They Both Die at the End

This book asks the question: what would you do if you knew you only had one day to live? It takes place in a world very much like ours, but with one key difference. On the day you die, you receive a call in the early morning hours letting you know that it's your last day. No information on how you die or exactly what time. Just that you have less than 24 hours to live. So what do you do?

The story follows two teenaged boys - Mateo and Rufus - on the last day of their life. They reach out to each other through an app called "Last Friend". They have different goals for the day, but they agree to help each other through, to stand by each other until the very end. Whenever that ends up being.

The tragedy is compounded by the fact that these two boys are both so very young. There's a lot that they meant to do that they won't be able to. And their last day is largely about making peace with that. About saying good bye to their loved ones and trying to squeeze in all the things they won't have time for. About finding the courage to take risks because there's no more time to be scared.

But really, it ends up being all about the connections we make. The relationships we form with each other, no matter how brief or shallow or intimate or all-encompassing, ripple out and come back to us in unexpected ways. They hurt us and help us and sustain us and are ultimately what life is all about. It ends up being not what you do with the time left to you but who you spend it with that counts.

This book was deeply sad and weirdly uplifting and moved me in some really unexpected ways. I'm so glad I picked it up.

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