, the author chickens out and stops the chapter in the middle of writing. Unbalanced is and understatement.
* so many themes related to death and saying goodbye, related to losing loved ones and regrets, could be explored here on a more profound level. Yet here we find ourselves dragging us through 30 pages of people having the time of their life (?) in an imaginary rain forest. Seriously ?
* the overload of completely irrelevant characters that whole chapters are devoted to. "Charlie did not receive the call because he is not going to die but he did happen to cross the road right when Mateo and Rufus did". So what ? Who the *** cares ? It adds nothing to the story, on the contrary, it causes noise.
* While one understand why Rufus isn't able to spend his last day with his best friends, there is absolutely no reason for Mateo not to do this. Yet, he shuts her out and spends the day with some stranger he met via an app online. Very unrealistic
* without wanting to ruin the small surprise in the final chapter of book : even that development is underdeveloped. While I like the idea behind it, and while I do not have anything against insta-love, if the author wanted this development to be realistic, he should have worked towards it more in the beginning of the book. But no, he was to busy talking about 37 other irrelevant characters.
Like I said, this is probably me being too old to appreciate this kind of superficial literature, but I do hope even the teenagers living today chose more interesting books with a more realistic view on life than this one.
The core idea of the book has something intriguing and fascinating about it, and it would have made for a brilliant masterpiece, had it been written in a completely different way. Maybe it is just me expecting too much, being too old fashioned or too cynical after having lived twice as long as the public this book was written for. But I do believe there are some serious missed opportunities that completely ruined the experience for me.
The story goes like this : somewhere in a parrallel or future universe, people are able to forecast death and civilians receive a call from "Death Cast" right after midnight with the announcement that their last day on earth has begon. No one knows how the people will die or when it will happen, in the morning or at the end of the day, but certain is that by midnight 24 hours later, the person who gets the call will be dead.
The book tells the story about two teenage boys (17 and 18 years old) in New York, who do not know each other, but who both receive the call no one wants to receive. Using an app called "Last Friend" they get in touch and spend the day together. Well... until they die, that is (quite predictable).
As said, a lot of possibilities here, topics like regrets, last wishes, how to say goodbye could make for intriguing story lines if handled in depth. But there it is : there is no in depth in this story. Nothing. Just that both die in the end, and that, well, is quite predictable given the title of the book and the concept of Death Cast.
What turned me off reading the book :
* the story is about absolutely NOTHING. Nothing happens, no interesting story lines or twists and turns. Just two souls being completely lost while they actually have every chance to make something out of the day. Completely unrealistic. It drags on for ever and ever, boring and long, and then when the interesting part comes, well, yes, the part where they die, the author chickens out and stops the chapter in the middle of writing. Unbalanced is and understatement.
* so many themes related to death and saying goodbye, related to losing loved ones and regrets, could be explored here on a more profound level. Yet here we find ourselves dragging us through 30 pages of people having the time of their life (?) in an imaginary rain forest. Seriously ?
* the overload of completely irrelevant characters that whole chapters are devoted to. "Charlie did not receive the call because he is not going to die but he did happen to cross the road right when Mateo and Rufus did". So what ? Who the *** cares ? It adds nothing to the story, on the contrary, it causes noise.
* While one understand why Rufus isn't able to spend his last day with his best friends, there is absolutely no reason for Mateo not to do this. Yet, he shuts her out and spends the day with some stranger he met via an app online. Very unrealistic
* without wanting to ruin the small surprise in the final chapter of book : even that development is underdeveloped. While I like the idea behind it, and while I do not have anything against insta-love, if the author wanted this development to be realistic, he should have worked towards it more in the beginning of the book. But no, he was to busy talking about 37 other irrelevant characters.
Like I said, this is probably me being too old to appreciate this kind of superficial literature, but I do hope even the teenagers living today chose more interesting books with a more realistic view on life than this one.