They Both Die at the End LGBT

by Kailyn Lunn, Staff Writer

The title of Adam Silvera’s novel, “They Both Die at the End,” is not a spoiler. While knowing Silvera’s endearing protagonists won’t make it to the end, his novel never loses its humor and overall hopefulness.

Death-Cast is a futuristic program that informs people of their demise 24-hours before it
happens. However, they do not tell them how they will die. On September 5, Death-Cast called
Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers that now share an End
Day.

Mateo lives a quiet life. With his father in a coma, isolation was comfortable for him. He spends
his spare time reading, playing the piano, or visiting his best friend Lidia and her daughter,
Penny. He was alone in his apartment when Death-Cast called.

Rufus, however, is in a more complex situation. He is in the foster care system and received the
call in the middle of a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, Peck. The boyfriend
contacted the police, causing Rufus to be separated from his best friends on his End Day.

Mateo decided he wanted to live his final day to the fullest and Rufus did not want to spend his
last day alone. Both of them created profiles on the Last Friend app.

Last Friend is a way for people to find somebody to spend time with on their End Day. Users of
Last Friend are people who are dying or people offering support.

After meeting on the app, Mateo and Rufus spend their last hours together in New York City.
Their friendship grows naturally, given the circumstances, and it is clear that they complement
one another.

Rufus challenges Mateo to break out of his shell, especially since this is his last day. When
necessary, Mateo always brings Rufus back down to Earth.

The novel becomes a love story as it reaches its end.

From the beginning, Rufus is openly bisexual and proud of it. Mateo has never experienced
dating and is still unsure of his sexuality during his final moments. One thing he is sure of is the
love he has for Rufus.

Silvera is known for including LGBTQ+ characters in his novels. He is openly gay and his
characters are a reflection of himself. Mateo and Rufus show opposite ends of the spectrum of
internal experiences of LGBTQ+ people.

Rufus never felt held back by his sexuality. He is outgoing and unashamed to stand out.
Bisexuality was a part of him that he was comfortable sharing.

Mateo never gave himself a chance to discover who he was. His introversion was the outcome of
his fear of being different and unaccepted.

The polarity of these characters strengthened Silvera’s message in the novel along with vignettes
of others receiving the Death-Cast notice.

“They Both Die at the End” stresses the power of empathy for strangers.

Every character in Silvera’s novel crosses paths, proving that we are all connected to each other.

I love young adult literature. I LOVE it. My whole professional career revolves around it. I was a librarian for a little while and I ran a very successful YA book club. Now I’m a lead bookseller at Barnes and Noble, where I’m a YA expert. One of the best parts of working in a bookstore is watching titles take off. #Booktok has amazing taste. Some of my favorite books and authors are trending right now, and I’ve spent a lot of time recently considering good comp titles, and I thought I’d offer my expertise. So if you liked They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera, you should try one of these next.

History is All You Left Meby Adam Silvera

Is it easy to say “You liked a book? Try something else by the same author!” Sure. But that’s almost always the best place to start. If you liked They Both Die at the End, you’ll almost certainly like Silvera’s other work. I’ve read all of his published work and it is amazing across the board. I loved They Both Die at the End as much as anyone, but I actually think it’s my least favorite of all his books. The others are just that good. You can’t go wrong with any of them, and if you were touched by They Both Die at the End‘s depictions of grief, mortality, and queerness you’ll be glad to know you’ll find them in Silvera’s earlier work as well. They Both Die at the End broke my heart, but History is All You Left Me broke it into a million pieces. Happy is All You Left Me distracted me from heartbreak by blowing my mind. Seriously. If you liked They Both Die at the End but haven’t read any of Adam Silvera’s other books… what are you waiting for?

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universeby Benjamin Alire Sáenz

This is actually my favorite book to steer people to if They Both Die at the End is out of stock or if they’re looking for something similar. While the plots of both books are different, the overall feeling is comparable. Aristotle and Dante isn’t as bone-achingly sad, but it has a similar sort of melancholy. Like The Both Die at the End, Aristotle and Dante is about two apparently different young men who come together at a moment of great emotional turmoil and who grow together. Both books have queer, Hispanic heroes. Emotions are strong here. You’ll smile through tears. You’ll pause to appreciate the beautiful, evocative language. You’ll rub your hands together in anticipation when you realize that there’s a sequel coming out in October.

Denton Little’s Death Dateby Lance Rubin

Maybe you read They Both Die at the End and thought, “you know, I really like the idea of a character knowing when he’ll die, but I wish it didn’t have to be so sad.” Denton Little is your answer. The actual mechanics of the deathdates work a little differently in each book. Instead of finding out the day of like in TBDatE, Denton Little knows his deathdate his whole life. The tone is also wildly different. Silvera’s book is a poignant story about coming to terms with death and Rubin’s is a fun romp about trying to avoid it. I read these two in very close proximity—entirely by coincidence—and I had a lot of fun comparing them. It’s amazing how two writers can take what is essentially the same base concept and turn it into something so drastically different.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Like They Both Die at the End, The Song of Achilles is a beautifully written queer love story with a tragic foregone conclusion. It’s interesting that I loved both these books as much as I did considering that I normally try to steer away from tearjerkers. I think that part of the reason I liked them is the inevitability. You know from the jump what has to happen at the end, so instead of being surprised when it happens you spend the whole book emotionally bracing for impact. Both novels force the reader to reconcile the beauty and vivacity of life with its inescapable nonpermanence. Obviously The Song of Achilles is about the Greek hero and is not as directly comparable to They Both Die at the End from a strict plot perspective, but I still think that you’ll like it if you liked the other. It’s also just a really, really good book.

At the Edge of the Universeby Shaun David Hutchinson

Like a lot of the others on this list, At the Edge of the Universe is sad and gay. They Both Die at the End is a lot of things, but it’s definitely sad and gay—but, it’s worth mentioning, not sad and gay in a homophobic way—which makes that a decent place to start for comparisons. Shaun David Hutchinson writes primarily apocalypse fiction, and this one does fit into that category. It’s more grounded in the personal than the average end of the world tale. It’s about a boy staring down the end of the world and coming to terms with the fact that even though he’s about to die, he hasn’t really lived. Like They Both Die at the End, at The Edge of the Universe is about making use of the precious time one has left.

I Hope You get This Messageby Farah Naz Rishi

From a thematic and plot standpoint, this is arguably one of the most similar books you’ll find. Like They Both Die at the End, I Hope You Get This Message follows a group of teens as they come to terms with the fact that their lives will soon end. Like Mateo and Rufus, Cate and Adeem meet each other in their last little bit of time and form a deep, transfigurative connection. Both novels tackle the ideas of regret and living. What does it mean to live? How do your priorities shift when you find out that your time is limited? The novels depart in the details, of course. Rufus and Mateo are going to die. The lives of their friends and families will go on without them. For Cate, Jesse, and Adeem the whole world is ending, and they will be only a few of the billion simultaneous casualties. There’s also more doubt in Rishi’s novel. Rufus and Mateo know they’re doomed, but Rishi’s characters have reason to question the reality of their situation and while most of them act in accordance with the end of the world, others behave as though everything will go back to normal after a false alarm is called. It’s also worth noting, as long as we’re comparing with They Both Die at the End, that Adam Silvera blurbed I Hope You Get This Message, calling it “mesmerizing.”

What do you think of my recommendations?

What would you add to this list?

Which #booktok book should I pull comps for next?

They Both Die at the End was the first of Adam Silvera’s books that I heard of, but I read his older books first mostly because I thought this one would too sad. Now I have to kind of laugh at myself, because History is All You Left Meis so, so, so, so much more depressing (and, honestly, so is More Happy than Not). That’s not to say that this one doesn’t have the emotional impact of Silvera’s other books; however, for me, it is the least affecting.

Summary: What’s it about?

When Mateo gets the Death-Cast call telling him that he’ll die in the next twenty-four hours, he’s doing what he’s always doing: hiding out in his room, awkwardly avoiding the world. When Rufus gets the call, the same day, he’s doing something wildly out of character: beating the crap out of his ex-girlfriend’s terrible new boyfriend. Faced with only one day left before certain death, the two boys make the decision to focus on living, not dying.

Review: What’d I think?

As I said above, this is not my favorite of Silvera’s books. It’s still really good, and I loved it, but after the emotional destruction that was History is All You Left Me, They Both Die at the End is a piece of cake. Part of that is, of course, the fact that HiAYLM is about death and TBDatE is about life. Normally I would prefer the latter, but I got sucked more completely into the former.

While the two characters do work well together, the contrast between them is not as stark as it first appears. Rufus is not really the bad boy he seems to be at the beginning, so while Mateo certainly grows from having met Rufus, the opposite is less true. The main idea behind both the novel and the relationship is the fact that, by being each other’s Last Friend, Mateo and Rufus help each other grow and really live. It’s true for Mateo, who learns to loosen up and do things without being constantly afraid and self-conscious about it. Rufus gets past a temporary funk, but Mateo’s contribution to him is much smaller than his contribution to Mateo… which is kind of odd considering that, at least in my opinion, Mateo is the more developed character. Rufus isn’t bad, but I didn’t necessarily connect to him as much as I have to Silvera’s others, both in this book and in his others, who are all painfully and complexly human.

I am a little inclined to say that the friendship between Mateo and Rufus develops too quickly, since they become very close very fast, but I also feel like I can’t say that, because how could timelines not be accelerated in a situation like this?

I’ve read a lot of reviews that compliment the short chapters by the secondary and tertiary characters, and I agree completely. They expand the world, increase suspense exponentially, and add a lot of interesting contrast. The novel wouldn’t be bad without them, but they certainly take it up a level.

What’s the verdict?

Adam Silvera is an immensely powerful writer. They Both Die at the End may not be my favorite of his books, but it is still really, really good. It is a deeply emotional story about two boys learning to live right before they die, and the inevitability of their ends (yes, they do actually both die in the end) serves to make them more poignant when they come.

Report card.

Writing: A         Characters: B        Plot: A-        Themes: A         Fun: A         Final: A

So… what would you do if you only had one day left to live?