Books: They Both Die At The End By Adam Silvera (2017)

“On September 5, 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 reasons, they’re both looking to make 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”

Writer Adam Silvera takes the simple premise we’ve all pondered in our lives: If you knew you had 24 hours to live, what would do with the time given. This speculative idea is the MacGuffin at the center of They Both Die At The End, a weird, oddly charming, darkly humorous look at fragility of life. It features a gay Puerto-Rican main character filled with anxieties that have little to do with his sexuality (although they are part of them) and a bisexual Cuban main character, whom lives his life somewhat to fullest. I have to say, it’s refreshing to see some other representation than the typical aspect of this genre, which is always directed at white, gay male experience. Since the books release in 2017, it’s been highly praised for that diversity and Silvera’s talent at capturing how teens talk (almost every other word Rufus speaks contains the word “mad”).

No explanation is given as to how Death-Cast knows when people will die (hence the MacGuffin), so the book focuses on the End Day of two teens as they eat food, walk around town, ride on bikes, visit Mateo's comatose father in the hospital, and sing karaoke. There are a few clichés and a few missteps (the whole Peck subplot is boring), but there is some emotional weight here. It’s a quick read as well.

And, obviously, the coda of the book is to enjoy life (or live like every day is Shark Week as Tracy Jordan used to say on 30 Rock) to fullest because death can be a phone call away.