I had heard somewhere that this was one of the books that makes you re-evaluate how you think about something – in this book’s case the topic is death.
It was available at the library so without much thinking I checked it out. Quickly I realized that it seemed to be written for young adults, and the writing of the teen dialogue and the vocabulary they were using was pretty cringeworthy. “Yo, that was mad dope” etc.
But I pushed through that and although it was distracting throughout the book I was looking for the deeper message here. Unfortunately the message was pretty simple – seize the day because life could end before you know it. Maybe this message resonates more with younger people who believe they’ll live forever, but it didn’t have much effect on me. Maybe because I am closer to death than the average teenager?
But one good point was that the book didn’t hesitate to look death square in the eye, since it was the main topic of the book it could hardly be taboo. Since the characters knew they were going to die soon they could also speak plainly about it when I think probably most people don’t have opportunities to discuss this stuff with their friends or family. So at least here it was getting the thought process going and maybe it will lead to some positive outcomes for some people who would have rather set the topic aside for “later”.
Next I am reading London Rules by Mick Herron.
