Christian's Reviews > I'm Thinking of Ending Things

So I finally settled on a rating. To get the bad out of the way: The book sadly was not as terrifying as I thought it would be. Granted, the atmosphere was immaculate the whole time, but I'd definitely describe it more as suspenseful than scary. The scariest bit was my expectations telling me that "Once you turn this page, it's gonna get super creepy!!" But it didn't really, apart from some imagery and certain passages. Because of this, somewhere in the middle I felt slightly discouraged because it didn't feel like enough had happened yet for my liking, though overall I would say that all 200 pages were very compelling and constantly called for me to keep reading.

That being said, I'm not sure I can truly give this novel the review I would want to give it. For being one of the shortest books I've read, it's also one of the most complex, ambitious, and mind-boggling stories I've ever picked up. I deeply related to a lot of the discussions on commitment, relationships, independence and self-discovery. Maybe it's because I've been asking myself a lot of similar questions recently, or maybe just the brilliance with which the author manages to weave them into the story and thus create two different characters we otherwise don't know a lot about.

The last 20 pages or so felt like a whole body experience. They were lived rather than read. I am simply in awe of how they give the entire story a bigger meaning and how the alter the atmosphere and the emotional weight completely. Of how I still keep going back to connect dots I hadn't even realised were there first. And it's so hard not to be able to say anything about it because I don't want to spoil anything, but I also struggle with finding the words of what really went on in my head as I was reading, and as I'm thinking back to it now. But I think that this is such an accomplished unraveling of human emotion and needs and I'll just stop talking now and just think some more.


EDIT: I just watched the movie adaptation and I will never forgive Charlie Kaufmann for this.

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No idea what to rate this yet, but upon reading the last "chapter" a sob kind of freed itself from my body and I don't fully understand why but fuck, these last few pages were like a punch to the gut. (In a good way?)

A thought that just came to me is: This is kind of, sort of, basically We Were Liars but adult, and I can't say why I think so because it would spoil both books but holy shit.