The ending was too happy-ever-after for my taste. I definitely recommend it to fans of the every day and to people who don't have it quite figured out just yet, but are working hard towards that moment of release. Overall, I thought this book had the trademark Ness quirky-ness but in a much more sophisticated voice than a lot of his other works. It's something that probably would have made me uncomfortable as a young teen, but it's something I feel like sixteen and seventeen year olds would love to read, just to have it represented. There are sex scenes and they are somewhat explicit. Now, I guarantee someone, somewhere, is going to try to ban this book. Like this was how it was always meant to be. It makes Adam's story seem a lot more special in some way, and when the stories eventually link up (because you know they do), it makes everything feel. While Adam is living a 'normal' day (it's not normal) something extraordinary is happening, but he's entirely unaware. Ness played with the idea of the phenomenal story being told in the background in The Rest of Us Just Live here, and he plays with it again in Release. What makes this greater is that there are actually two narrative storylines going on in this text. Instead, Adam is torn apart, bit by bit, as every piece of his life is unraveled until he finally reaches- you guessed it- release.

Our protagonist, Adam, begins thinking that today is going to be just another day. I almost want to say that too much happens, but that's the point of the story: it's about the extraordinary in the ordinary. People will tell you that not much happens in this book (untrue).

If you like slice of life stories with a bit of a twist, then this here is the book for you. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.įrom the New York Times bestselling author of A Monster Calls comes a raw, darkly funny, and deeply affecting story about the courage it takes to live your truth. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela.īut all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. A Kirkus Best Book of 2017!Īdam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life.īetween his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart. Dalloway, this novel that Andrew Smith calls “beautiful, enchanting, exquisitely written” is a new classic about teenage relationships, self-acceptance-and what happens when the walls we build start coming down. Inspired by Judy Blume’s Forever and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs.

Release by Patrick Ness