Tag: fantasy

#BookReview They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera @simonschusterUK

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They Both Die at the EndAbout the Book

On September 5th, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: they’re going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but for different reason, they’re both looking for a new friend on their End Day. The good news: there’s an app for that. It’s called the Last Friend, and through it, Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure – to live a lifetime in a single day.

Format: Paperback (368 pages) Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: 7th September 2017 Genre: YA, Contemporary Fiction

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My Review

This book illustrates the joy of a book club because They Both Die at the End is not a book I would have ever chosen for myself but which I absolutely loved. Other members of the book club had trouble with the whole concept of an organisation like Death-Cast but strangely enough, although I usually shy away from any element of fantasy in a book, this didn’t bother me. I think this was because I just let myself get swept along by the story of Rufus and Mateo.

Obviously it’s a bold move by an author to publish a book with a title that is effectively a spoiler but it’s just one of many clever touches that I really enjoyed. The book switches between the perspectives of Mateo and Rufus over the course of their last day, occasionally interrupted by other characters who come within their orbit, even if that’s only that they passed them in the street or served them in a shop.

The two boys each have their own characters. Mateo is socially awkward, risk averse and solitary by nature (and necessity) but has a loving nature witnessed by the letters he leaves for his neighbours and his reluctance to let his friend Lidia bear the burden of knowing he is going to die. Rufus is more assertive and worldly owing to the fact he has had to be independent from an early age.  However they also have things in common like finding themselves without family. (Mateo’s father, although alive, is in a coma.)

Starting the day as strangers, the pair gradually become friends and eventually close companions as they share a series of experiences akin to a bucket list but one produced in the moment rather than prepared in advance. I liked the way the book distinguished between manufactured ‘fake’ experiences designed for those who’ve received the Death-Cast call and more meaningful real experiences. In the course of the day, the pair begin to take on some of the characteristics of the other;  Rufus encouraging Mateo to be more adventurous but in turn absorbing some of Mateo’s natural generosity.

A book where both characters die at the end sounds like it’s going to be sad to read – and it is really sad at some points – but there’s also humour as well such as some of the responses Mateo receives on the Last Friends app.  I especially enjoyed the Travellers Game Mateo and Rufus play while riding the subway.

If I had to sum up the message of the book it would be carpe diem (seize the day) because you never know if it might be your last.  ‘We never act’, Mateo says. ‘Only react once we realise the clock is ticking.’

In three words: Clever, witty, tender

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Adam SilveraAbout the Author

Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End and More Happy Than Not and History Is All You Left Me and Infinity Son and Infinity Reaper and with Becky Albertalli, What If It’s Us and Here’s to Us. His next book The First to Die at the End releases October 4th, 2022, with the final Infinity Cycle book to follow soon after. He was born in New York and now lives in Los Angeles where he writes full-time. He is tall for no reason. (Bio/photo: Goodreads author page)

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#BookReview When the Music Stops by Joe Heap @fictionpubteam

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A note from Joe:

“I owe this book to my grandparents, John and Jean Sands, for sharing the stories that inspired it. In many ways their story is more remarkable than the one I have written.

At a summer season in Ramsgate, 1959, two ice skaters held a party. My grandfather, a Glaswegian saxophonist who would rather have gone to the pub, was convinced by a comedian on the same bill to come along. My grandmother, another one of the ice skaters, sat down next to him and spilt her drink in his lap. Though she has since denied it, her first words of note to him were ‘Oh no, not another Scot.’

Nobody could have guessed how much would spin off that moment, myself and this book included. Here are a few pictures of them.”

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9780008293208About the Book

This is the story of Ella. And Robert. And of all the things they should have said, but never did.

‘What have you been up to?’
I shrug, ‘Just existing, I guess.’
‘Looks like more than just existing.’
Robert gestures at the baby, the lifeboat, the ocean.
‘All right, not existing. Surviving.’
He laughs, not unkindly. ‘Sounds grim.’
‘It wasn’t so bad, really. But I wish you’d been there.’

Through seven key moments and seven key people their journey intertwines. From the streets of Glasgow during WW2 to the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll of London in the 60s and beyond, this is a story of love and near misses. Of those who come in to our lives and leave it too soon. And of those who stay with you forever…

Format: Hardcover (384 pages)           Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: 29th October 2020 Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Romance

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My Review

The book’s structure, revisiting seven key moments and people in Ella’s life, was, according to the author, inspired by the ‘Seven Ages of Man’ speech from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. However, as Joe Heap also writes, “This is a book about music, inspired by music” so cleverly incorporated into the story are the seven modes that have been part of musical notation since ancient times.

In When the Music Stops, each of these modes is represented by a song in a music book Ella acquires when she first takes up the guitar. Although other elements of her memory have faded by the time we first meet her as an old woman – alone, in rather strange circumstances – the tunes are still at her fingertips, evoking memories of significant stages in her life – and the people who shared them with her. As she muses, “There are seven songs. I have to play all of them, though I don’t know what will come at the end. I just have to play them.”

The ability of music to evoke memories is just one of the fascinating concepts explored in the book, along with the nature of memory itself and how we experience the passing of time. I’ll leave others to explain Einstein’s theories on the latter but I liked the metaphor Robert, Ella’s friend since childhood, employs. He compares time to a long-playing record. While you’re listening to the second verse of a song, he explains, the first verse is still there but you’re just not listening to it anymore.

As the reader learns, Ella’s life has been punctuated by moments of loss, often signalled by that thing we’ve probably all come to dread – the unexpected early morning or late night telephone call. Robert’s earlier metaphor is applicable here too. As he confides to Ella about a person they both knew, “I don’t think she’s really gone… I just think we can’t see her anymore.”

Another key theme of the book is that of the missed opportunities in life, especially between people like Ella and Robert. ‘The Road Not Taken’ of Robert Frost’s poem, as it were. Their encounters over the years are populated by falsely reassuring thoughts such as “There will be other chances” and fateful hesitations, “The door of possibility stays open, waiting for her to walk through, but she stays put”.

I admired the way the author recreated the atmosphere of each stage on the journey through Ella’s life, referencing the clothing, the television programmes or even the food of the time: the school playground gift of tablet (a sweet similar to fudge for you non-Scots out there) or a corned beef and pickle sandwich prepared for a picnic.

The standout section for me, entitled ‘The Rebel’, was Ella’s experiences as a session musician in 1960s London, rubbing shoulders with many famous, or soon to be famous, bands of the period. (In his acknowledgements, Joe mentions Carol Kaye, “a trailblazing female musician” who played guitar and bass on many hit records and was the inspiration for Ella.) I also found the section entitled ‘The Matron’ particularly moving.

At one point in the book, a character mentions ‘fantastical thinking’ and I think that’s a great description of the premise of this clever but very touching novel. At the online book launch, Joe Heap mentioned fantasy as making up some of his own early reading – books by authors such as Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman – and it’s easy to see that influence in elements of the book. However, more than anything, When the Music Stops is an emotional story of love, loss and the power of the human spirit. I think it would make a great book club choice.

With its gorgeous cover, this is one of those occasions when I feel I’ve slightly missed out by opting for a digital version of a book.  So I may just have to treat myself and help out an independent bookshop through Lockdown 2.0 in the process…

In three words: Imaginative, insightful, heartfelt

Try something similar: Fred’s Funeral by Sandy Day

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Joe Heap Author PicAbout the Author

Joe Heap was born in 1986 and grew up in Bradford, the son of two teachers. His debut novel, The Rules of Seeing, won Best Debut at the Romantic Novel of the Year Awards in 2019 and was shortlisted for the Books Are My Bag Reader Awards. Joe lives in London with his girlfriend, their two sons and a cat who wishes they would get out of the house more often.

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