Genre: Fiction | Contemporary
Release Date: 12th March 2020
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Adam has been dying for eight weeks now, and he isn't getting any better at it.
When Adam Campbell is given a terminal cancer diagnosis, all he wants to do is break every clock he can find in hopes to defy time. But now he realises life really is short, especially for him, he promises to live it while he still can.
He moves in with his ex who kicked him out due to his own mistakes so he can spend more time with his daughter, he quits his job that has already taken so much of his time. And he tries to make amends - he's going to get better at this dying thing.
But the last thing he ever expected was to walk into a support group with a teenager who just wants to have sex before she dies, a free-range nun, a call centre agent in recovery, a grumpy old train driver and mysterious scotsman and walk about with some new friends and an amateur drama group.
"My life's an open book. Even if it is a bit dog-eared …
… All the best books are."
It's a strange thing to say a book where you spend most of your time waiting for people to die is a 'feel-good' story, but this is. It's a deeply affecting but also remarkably inspiriting, evoking a profound sense of wonder and gratitude for the life we have - it's a real testament to the beauty of real human connection and how that can last even after we die.
Our main character Adam, is an idiot. He has made mistakes and bad choices, but he isn't a bad person and this is clear within moments of meeting him. The sense of loss and confusion in his life pre-dates his diagnosis, but now he has a deadline to work it out. I adored his dark, morbid humour and remarks that made smile and shake my head at the same time.
Time moves quickly, the whole cast moving the story onwards as we move between Adam and his new friends and their individual lives. It felt a little confusing at first as there's no indicators for the change but it settles in quickly - instead of a basic linear narrative, this story is little pockets of time, little moments that come together. My only issue with this book was how much information is given in quick succession at the end, going from a slow thoughtful pace to a sudden matter-of-fact account of what is happening in a way that kind of threw me out of the trance this novel had me in. However, I also massively loved the idea that was behind it - it isn't a spoiler to tell you some people are going to die during and at the end of this story, and I loved their deaths not being their key moment, their defining part of their story.
Our Am-dram troupe are a beautiful collective of unlikely friends - and together they discuss their goals, their 'bucket lists' and realise their life isn't marked by big moments and success but by happiness - as they work together on their play, we see their relationships grow and change, how they rally around one another so instinctively. Their play, based on the many deaths of Shakespeare's plays almost creates their own mortality therapy - and it gives them the chance to face, and escape death right there on the stage. Now of course, there are moments of darkness, of anger, of confusion and desperation - death doesn't just hurt the dying, after all - but it's all handled tenderly and realistically.
An uplifting, poignant story about all the scenes and characters that make up a life, not just the last act.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
This book is from my personal collection and is not a PR product.
cw: death, cancer, stroke, drugs, cheating, addiction, references to suicide.
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