This book is about death, but reading it made me realize more about life. This book is such an eye opener for everyone that it isn’t enough being alive, because alive doesn’t really mean living.
Synopsis
This book is about two teenagers, Mateo and Rufus, having to live their life for the last 24 hours. Basically there is a company in this book called Death-Cast, in which they know when someone is gonna die. ( they are calling people in the middle of the night like “Sorry to say this but you only have 24 hours to live.”). There is this app called the Last Friend that allows people who have the same death day to meet up and do whatever they want before they die. Mateo and Rufus, total strangers to each other, meets because of this app and the story kinda goes there.
“Maybe it’s better to have gotten it right and been happy for one day instead of living a lifetime of wrongs.”
– Mateo Torrez (They Both Die at the End)
I thought this book would be cliché, where 2 people meet up and fall in love for each other. But no, this book is so much more than that. It showed me how important friendships are, how valuable time really is, how I should be living my life, and stuff I didn’t pay attention to back then. This book is such an eye opener for everyone that it isn’t enough being alive, because alive doesn’t really mean living.
Writing
As for the writing, if you read one of Adam Silvera’s work you know how this goes. But for you guys who have no idea what Adam Silvera is capable of, all I’m gonna say is prepare a box of tissues because his writing style will obliterate your little heart (okay I’m exaggerating). Making you teary-eyed on his writing is given, but this book, despite being about death, can also make you laugh. He really knows how to narrate teenagers as if he is one. I thought this book would be full of drama but it still made me laugh at some point.
Plot
The flow of the story at first kinda felt weird to me. I was picturing myself having only a day to live making me feel like the character’s choices were unnecessary because I don’t want to spend my last day the way they did. I understand though, we don’t live the same life and obviously we have different preferences. I liked most the friendship aspect of this book, how the characters care for their friends, treating them like a family. We also get to see the life of minor characters, if they are going to die that day, and how they are affected with Death-Cast. This book is about death, but reading it made me realize more about life.
Characters
Mateo Torez (Protagonist) – He is a gay Puerto Rican (A+ for representation), who prevents him from doing things and take risks because of his anxiety. He loves playing video games, reading books, and stuff that doesn’t involve going outside. But what I like in him the most is his pure kind heart. He cares for everything. He made me realize how powerful kindness really is, that you ought to be doing kindness because you are kind, not because you are waiting for something in return. Also I like the way how he conquers his fears throughout the book.
Rufus Emeterio (Protagonist) – He is a bisexual Cuban character (again, A+ for representation). He is a risk taker, adventurous, and fearless. He is a hard-exterior looking character. At first I thought he was cold hearted, but deep within he is actually kind, he cares for people and their feelings. He loves everybody around him, especially his friends. I like how he is able to change, we see his character development, and throughout the book we see his good side and how he cares for the things that are important to him.
“It’s mad pressure to do all my living in one day.”
– Rufus Emeterio (They Both Die at the End)
Overall
I gave this book 5 out of 5 stars on goodreads. What I really loved about this book was how it made me realize things, things I wasn’t paying attention to. The characters were well developed, the concept was explained clearly, the flow of the story is okay for me, the narration and representation were excellent and executed nicely. If you’re looking for friendship-filled, fast paced, full of adventure, with beautiful narration, I would recommend this to you.
About the Author
Adam Silvera was born and raised in the Bronx. He has worked in the publishing industry as a children’s bookseller, community manager at a literary development company, and book reviewer of children’s and young adult novels. He’s the New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End, More Happy Than Not, and History Is All You Left Me, and all his novels have received multiple starred reviews. He is tall for no reason and writes in New York City.
http://www.adamsilvera.com/
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