They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.
What would you do if you knew you were to die within a day?
This is a question that two young adults, Rufus Emeterio and Mateo Torrez, are grappling with. They’ve both been notified by Death-Cast, an organization that alerts individuals 24 hours before their death, that they’re dying today. They both want to live this day to the fullest. And they both want to spend it with one last friend before they meet their end.
Luckily there’s an app for that, called Last Friend. So Rufus and Mateo, two complete strangers, meet up to live a lifetime in a single day. They venture together across the city, and in doing so, they bring out the best in each other and gain confidence in themselves.
They Both Die At The End hooked me at first glance – who would give away the ending of the book from the first impression? The answer is simple: someone who thinks that the book itself matters more than the ending, that the ending is not what the book is about. The same could be said for life.
Adam Silvera writes a thoughtful, speculative story about a world in which people are raised to die, knowing of their demise. But despite that, death still manages to be horrible and shocking. It is the distant inevitable, and through it all, this book helps reveal the power of friendship in the face of mortality. It shows the beauty of death and what it means to live – saying that it’s achievable to change your life in a single day.
