Hi there!
Welcome to our June Intermission for Adam Silvera's They Both Die at the End, a New York Times Bestseller published in 2017.
Trigger Warning: Death, suicide, violence, hospitals, coma
Overall
This one has been a little boring because there's not a lot of action, but if you really pay attention, there's a lot of cool world-building going on, and some interesting interpersonal relationship dynamics happening. Thinking about how introducing one little thing into society will change society forever blew our minds. This society kind of has a hyper-awareness of death, almost a hyper-fixation on it. Thinking about the little things that changed in the book's society due to the existence of Death-Cast - for example, Deckers can go to their own funerals, get discounts and freebies, and you have a heads up that you will die and you can get things in order- absolutely insane. The Death-Cast does not tell you how or when exactly you will die, but even a little heads-up would be beneficial for anyone. Like just knowing a week before could help anybody out, but because this is the one part of this fantasy novel that is highly unrealistic, it makes perfect sense that the society would be obsessed with it.
Additionally, we were under the impression that this was a romance novel - and we understand that some books are written about Queer characters, and not specifically about the fact they are Queer, which may be the case in this case, but we are ultimately confused by this book at this point. Like, what is the point right now? Just exploring our mortality? That's fine, but Rufus and Mateo don't seem to be a match yet.
Mateo
He's a shy boy. He's a sad boi too. We don't really know why he's so conservative in his social life or why he is so antisocial, but we guess that he was very close to his dad, and then after his dad went into a coma, he pulled away from everyone else. We don't think this is fair to himself. He's a very depressing character. Ahhhhh Mateo.
We can kind of see Rufus pulling Mateo out of his shell by the halfway point in this novel, but the nihilistic and defeatist way of looking at things that Mateo has- well, it gets old. Mateo's world is very small, as it only includes the empty apartment (the giant hole where his father used to be) and Lidia's place.
We fully believe that it was a selfish thing that Mateo didn't tell Lidia what was going on, and he left her some money, which is nice, but his friendship probably matters more to her than he thinks. We don't understand why Mateo wouldn't want to spend his last day with Lidia, and why he would want to spend his last day with a stranger instead. We thought it was a selfish moment for Mateo, and again, we are confused by him.
Rufus
We think Rufus is meant to be relatable to young teenagers and men, but nobody really talks the way Rufus talks. We think the character is trying to hard to be young and relatable, but the lingo that the author chose for Rufus to use doesn't sound like anything young teens really use today unless the author must be referring to lingo he heard in his own childhood.
We also don't understand why Rufus is helping Mateo with his End Day. We really don't understand this as a friendship or as a romance. We like that Rufus is a soft boi on the inside and lives a little more with his heart on his sleeve, whereas Mateo keeps himself protected.
We like Rufus a lot because he has a lot of self-awareness for his age. He acts really hard, but he knows he's a lot softer underneath, and meets Mateo where he's at.
We also don't understand why Aimee broke up with Rufus, first of all. She left the Pluto's house because she came into some money, and broke up with Rufus because their love "wasn't right for each other," when in reality, Peck was feeding Aimee some bullshit. Neither of us like Aimee because she seems fake. We also hate Peck. She seems to be doing the same thing to Rufus that Mateo is afraid of happening to him. She's pretending to be so much more into Rufus now that she knows he will die. Ick.
A Tragic World
We thought it was so cool that Death-Cast exists in this universe. It was only around for a few years in the novel, but it has significantly changed characters' lifestyles. There are different apps and websites going along with this new aspect of life that people interact with. The Last Friend App is where our two main characters meet. There are actually several Apps and Websites that involve the Death-Cast and End Days. There is also an experience center that works to give Deckers their final wishes. And hospitals work with the Death-Cast in order to assist people in dying comfortably. There are also places that give passes and discounts to Deckers too. This has been Ceraya's favorite part. Death-Cast even has a ringtone that is being used as a scary sound in modern media. Wild.
We agreed that if we knew what day someone was going to die ahead of time, it would be a lot easier to cope with it. The person who founded Death-Cast also chose to share that information with the world instead of keeping the information to themselves, which we appreciate. Ceraya related to Victor (a Death-Cast Worker) pretty hard. Rufus got mad at him for doing his job, and Victor gave him the what for. Tell 'im, Victor!
Brieanna really did not like Andrea or the fact that this society now revolves around death and almost commoditizes it, but Brieanna also ruefully admits that this is almost exactly what would happen. Everyone would try to make money off of it and would start each day with a death knell.
Choosing to Thrive, Not Just Survive
So far their dynamic as a duo between our two leads is that Rufus is doing whatever Mateo wants them to do. We don't like this. We want to see more of Rufus' choices direct the dynamics in the relationship, because so far Mateo's are the only ones who has.
Mateo even said himself that this Last Friendship is very one-sided, and we believe it. Mateo has done nothing to help or understand Rufus, but Rufus has done the most for him, waiting for him and taking him places.
That being said, the choices they have made thus far seem to be getting a lot of things out of the way for Mateo and slowly cracking open his shell, minus the tragic moment where Mateo ran away from Rufus when he overheard Aimee mention police on the phone. And that was just trashy of Mateo, like, the whole point was that he wanted to spend his End Day with a Last Friend and he wanted to be with a stranger instead of Lidia or his dad. This was Mateo's decision, and he ran away? And then once Rufus explained himself and his tragic past, Mateo was like ur cool i guess and then dropped it entirely, and Rufus, the super kind angel, just let it go. I guess when you know you're going to die, you're a lot more forgiving.
What Hasn't Been Addressed
So far the romance has been minor or nonexistent. Maybe Brieanna was incorrect in assuming that this was some kind of romance, but she could have sworn it was. At least the first half has not led us in that direction.
We were also under the impression that this was a pretty well-known LGBTQ+ Book, and so far, the only mentions of representation have been that Rufus is out as bisexual. Again, we were under the impression that this book was about the LGBTQ+ Experience, but it seems to be a book that includes Queer characters, without the plot having anything to do with the Queer experience, which is totally fine! It's just another form of representation that is also needed these days. This is a way to normalize Queerness and a way to normalize a lifestyle that has been shunned for millennia. That being said we are pouty that there is less romance involved than expected. We wanted smooches.
Where We Are Now
As of now, Rufus has just opened is heart up to Mateo and explained how his family died, as well as what happened with Peck and the police from the night before.
Mateo has regained trust in Rufus after being scared of him, and is now back on board with them being each others' Last Friend.
Where We Go From Here
Honestly we're not sure. There has been mention of a few other characters, and we're interested to see how they tie in to the story.
We hope that there will be romance, but if not, that's okay too. :)
Conclusion
This book has a lot to do with confronting your own and others' mortality, so if you're not ready for that, you should pass on this one, but if those kinds of questions inspire you, by all means, have at it. This is a great book for self-reflection and contains words worth meditating on.
With love, see you soon!
Ceraya & Brieanna
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