I'm Thinking of Ending Things
Ratings341
Average rating3.7
uhhh i have to sit on this book for a while before i can settle on a rating. i get what happened and everything but also what was the point of half the book loooool
Well. This completely lived up to the hype it gets from the book community. Whoo, my heart is still pounding.
I find myself itching to reread it, or sections of it. I am now off to fall down the internet hole that exists just to discuss this book.
No spoilers here. It is awesome. Go in cold.
2.5ish. Interesting dive into a vortexy, relatable anxiety mind, good length and pacing and story arc.
Spoilers:
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Fight club has been an all time fav of mine since high school and it's just really really really hard to match palahniuk at his own game without some serious extremely unique brilliance. Throw in get out and split and it felt like this book couldn't quite match what movies can do for this type of story. And the general vibe of a woman-dates-man-and-gaslights-herself-out-of-taking-seriously-all-red-flags-plus-twist, I'd just have liked something more out of the book. Or at least some more nods towards the book's ancestors if it decided to lean into full amalgam. Reading in a vaccuum though I bet would be really fun. I'm sure I'll watch the movie at some point.
I don't know what to think, the first part was actually really boring. But then it picked up and my heart racing but I was so confused. There were so many pieces that didn't feel like they were leading to anything. And I didn't understand the ending at all until I read other people's reviews. I think this book went over my head a little and I didn't appreciate it as much as I wish I would have. I know you're supposed to reread it or something? So maybe I'll try that and I'll get it more, but also who has the time?
WOW. WOOOOOW. THIS MIGHT BE MY FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME. EVER. i loved the lead up to the ending. it was terrifying. it kept me on the edge of my seat. the imagery was scary, the scenes were unsettling. the dialogue at dinner with the parents was JUST PLAIN ODD. & the meaning at the end made it so much better. i had a sneaking suspicion as to what the title was alluding to and the ending solidified that for me. thinking of suicide as ending a relationship inside yourself is very powerful. seeing the intrusive thoughts as a constant anonymous caller akin to something from Scream... AHHHH. this was simultaneously a horrifying thriller and a beautiful allegory. in love with this book.
What in the fing f did I just read. What happened in this book ? What didn't happen ? Is it all just a mystery wrapped in an enigma? The narrator remains unnamed, but does she? She. He. We. Me. This guy must have been schizophrenic. Time was talked about as being so important, not wasted. But this storyline was non linear. It was theoretical. It was ethereal but it was concrete. This was smoke and mirrors. Some bullshit? Maybe. But man will it stick with me like an unpleasant scar. Creepy and eerie. Wish there was more, but also don't. 3.5⭐️/5
*4.5 stars. I could not put this one down. The sense of unease is palpable and drives you through the odd and satisfying story. The twist wasn't too much of a twist by the time I reached it, but it didn't matter. I was in and hooked. Compulsively readable and eerie. I really enjoyed this.
Story : Some girl and her boyfriend drive to his parents to met them, but things start to get weird and stuff... that ending is so weird. From the middle of the book I started being interested, because the rest are just flashbacks with that girl that I couldn't care about. The second half has some really nice tense parts, but the final pages are so confusing and random + you know who is behind this whole thing because it's so predictable! Maybe I've seen things like this before, so it wasn't a surprise, but for people that don't know this plot twists, maybe they will enjoy it more, idk. There are parts with an investigation that I kinda liked, but gave away the whole plot.
Characters : This girl, we don't know her name, is so annoying, my God! She wants to break up with him, then she doesn't, then she does, then she doesn't... can you decide or not? She says that she shouldn't do something, but then she does it anyway... how can I care for this person? Jake was alright and I really liked some discussions in the car... life, death, cars, you know, thought provoking things.
Overall : It has some suspense, but if you know what's going to happen, it doesn't matter. Also, the ending is not satisfying because you don't know what happens... I have to come up with my own theory, or Reid explained it and I didn't get it because I'm not so smart? Anyway, I read this because I saw that Charlie Kaufman is going to make an adaptation of this...
i was gonna come back to this with a review but i don't know.
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One of the few books that literally gave me chills, i felt like i experienced the eerie vibes of the story vividly, everything was shrouded in mystery which made things unputdownable.
Want to read a book that fills you with dread through every single page? This book came highly recommended as a gripping thriller, but I knew nothing more than that going into it. And honestly, I think that's how everyone should go into this. Stay away from the plot synopsis and just let the impending doom wash over you. It's a quick read, mainly because you don't want to put it down until you know what is happening.
Seriously, just read it.
Iain Reid is a fucking genius and such a great author, y'all just dumb.
Seriously I can't even explain how much I enjoyed the book. But I think “enjoy” is a wrong word because I was super anxious the entire time. And it was worth it. Every second of it.
I will never be able to forget this book
It's perfect.
Well that was creepy! If you want a book that's insightful, intellectual, and suspenseful in that way that fills you with shivering dread: pick up this book. I don't normally enjoy thrillers, but this kept me excited and engaged and still has me thinking.
Iain Reid is like the boy version of Gillian Flynn for me. This book legitimately had me curled up under my blankets while wide eyeing every page. The end reveal was perfect for me because I re-read certain passages and pages to see how it all lined up and how I missed it.
Really, really random update now that the movie is out:
The movie came out so my partner and I watched it. When we watched it we had an apartment ghost and we called her Marcy (we've since moved and miss her terribly), and Marcy loved messing with technology. That was her thing.
There's a scene when she's meeting the parents and they go back and forth saying “what?” due to being hard of hearing, etc. So they just start repeating themselves and speaking louder/deeper, you get the idea. Marcy blocked out the sound, like completely muted our TV on and off so when his Mom was saying “what???” her replies ended up silent. It was so masterful and well timed, we honestly thought that's how they had made the movie. Nope, that was just Marcy doing us a solid.
It made the movie that much better, so the book and the movie both have a special place in my heart.
I read the entire book today. Good way to spend a morning/afternoon. I had to come out onto the porch to read it because I was getting creeped out sitting in my house. Overall an enjoyable read, though I figured the twist out early on and the ending will probably piss a lot of people off. Worse ways to spend a day off, though.