I did not like “They Both Die At The End”

I was expecting a lot more from this book, honestly, as it's insanely popular on social media and has been recommended to me by… literally everyone.

For context, I read this book in one sitting as I am also trying to recover from a reading slump caused by finishing an emotionally devastating book. So, maybe I am subconsciously comparing the two and that's impacting my opinion on it.

But I digress, the very few things I enjoyed about it;

I really enjoyed the multiple point of views and felt like this book did a good job of being a metaphor for terminal illness and all the ways different people cope with their own mortality after finding out. I found myself really empathizing with Delilah and her refusal to believe it was her End Day. As she experiences two near death experiences, she gets more hopeful with each one that this whole thing is actually a prank after all and she's going to escape her impending death. I think this makes it slightly more emotional at the end of the story when the reader realizes along with her that the call wasn't a prank and she is, in fact, about to die having wasted her last day.

I also love how everyone in this story is interconnected, I think it's a cool touch.

Maybe I was expecting too much, but it felt like this book was attempting to be deep and say something profound about death and dying and it just fell short. The author was trying to comment on the shortness of life with vague messages about how we should step out of our comfort zone and live life to the fullest, but it was all written so superficially to mean anything to me.

Also, I both liked and hated Rufus' characterization. It was nice to see a foster kid, especially a male foster kid, not be portrayed as completely closed off and hostile, but instead be seen as more in touch with his emotions and loving of the people around him. The overuse of "man" and "yo" in his chapters, however, was ridiculous and prevented me from fully being emotionally invested in the character.

Speaking of characterization, I think Mateo and Rufus' characters were just inflated and basic stereotypes. A super anxious introvert who is too scared to even leave his house x a "bad boy" type who exists just to bring him out of his shell is such a boring trope to me. Mateo's "character development" was insanely rushed and also, boring! Super anxious introvert who is too scared to leave his house is now completely healed from his anxiety and introverted-ness less than 24 hours after meeting the "bad boy" who has a soft spot for him. I feel like Rufus' character development was pushed to the side to make room for Mateo's, which is sad because I think Rufus' would have been far more interesting considering he was a more fleshed out character at the start of the book anyway. I was way more interested in the other characters than I was with our main two.

I know the title giving away the ending was intentional, meant to make the reader focus on how the two spend their End Day instead of focusing on if they will survive at all, but knowing the ending prevented me from being invested in their story at all. Although I wasn't expecting Mateo to die the way he did, by the end of the book you know that it's coming so there isn't any emotional impact.

I also found it quite difficult to buy into the "falling deeply in love in 24 hours" (less than 24 hours, technically) even though they are teenagers with heightened emotions on their last day of life. I understand them being bonded, and even having romantic feelings for each other, but I feel like true love comes with time, time these characters did not have. The book & character "development" felt really rushed, but perhaps that's the point, considering this book takes place over 24 hours.

Overall, this is the type of book I would have probably enjoyed in my freshman year of high school. I wouldn't read it again though or recommend it to anyone else. It did get me out of my reading slump, though only because I was so tired of it I wanted to get through it to read something else.

But, everyone else seems to love this book, so let me know what I'm missing.