Shaun David Hutchinson is the author of The Deathday Letter, fml, and The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley. He lives with his partner and dog in South Florida, where he enjoys running, reading, and yelling at the TV whenever there are plot holes. Visit him online at ShaunDavidHutchinson.com.
Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn't sure he wants to. After all, life hasn't been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer's. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend's suicide last year. Wiping the slate clean sounds like a pretty good choice to him. But Henry is a scientist first, and facing the question thoroughly and logically, he begins to look for pros and cons: in the bully who is his perpetual one-night stand, in the best friend who betrayed him, in the brilliant and mysterious boy who walked into the wrong class. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it...or let the world—and his pain—be destroyed forever.
Before I really start this review, I want to say that I am really oscillating between a 3 star and a 4 star review. Partly because, it's very clear to me what makes this book so brilliant, so necessary, and so moving. In fact, it's actually quite easy to see why this book is so important, and why it's been featured on TIMES's Top 100 Best YA Books of All Time. However, there are two huge things for me that hinder my ability to give it that full 5 stars, but because I can recognize the book's brilliance in conflict with the two hindrances, I am having trouble rating. Here's why.
I want to talk about what I loved about this book, first and foremost. It is one of the most philosophical YA books that I have ever read. In fact, I wish I'd read this in high school, around the time I was thinking about college decisions and the rest of my life. I think it would have had a really powerful impact on how I interpreted the rest of the world. Although, I am also glad I read it when I did, because I'm not sure if that impact would have been positive or negative! Either way, the philosophical bend of this book is immensely intriguing, and is what keeps readers reading until the end, for sure. Wondering whether or not Henry would press the button just makes readers wonder what they would do if in the same situation. Thinking about that on top of watching Henry go through the last 144 days of his life all work together to make a really moving narrative about the purpose(lessness) of life.
Secondly, the speculative bend of this book is so fascinating. I love the fact that there are aliens, and that Henry is abducted by them, and that he's given this huge task, this thing that rests on his shoulders unwillingly. I also was fascinated by the interlude chapters that describe different other ways the world could end, other than a spontaneous combustion controlled by aliens. These interludes, which include everything from how the world will end from lack of bees to a public health crisis, are scary, especially since we've pretty much been getting closer and close to some of those realities, but also because of the immense brevity in which they are depicted. I felt like entire novels were contained in these small interludes, which I think is the point of the whole novel. There are entire novels contained within these 300 pages, and what is life if not a multitude of chapters upon chapters? Even talking about this book makes me think philosophically.
However, the two hindrances I can't get past include the following. The first, the lack of closure for readers about Jesse. Jesse committed suicide, and we will never find out why. Which, by the end, Henry claims to make his peace with. However, throughout the novel, we are presented with this delightful character, Diego. The two boys have a great storyline of missed chances and discussions about the future, and yet the cloud of Jesse really hangs over the whole thing. Because we saw so much of Diego, and Jesse was really a ghost for us, I had a hard time understanding why Henry would have let himself and his thoughts of Jesse get so much in the way of that. Now, of course, there are other things to consider—Henry isn't done grieving for Jesse, and he is depressed, which probably interferes with the healing process. However, there isn't really a scene or any collection of moments where we see how happy Jesse and Henry were together. In fact, most parts of the novel that talk about Jesse put him in a rather negative light (again, which makes sense). But, because we don't see the love between Jesse and Henry as much as we can see the love blossoming between Henry and Diego, it's a bit difficult to understand why Jesse is as large a ghost as he is. I am not entirely sure that made much sense, but I was really hoping for more out of Jesse's character that felt undelivered on.
The second hindrance remains as a problem of pacing. I quite enjoyed how the novel was structured as the last 144 days of Henry's life on earth, which includes smaller interludes about different theories on how the world could end. However, it definitely sags in the middle and picks up near the end, where it all snaps on itself like a rubber band. The ending, especially, flew by quickly, and I had a hard time believing that Henry, who seemed pretty hellbent on not pressing the button there for a while, would have spent one week getting better and then changing his tune after a pretty horrific experience. We don't get much closure on how Henry finishes out his high school year—which, based on the structure of the novel, makes complete sense. Yet, this also meant that the ending was a bit unsatisfying, and tricky for me to fully grasp. I almost wanted that scene on the alien ship with Henry, as he sat and worked out the decision under pressure, rather than a vague yet determined declaration. The issue with this is that of course I can see why the vague declaration is rather perfect in the grand scheme of things. My issue is that I can argue for both side, and I can't quite understand the reasoning behind this ending. Not that it's bad, just that I wish I could spend a lot more time than I have dissecting it and understanding the decision behind it.
All of this being said, this novel is written with the same candor that I've come to recognize in TIME's other Top YA picks, and it makes for a fascinating and compelling story, even if it does fall prey to some of the YA genre's setbacks (like the slower middle). The depiction of Henry's family, and prose, the interlude chapters were all great moments, and after reflecting on what I loved and didn't love as much makes me want to give this novel a 4 star rating. Mostly, this is because I can take away the one star for the lack of Jesse in the novel, but because I fail to understand the ending doesn't mean it's not the right ending. Thus, the 4 star rating, however I would definitely recommend this novel cautiously, and with great care and compassion, especially in the world we're living in.
As my saga of reading through the list of TIME's Top 100 Best YA Books of All Time continues, catch more of my reviews here.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
Comments
Post a Comment