They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera

 

They Both Die at the End – Adam Silvera

They Both Die at the End is a book about two boys – Rufus and Mateo – who receive a call telling them that they are going to die by the end of the day. They find each other through the ‘Last Friends’ app and spend their last day together, bonding and bringing out the best in each other.

Throughout my reading of this book, I was getting progressively worried that Mateo would die in the crossfire from Rufus’s fight with Peck and his gang. Each time the perspective shifted to show another member from the gang, each time they followed Rufus, I worried about Mateo. I thought at one point how unfair it would be for Mateo to die because of the Last Friends app which he only went on due to his death cast call. This made it impossible to put the book down as it was so fast paced and so many things were happening all in one day.

There were so many times that I cried at this book. One of these was when they visited Mateo’s mother’s grave. Mateo mentions multiple times that he hopes he will see his mum when he dies. He also asks her if he will have the chance to fall in love after he is dead. He doesn’t need this chance as before he dies, he confesses that he loves Rufus. While they have only known each other for under a day, their relationship was so intense and so beneficial for both of them. Rufus got Mateo out of the house and pulled him out of his shell and Mateo made Rufus realise that he is a good guy – not someone who beats people up in parking lots.

The end of this book was heartbreaking. Mateo dies because he forgets that his stove is broken – something that could have happened regardless of the day he spent with Rufus – and Roof dies because he does not look before crossing the road which he repeatedly tries to do before being dragged back by Mateo. The way each of them die shows that it would have happened without them having met.

Mateo dies before Rufus and so Roof goes to see Mateo’s dad in the hospital and writes him a note about how Mateo spent his last day. He lived for everyone. He lived for Rufus.

I was so shocked at how much character development happened within such a short time frame as well as how many different characters were intertwined on this single day. Silvera created such a captivating story that drags you in and keeps its claws on your heart until the very end.

Please – read this book. If nothing else, it reminded me that life is so worth living and every day should be spent doing something that you love and that makes you happy even if this is just finding an hour to snuggle up in a blanket and cry into a book.

Lauren xo