Book Review: 'They Both Die At the End' by Adam Silvera

 by Ellie Jeynes

After multiple recommendations from family and friends I decided to read Adam Silvera’s award-winning book They Both Die At the End. This book follows the story of Mateo and Rufus who are both very different teenagers living their lives until they get a call at dawn from “Death-Cast” , a company that tells people that they are going to die at some point that day. They do not tell you how you are going to die or when you are going to die they only tell you that it will happen soon in the next 24 hours and that you should use this time to say goodbyes and make arrangements. 

Mateo is a quiet and reserved person who feels that he hasn’t achieved much in his lifetime so when he receives the call he panics and then eventually decides that he wants to make the most out of his last day and push himself out of his comfort zone; however, he struggles to leave his apartment. He then decides to download the Last Friend app which connects people who are going to die that day (known in the book as Deckers) and allows them to meet up on their last day. 

On this app Mateo meets Rufus who is an orphan running from the police after he and his friends injured his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. Although they’re very different Mateo and Rufus decide to spend their last day together, not knowing when either one of them could die. 

When I started reading this book I was expecting it to all be focused on two people about to die and the bucket list they wanted to complete. However, I was completely wrong, throughout this book I kept forgetting that Mateo and Rufus were living their end day. I was so absorbed in their developing friendship that I often forgot the title of the book. This was definitely a mistake when the book ended!

Instead of this book being about two strangers ticking things off their list, it is about two people who, although they know their life is ending, are not trying to rush their final day and instead are trying to create the best moments of their lives. They are learning to trust someone completely different to themselves and what starts as a friendship slowly blossoms into something more. This makes it all the more painful for the reader as we are aware that if they had more time their lives could have had so much love and happiness within them. 

The chapters are short and time stamped and the book primarily features the completely different first-person narratives of the two protagonists. As Mateo and Rufus try to navigate telling their loved ones they are dying today, within the book there are a few third person chapters and these heartbreakingly show the impact that loss has on other people. The use of the third person narrative throughout this book shows to the reader that even a small action can completely change the course of someone else's life. 

The tone of this book also fascinated me as initially I expected it to have a darker tone and although it isn’t bright there is an underlying sense of hope in the darkness of this book. Adam Silvera’s story is bittersweet as, although inevitably everything will end, as a reader it is engaging and exciting to know what incredible memories the protagonists will make next. 

This book shows us that under pressure and in intense situations some of these most incredible and powerful bonds and connections can be made between people. Although the boys knew they were going to die they actively chose to form relationships and look after each other on their last day. Overall this book makes you re-evaluate what you consider to be issues and problems in your own life. After reading it, your perspective changes as you realise that making memories and connections in life is much more important than anything else. 

The idea of being told you have 24 hours left to live is an interesting one and one that could potentially be part of our future given our progression in technology. I am finishing this review urging you to read this book and to go out (once it is safe to) and to live your life to the fullest. One quote from the book that stood out to me was this, “I wasted all those yesterdays and am completely out of tomorrows."