Book Review: They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

They Both Die at the End

Release date: September 5th 2017

On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they’re both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure and to live a lifetime in a single day.

Adam Silvera is 3/3 at making me fall apart while reading his books. This one was very unique, each of his books are so different from each other, and I fell in love with this cast of characters. They pulled me right into their story, these two completely different boys and their friends, and I both didn’t want to stop reading and wanted to run away because of the title and anticipation of all the crying. It was an Adam Silvera book after all.

I enjoyed the multi-POV with the focus on Rufus and Mateo. It was mostly told through the eyes of the two main boys but we got little glimpses into a lot of characters who played a role in the day’s events. Sometimes they were character who’d also gotten to call, sometimes they were friends of either Rufus or Mateo, and sometimes they seemed like a random POV. Everything tied together very well, something I’ve come to expect from an Adam Silvera book.

I like the contrast between the two main boys. Mateo was quiet, much less adventurous, and was dealing with anxiety. Rufus was harsher, abrasive, but underneath very caring. Neither of them deserved to get a call from Deathcast saying they were going to die that day but they did and they both chose to make the most of it. I really liked the idea of an App where someone who’d gotten the call could find someone to spend their last day with and that were places they could go to have an amazing experience.

The whole idea of Deathcast had me wanting more, not in the ‘it wasn’t explained or built well in the book’ way but in the ‘this is so fascinating’ way. I could read about its creation, about the person who got the first call, about the people left behind. There could be so many stories written in this universe and I would read them all. And probably cry a lot because it’s Adam Silvera. Maybe one day I’ll make it through one of his books without crying but it wasn’t this one.

*I received a copy of this book from Indigo Books & Music in exchange for an honest review.

 

Book Review: History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera

History is All You Left Me

Release date: January 17th 2017

When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.
To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.
If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Adam Silvera has a habit of making me cry with his books. I loved More Happy Than Not, loved the plot, loved the characters, loved all the twists. That book set the bar high for this one but History is All You Left Me took that bar, jumped over it, and cleared it with inches to spare(high jump reference).

The book was told all in the POV of Griffin but was divided into Today and History. I really liked seeing the differences in the characters from the past to the present, even though the time gap wasn’t that big. It also gave us a chance to meet Theo as a character in his own right and not just through stories or flashbacks. It gave us a chance to meet Jackson as a grieving boyfriend instead of the guy who stole Theo away from Griffin. They were all great characters and it was easy to see why they would each be attracted to one another.

I liked the contrast between the Today timeline and the History timeline. The change between the timelines never felt abrupt. It was a natural flow into the change that didn’t take me out of the story. In History we see Griffin and Theo growing as a couple and dealing with a lot of the same challenges facing a lot of high school couples. In Today we see Griffin struggling with his grief, with living in a world where Theo no longer lives, and bonding with the one person who can understand – Jackson, who was Theo’s current boyfriend.

There was a great balance between the more comedic scenes(some of them had me in tears I was laughing so hard) and the heartbreaking scenes. This is the second time an Adam Silvera book completely broke me but he breaks me in ways that make me want to reread the books and that have me waiting eagerly for the next one.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera

More Happy Than Not

Aaron hasn’t had an easy life growing up. His friends are never there when it counts, he lives in a one-bedroom apartment with his mother and brother, the same apartment where his father committed suicide in the bathroom. He has a great, supportive girlfriend but he can’t stop thinking about Thomas, a new kid who just gets Aaron in ways no one else has. Being gay in his neighborhood isn’t accepted but Aaron can’t change who he is. Or can he? The Leteo Institute offers people a memory-relief procedure and if Aaron can convince his mom to let him get the procedure, he can have his life back. Even if it means going back to feeling lost and unhappy all the time.

This book was a pretty powerful read. It had a great voice and touched on a lot of issues that are relevant today. It had a nice balance between the darker moments and the lighter moments. I would definitely say it wasn’t an easy or fast read but a very worthwhile read.

Aaron was such an interesting character who drew me into his world so quickly. I fell for his geekery, his love of comics and obsession over a fantasy series. I liked seeing the connection he made with Thomas and him opening up and their friendship definitely seemed to be a high in Aaron’s life. Aaron’s struggles were a huge driving point of the story: his struggle with his sexuality, his struggle about the procedure, his struggle with his dad’s suicide, his depression, figuring out who he is. It was a boy discovering who he was and having to deal with knowing the truth could mean losing it all.

The character interactions in the book were great. Aaron’s overworked mom trying to do her best to care for her boys, Aaron’s brother always there but seeming not interested in his life, the growing friendship of Aaron and Thomas, the relationship between Aaron and his girlfriend, Aaron and his neighborhood friends. It was interesting to see the different ways Aaron would interact with everyone and very telling about how open he would chose to be with each person.

The memory-wiping Leteo Institute was a little confusing at first since I wasn’t sure how it would work in Aaron’s situation but it got clearer as more was revealed. I thought it would play a bigger part in the book since it was the first thing mentioned in the synopsis but the story was more focused on Aaron’s growth, decision, and the aftermath. The whole concept did bring to mind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which I have seen this book compared to and really enjoyed. I didn’t even care that I could see some of the twists coming. I just wanted Aaron to be happy.

The book touched on a lot of important issues. Sexuality, depression, suicide, racism, poverty, homophobia, acceptance, and it did so without feeling like it was trying to cram too many issues into too little pages. It was the type of book a person could just read to read and enjoy, or to read and analyze(and enjoy). It was definitely a book to remember.

And that Scorpius Hawthorne demonic boy wizard series that kept getting mentioned in the book, that needs to be a real thing.