#[ i give matt one big smooch because he's a whole sunshine!!!

[etveritcs]

"I’m so glad I met you." (Matt getting sappy about his amazing friend)

Meme: Short stories, my favourite kind of poetry. Sender: @ofmusingsxandmayhem Status: Accepting.

Upon hearing those words, the once cold-hearted homicide detective could not help the way a rather goofy smile had decided to spread across her features. Dimples deepened themselves into the surfaces of her cheeks, just as the corners of her lips reached her eyes. She then scrunched her nose and shook her head, as if willing herself to regain her composure.

❝Okay, what do you want? Do you want a branded bag? Shirt? House appliance? Money?❞ She looked at him seriously, a furrow between her eyes as she playfully acted the role of that being confused.

[bforbookslut]

ARC Review: This is Not the End by Chandler Baker

This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This review edition is an ARC and may differ from the printed edition.

I have given this book ☆☆☆. 384 pages. It belongs to the Young Adult Contemporary genre. Disney-Hyperion published it. It will be published August 8th 2017. I would recommend it to readers who want something to think about.

The blurb reads: “On one cloudless, radiant summer afternoon, Lake Devereaux lost everything. The car crash claimed the lives of her best friend and boyfriend, the people who had become her family after her own fell apart. But she doesn’t have to lose them both.

The development of resurrection technology has changed the world. Under the new laws regulating the process, each person gets one resurrection to be used or forfeited on their eighteenth birthday. Mere weeks away from turning eighteen, Lake faces an impossible choice.

Envisioning life without one of the people she loves most is shattering enough, but Lake carries an additional burden: years ago, under family pressure, Lake secretly—and illegally—promised her resurrection to someone who isn’t even dead yet.

The search for answers about her future draws Lake more deeply into the secrets of her past until she begins to question everything about those closest to her. Betrayals and hurts both new and old threaten to eclipse the memories she once cherished.

Then Lake meets a boy unlike anyone she’s encountered before, who unflinchingly embraces the darkest parts of her life . . . and who believes that all resurrections are wrong.

Which path is the right one? And how can Lake start to heal when she can't move on?”

Verdict:

I came to This is Not the End (TiNtE) expecting to have my thoughts about life, death and resurrection challenged and enlightened. Though it does give a lot of insight into what would happen if humans had the ability to bring the dead back to life but you only have one choice and that choice belongs to the living, TiNtE was overshadowed by the unnecessary romance. While Lake deserved a friend who would help her understand the new circumstances she’s presented, we instead get a lover. Who frankly, we could do without. And there’s a treasure hunt from the dead boyfriend which in my opinion, had no meaning other than to reunite Lake and her estranged brother.

And that’s why TiNtE only got three stars from me even though it had the potential to be much, much more. The entire plot was phenomenal in the sense that the plot-drop was great and it’s got great pacing and an engaging read. I breezed through it because I kept wanting to know more. But, the ending was a little rushed as if someone tried to quickly just wrap things up. It was a good ending, nonetheless but a little, less “here’s an awesome revelation about life and death” and more, “not quite happy ending there you go”.

[contains spoilers]

The Bad:

There are quite a number of negatives that come with this book but they’re not bad negatives. They just don’t sit quite right with me and as evident in Goodreads reviews, they don’t sit with many people as well.

1. The one very thing that bothered most people who read this is that the romance between Ringo and Lake was extremely unnecessary. Firstly, her boyfriend just died. Literally, just days ago, her boyfriend died in a very, very traumatic car crash that also took her best friend’s life. She doesn’t need another man to kiss and smooch all over her and show her that her parents and all the other adults in the world are shit. She needs a friend, someone who would listen to her. Anyone could step into Ringo’s shoes. SHE. DIDN’T. NEED. A. NEW. BOYFRIEND.

But oh, [MAJOR SPOILER ALERT], they turn it right around and have her dead boyfriend and dead best friend be lovers behind her back. Fucked up or what?

It didn’t make any sense to justify why Lake had another obstacle in her way of choosing to revive her best friend, boyfriend or brother back. Because pretty much, not bringing back her friends is because they had some secret relationship going on behind her back??? Instead of some other less definitive reason? If I was Lake, I wouldn’t bring either of them back because damn those bitches.

2. Another thing that really bothered me was despite resurrection being a choice in the book, all instances of resurrection were negative. Yeah, sure, bringing someone back from the dead can’t all be that good and sunshine and beautiful but there have to be some good stories as well???? Where are the people who have lost their only source of hope and love to some tragic accident and then got them back? Where are the people who lost their only caretakers and got them back? Where are these stories?

3. One thing that I’m on the fence about is how “evil” the adults are portrayed to be. Only the young people in TiNtE are good and great and honest and wise. I can see through the Lake lens how and why these adults are “wicked” but Will and Penny’s parents only want their children back from the dead, Lake’s parents only want Matt, her brother, to live a fulfilled and able-bodied life. In the real world, these qualities are not evil or wicked or mean, they’re the efforts of parents who love their children. Lake just so happened to be the only one with the ability to bring them back from the dead and hence, they “fight” over her.

The Good (More Like, Discussion):

I wouldn’t say there are any specific goods about TiNtE except for the whole plot itself as well as the conversation surrounding life, death and resurrection.

The plot itself is crafted beautifully. Of course, the whole romance surrounding Will and Penny was so unnecessary. But if you look beyond all this crap, it’s essentially a story of a girl, a decision and her family.

Throughout the entire book, Lake plays My Sister’s Keeper to her brother, Matt, who is a downright dick. An asshole, call him all the nasty names in the world. He is cruel and he is wicked. But when the plot twist drops (and I should have seen this from the start because damn, there were so many hints given like how Lake is always incredibly beautiful), readers then realise that he’s doing it all because he was the big brother who sacrificed his life for his baby sister.

And it adds another dimension to the whole conversation surrounding life and death.

I can’t discuss the finer points without spoilers so if you haven’t read it, here’s your spoiler warning for you. [MAJOR SPOILER WARNING]

TiNtE brings into focus what happens if humans were given the choice to resurrect someone who has died of accident, sickness etc except for suicide or intentional death. But only on their eighteenth birthday (which is a strange limitation because wtf why so specific?) and only one person.

In this book, as I’ve mentioned above, it only points out the negatives of resurrection.

1. Coyote Blue is the uncle of one of Lake’s classmates who is so unimportant except as a plot device that I’m not really bothered to recall his name. Coyote Blue was resurrected and as a result of his resurrection, he decides that there should be more meaning to his life and he ups and joins a hippie group of resurrected people much to the chagrin of his family. He gave up his “before” life because he feels that he’s got something more now that he was resurrected. This presents one dilemma to Lake because what if she brings Penny back and she’s not the same Penny.

And this really asks us, if we bring someone back from the dead, would they be the same people? Could we as humans just up and continue our lives if we are brought back from the dead as if there was nothing wrong? Especially when we consider how religion tells us about death and paradise and how wrong it is to dabble with the dead. Hell, even one of the lessons of Harry Potter is that the dead are meant to be dead. You can’t bring them back and expect them to be the same.

2. Ringo resurrected his mother against her wishes and created a rift between the pair. His mother was part of a movement that insisted resurrection was wrong but Ringo wanted her back so much that he went against her express wishes and brought her back to life. Now, she’s living a life that she didn’t want. Previously, she was a professor, a lecturer, but now, she just sits in front of the telly and watches soap operas. She was given a life she didn’t want.

And that really makes us question, who is this resurrection for? A resurrection is made by the living. After all, once the application for resurrection is made, the dead person is brought back to life whether they want to or not. It does bring to mind ethical concerns about the wishes of the deceased. Do we no longer respect someone’s legal wishes once they’re dead? Do we no longer care about what they wanted? Are humans so selfish that they want to control life and death?

3. Plot drop, Lake was resurrected by Matt who by saving Lake from death suffered an injury and disability but her parents kept her resurrection to her. She’s lived an entire life without knowing she was resurrected. And, she made a deal with her parents to use her resurrection on Matt so that he can return to life perfect and able-bodied instead of being differently abled. Matt refuses to live life as a differently abled person and instead, he waits around for Lake to become eighteen.

And that also brings two ethical questions to mind. Is it right to not tell the resurrected person that they were a product of a scientific miracle? When should they tell them that they were resurrected?

And, is it right to wait around for someone to reach resurrection age and then have them give you a new life? That means people can be paid for resurrections (and in the book, Lake mentions that it does occur. Penny’s parents even tried to bribe Lake to bring Penny back) and it can become a disgusting, lucrative business. If so, then what does life mean for the person holding the resurrection? Are they just a vessel for another chance at life? Do they then become utterly meaningless?

Conclusion:

If you ignore all the awful romances and unnecessary people, at the core of TiNtE, it’s a really great book that brings up a lot of questions about life and death, especially with how far science has come today. I would definitely recommend that you pick it up and see for yourself how these philosophical questions are posed to you but I can’t give it more than three stars because there’s just so much clutter.