| Release Date | June 14, 2016 |
| Publisher | Gallery/Scout Press |
| Content Warnings | Suicide |
| Links | Indiebound | Bookshop | Kobo | Libro.fm |
A couple months ago, my fiancé and I decided to adopt some kittens that my friend was fostering, and a few weeks ago they finally had their spay surgeries and I went to go pick them up from my friend’s house. The only problem was that my friend was a full four hours away, so I knew I’d need an audiobook for the trip. I haven’t been listening to audiobooks much lately, so I needed something shorter than eight hours so I’d have time to finish it, and I needed a book that worked as an audiobook. I’m Thinking of Ending Things hit every requirement.
This is one of those books that runs hot and cold with readers. There are people who love it, and people who hate it, and people who get to the end wondering, “What the !@#$?”
Many people advise you to go in blind, so I’ll keep my synopsis short: the narrator and her boyfriend, Jake, are taking a drive to the country for the narrator to meet Jake’s parents for the first time, but she’s thinking of ending things. And if you want to go in blind, I recommend you stop reading here, and go and pick this book up for yourself.
If you’re still here and haven’t read the book yet, I won’t quite be dipping into spoiler territory, but do be aware that the purists think you’re doing it wrong.
Let’s start by talking about the first half of this book, leading up to the change in venue. It was atmospherically, loquaciously, pedantically… boring. The whole first half is the narrator rehashing conversations and events that happened prior to the beginning of the novel, in detail. The narrator waxes poetic about how smart her boyfriend is, and how deep their conversations are. We learn about how they met at trivia night on campus and various little facts about their childhoods. Most of the book takes place in the car as they drive to and from Jake’s parents’ house, which leaves plenty of time for introspection.
Many have touted this book as having excellent atmosphere. The atmosphere is what makes the book, but unfortunately I don’t usually connect to atmosphere in a book. And if you strip away all the “amazing” atmosphere in I’m Thinking of Ending Things, you end up with a rather dull road trip and a disappointing ending.
I won’t say what tropes are in this book, because it spoils the ending, but suffice to say that they are some of my least favorite tropes out there. I was looking forward to seeing how Reid wrapped everything up and tied everything together, so the ending for me was extremely disappointing.
This book is worth a shot, because it’s polarizing—tons of people love this book, tons hate it. I’m in the hate it camp, but if you’re a fan of atmospheric books you might feel differently about it. It’s definitely not for me though, and I won’t be recommending it to any of my friends.
The Library Cryptid 