They Both Die at the End

by D. M. Krassovsky

Overview

Adam Silvera reminds us that there’s no life without death and no love without loss in this devastating yet uplifting story about two people whose lives change over the course of one unforgettable day.

New York Times bestseller * 4 starred reviews * A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
• A Kirkus Best Book of the Year
• A Booklist Editors' Choice of 2017
• A Bustle Best YA Novel of 2017
• A Paste Magazine Best YA Book of 2017
• A Book Riot Best Queer Book of 2017
• A Buzzfeed Best YA Book of the Year
• A BookPage Best YA Book of the Year

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.

In the tradition of Before I Fall and If I Stay, They Both Die at the End is a tour de force from acclaimed author Adam Silvera, whose debut, More Happy Than Not, the New York Times called “profound.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062457806
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/18/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	11
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 5.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Lexile:	870L (what's this?)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Adam Silvera is the New York Times bestselling author of More Happy Than Not and History Is All You Left Me, and he was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start. Adam was born and raised in the Bronx. He was a bookseller before shifting to children’s publishing and has worked at a literary development company and a creative writing website for teens and as a book reviewer of children’s and young adult novels. He is tall for no reason and lives in New York City. Visit him online at www.adamsilvera.com.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/10/2017
Soon after Rufus Emeterio, 17, and Mateo Torrez, 18, receive midnight phone calls from Death-Cast, a service that notifies those with less than 24 hours to live, the New York City teenagers connect via the Last Friend app and decide to spend their final hours together. Both have been dealt harsh hands even before getting the call: Mateo’s mother died giving birth to him and his father’s in a coma. Rufus is the only survivor of a car crash that killed his entire family. Over the course of an eventful day, these thoughtful young men speak honestly and movingly about their fate, their anger at its unfairness, and what it means to be alive, until their budding friendship organically turns into something more. Each tells his part of the story in alternating, time-stamped chapters. Other voices—mostly friends from Rufus’s foster home and people they encounter—fill out the narrative, revealing the influence both boys have had on those around them. It hardly matters that the title telegraphs the ending; it’s still heartbreaking when it arrives. Ages 14–up. Agent: Brooks Sherman, Janklow & Nesbit. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Themes of friendship, love, loss, and fate combine in this novel that should be read with a box of tissues close at hand.

Brightly

Silvera not only poignantly captures the raw emotion of facing your own morality, but creates such relatable and authentic characters you want to follow on their journey. His gorgeous writing and wonderful storytelling will wreck you in the very best possible way.

Buzzfeed

They Both Die at the End is beautiful and charged with emotion, and Silvera’s best work to date.

Whitney Phillips

Adam Silvera uses his ample skill to force readers to examine how they live life now and how they want to live it. They Both Die at the End is a prime example of his skill at asking the most relevant questions of all of us.

Teen Vogue

★”Extraordinary and unforgettable.

Booklist (starred review)

A bold, lovely, and haunting story of loss, hope, and the redeeming power of friendship.

Lauren Oliver

Themes of friendship, love, loss, and fate combine in this novel that should be read with a box of tissues close at hand.

Seven Foot Monster

They Both Die At The End introduces a contemporary New York City that readers will mostly recognize with one important distinction—in this world, Death-Cast alerts notify people that they will die sometime during the next twenty-four hours. They do not know how or exactly when, but they are encouraged to make the most of whatever time they have left. An entire industry serves the “Deckers” on their End Day, offering virtual experiences and apps, like the Last Friend app for people looking for someone to share their final hours. That is how Mateo and Rufus meet, and this is the story of their End Day. Told in alternating voices from the moment of each main character’s Death-Cast call, the multilayered story weaves together threads of friendship and love, loss and grief, self-discovery and sexual identity, and life and death. First-person narratives of Mateo and Rufus engage readers in their inner thoughts and fears, while scattered third-person narratives from close friends and people whose lives intersect with theirs help to show the web of connections and consequences created through even small actions. Some readers might find the pacing too slow, especially in the beginning, but those who are patient will appreciate getting to know these complex characters. They will cheer for Mateo and Rufus as they grow and change together, and they will grieve the inevitable ending. Reflective, thoughtful, and heartbreaking, this is another book by Silvera that will linger in readers’ hearts. Reviewer: Cheryl French; Ages 12 to 18.

VOYA, October 2017 (Vol. 40, No. 4) - Cheryl French

★ 08/01/2017
Gr 9 Up—Everyone who is going to die on a given day gets a call to let them know; not the when, or the how, or the why, but just notification that they will die on that day. Mateo and Rufus each get that call and are facing their last day without a loved one. But there's an app for that. Combining a well-realized alternative present with a lovely romance, Silvera's latest delivers what readers want in a book about dying teens. There's no avoiding the cliches that go along with the idea that an impending end makes life more meaningful, but recasting a Lurlene McDaniel-style doomed teen romance with Latinx queer boys and having the societal changes wink at those clichés softens them and makes a better storytelling device. The overarching structure of meaningful coincidences making a magical day in New York has its predecessors—Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and Nicola Yoon's The Sun Is Also a Star being prime examples—but this title is a deft exploration of that trope. Silvera continues to masterfully integrate diversity, disability, and young queer voices into an appealing story with a lot of heart. VERDICT While most of the elements and themes of this work are not new, they are combined, realized, and diversified expertly in this title. A must-have for YA shelves.—L. Lee Butler, Hart Middle School, Washington, DC

School Library Journal

★ 2017-06-05
What would you do with one day left to live?In an alternate present, a company named Death-Cast calls Deckers—people who will die within the coming day—to inform them of their impending deaths, though not how they will happen. The End Day call comes for two teenagers living in New York City: Puerto Rican Mateo and bisexual Cuban-American foster kid Rufus. Rufus needs company after a violent act puts cops on his tail and lands his friends in jail; Mateo wants someone to push him past his comfort zone after a lifetime of playing it safe. The two meet through Last Friend, an app that connects lonely Deckers (one of many ways in which Death-Cast influences social media). Mateo and Rufus set out to seize the day together in their final hours, during which their deepening friendship blossoms into something more. Present-tense chapters, short and time-stamped, primarily feature the protagonists' distinctive first-person narrations. Fleeting third-person chapters give windows into the lives of other characters they encounter, underscoring how even a tiny action can change the course of someone else's life. It's another standout from Silvera (History Is All You Left Me, 2017, etc.), who here grapples gracefully with heavy questions about death and the meaning of a life well-lived. Engrossing, contemplative, and as heart-wrenching as the title promises. (Speculative fiction. 13-adult).

Kirkus Reviews