“They Both Die at the End” by Adam Silvera

“They Both Die at the End” is the definition of having mixed feelings. Ask me whether it’s a good book or not, and I won’t be able to give you a certain answer. It satisfied my creativity and imagination, while it disappointed my inner adventurer. “They Both Die at the End” is about having cold feet in life, but still taking that step.

Title: “They Both Die at the End”

Author: Adam Silvera (check here Adam Silvera’s official website)

Genre: YA, LGBTQ+

Trope: the End Day

Page count: 384

Recommended Age: +15

Star Rating: 3.5/5

The book is narrated from a dual perspective, Mateo’s and Rufus’s. Analyzing it in detail, the perspective presented by the book was unique and a scream of awareness: we are wasting our lives thinking we have so much time left. There are far more aspects which I want to discuss about in this book review. I thought really high about the attention given to the details and the symbol from behind the story.

The main idea

The story highlights very well the importance of time and present moment. Unintentionally, every day we end up spending hours scrolling on our phones, when in fact life starts only when we turn them off. You can’t live through a screen, can’t feel the joy of seeing your friends smiling, can’t fall in love without looking in those eyes you fell for. It’s told the most memorable moments are the ones from which you don’t have any pictures, but only memories.

Our nowadays society keeps overthinking about the future or past. I think we should just let ourselves feel a little bit and live a bit more… the present is the only thing we have, so be present in it. This is the greatest life lesson this book taught me: just dare to live in the present moment. Do it for the story, do it when you’re afraid or feel lost. Do it however, whenever!

“𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐞. 𝐈’𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐞.”

“They Both Die at the End”, Adam Silvera

Story V.S. Society

Even though it is a science fiction book, taking in consideration the alternative world created for the story, it brought into discussion lots of aspects currently present in our society. “They Both Die at the End” approaches, through its male protagonists, the LGBTQ+ members’ perspective upon society and everything that surrounds them. It also brings under the spotlight the racism, unfortunately still present in some places and in between some groups of people. This story combined the two topics, in this way highlighting even more the importance of acceptance.

The symbolic death

The End Day was supposed to represent poetically the numbness of running out of time. The idea of being given one more day to love with your whole heart, to feel and encapsulate as much life as possible, is frustrating. 24 hours left and so many things still undone, so many sensations still unfelt.

The End Day was creates as one last chance to live. When the characters knew they were running out of time, the air was thicker, their hearts were beating faster and the time seemed to stop. It’s one last chance to really live to the fullest, to die without regrets.

“…𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧.”

“They Both Die at the End”, Adam Silvera

The app

Okay, I really liked this one. The existence of an app, “The Last Friend”, to find your person whom you want to spend your last day with was a genius idea! Most of us are on social media and know how incredible and advanced the internet and apps became, but this kind of app?! It brought a totally uncommon and fascinating air to this science fiction world. So the circumstances in which the protagonists met were really stable in the story line.

Even though this science fiction world was supposed to be nothing like reality and, most of the time, this kind of worlds are a bit exaggerated, I felt like all the details looked natural in the overview. Everything was highlighted with precaution and attention, never insisted too much on. This is what I call a balanced book:)

Polar opposites

I really enjoyed analyzing the powerful contrast between the two main characters. Opposites attract, right? While Mateo was frightened to take risks and over protected himself from the outer world, Rufus was there for all of it. He lived for the laughs and the adrenaline.

I think they changed each other. Rufus started thinking deeper and seeing in perspective, because life is far more than what we’re capable to see in plain sight. Its meaning, deepness, passion, infinity. The boy was responsible for the success Mateo’s End Day proved to be. Together they got out of their comfort zone and lived, felt and took some risks. They dared to seek that feeling of being alive. Souls don’t meet out of accident, but for a greater cause. They changed each other’s vision… upon life…. upon love.

The end

The main idea of the book and the tiny details made a huge difference for this story. I really appreciated them and actually even enjoyed them. Nevertheless, I was so unsatisfied by the end of the book. I am disappointed to find a story with such an original and unusual main idea only for it to end in a basic and, I could say, even foolish way. The deepness and emotion stopped being a constant in this book, unfortunately.

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Questions

It’s a book which will take you maximum one or two days to read. “They Both Die at the End” is an LGBTQ+ book, the two protagonists ending up by being involved in a romantic relationship. Even though I said the recommended age for this book would be at least 15 years old, it doesn’t include any sexual interactions or trigger warnings.

Approaching the theme of death, it is a sad love story. A new novel, called “The First One to Die”, was lately released. It was written as a prequel to “They Both Die at the End” and the action takes place the night before the launch of the Death Cast, the ones who are giving the “death calls”, letting people know it is going to be their End Day.

Should I read and review “The First One to Die”? Let me know what you think

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