User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
WINNER OF BEST AUDIOBOOK 2016!Dig it:
This book is a perfect example of negative reviews selling a book. Specifically Shelbs's and Kells's reviews. I had to see what all the fuss was about. So, yeah, the negative reviews of this book sold me. I paid money for this book based solely on negative reviews. Some authors need to hear that. They need to let that shit sink in. Are Shelbs and Kells stupid for not getting this book? Nope. And I'll explain why.
Iain Reid's
I'm Thinking of Ending Things is 224 pages in hardcover. The audiobook (which I suggest you listen to instead of reading the actual book) is five hours and twenty-two minutes long (5:22). If you read it at x2 speed, you can listen to it in the time it takes to watch one of
The Hobbit movies. There's a reason this book is as short as it is. Reid wants you to read his book twice, and not necessarily in the same order in which you first read it. He's a tricksy hobbitses, and we shall discuss more in the Spoiler Discussion.
This book is utterly fascinating, and I believe that's why so many people are torn over it. All too often we're lulled into a sense of normality. We think things should happen one way and we get locked into that mindset. So much so that we cannot see the forest for the trees. The frustrating part about this book is that is seems to have been written for audio. In the audiobook, when you come to the "twist", there's an obvious change and everything becomes clear as day. I relistened to the book right after listening to it the first time and I read an entirely different book. Simply put, this is kinda (but not really) like
The Sixth Sense. Second time around, you will
see .
Do I think you're going to read this twice? No. Do I think you're going to reread this to see if I'm right? No. But I did, and my experience was vastly improved the second time around.
In summation: Some of you like long(er) books. If you can dedicate yourself to 500 pages, there's no reason you can't reread this (maybe in a different order?) right after you finish it. You'll likely see what Reid did in the first readthrough, but there's so many goodies in the reread. Simple stuff you would never have paid attention to, like, say, a red door knob.
Final Judgment: Two experiences in one bookSpoiler Discussion: Wherein I spoil
I'm Thinking of Ending Things, by Iain Reid.(view spoiler)
[
Reid gives clear instructions in the very last chapter of this book. The unnamed duo who've been talking between the chapters are discussing the book found next to Jake's body, and the guy tells the woman that he thinks she should read it once and then read it again, only backward. This is a pain in the ass to do in audio, but I did it. I suggest you do the same. You know, if you wanna.
Yes, Jake killed himself because he was struggling with schizophrenia, as most super-intelligent folks do. No, there never was any girlfriend. It was always him. He made up, in his mind, everything that happened after the night he met her in the bar. This book is a very sick man playing in his own head. It's sad and disturbing and even a bit beautiful. Madness usually is.
Jake did work in a lab. He left that job to take a job as a janitor. Somewhere he could just blend in and do his own thing and, even though he was around people, he kinda wasn't. How many of you remember your high school janitors? Did you hang out with that person or did they just kinda exist on the edge?
I understand why people didn't like this book, but I fucking loved it. Reid made the book just short enough that you can reread it with ease right after reading it the first time. Bravo. Good on him for trying something unique with his fiction.
Lastly, in the audiobook, right at the repetitious part at the end, when he says that one line over and over again, the narrator switches from female to male. I don't know how they pulled this off in the book, but in the audiobook it is chilling and makes the twist clear. That's my favorite part of the book, really, but don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the entire experience.
Thanks for joining me. (hide spoiler)]
Rating: really liked it
Jake and his girlfriend are on a road trip to go and see Jake's parents at their rural farm.
The point of view is from the girlfriend and inside her head we find out that she is thinking of 'ending things' with Jake. Jake is perfect and smart and all that stuff but it's time to just move on. Except for the fact that we are on our way to the whole meet the parents thing.
Once we get to the farm..we get to meet the parents.
With a smidge of this:
Then we find out some stuff and thangs. (I'm totally trying to not spoil anything here.)
After the trip Jake and girlfriend head out home.
In a snow-storm.
Because we have to set the mood and all that jazz.
Jake decides that he just must have some Dairy Queen. In the middle of a snowstorm. When he has to work the next day.
At the Dairy Queen there are some female teenage weirdos..including one that should have made girlie jump out of that car and run.
Then the ending. That frigging ending.
I read it twice the other night when I finished this book. Still didn't understand it.
I read it again this morning before writing the review. I'm sorry. A whole bunch of people are really liking this book. I LOATHE that stupid ending.
It's not like I can't handle weird stuff.
But damn..that still has me mad enough and frustrated enough that this book is getting the big old one star. If I had a physical copy I would possibly punch it. In it's stupid little book face.
Yes, I'm a tad ragey. (I totally wish I could say JUST how bad without spoiling the book.)
Stupid book is stupid.
Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review. 
Now I've been
trolled told before that I read books wrong when I one star
their stupid asses them..so I really may have just tackled this one that is completely over my head. Check out my friend Trudi's review. I ain't gonna lie. She reads way smarter books than I do and she loved this one.
Rating: really liked it
this is like those trippy A24 horror movies. love.
Rating: really liked it
What the hell did I just read...
Rating: really liked it
Holy shit that was brilliant!!! What a mind f*ck!!! I have to tell you that I thought this was going to be a 1 or 2 star book for me until the very end. I mean like the last 15 minutes of it.
I'm not sure whether to give this book 4 or 5 Stars. I'm going with 4 for now because the book was filled with so many things that made my stomach turn. I get why the journey was like this now. I'm so ready to hit the fifth star button!
I listened to the audio version of the novel. I think this might have played out better on audio, but I can't tell you why until you finish the book.
You can't give up on this one because the ending is crucial. If you are going to read this book you MUST stick with it!!!
Recommended only for people who like completely twisted reads with unreliable narrators.
Rating: really liked it
This book slapped me in the face and stabbed in the back and I liked it.
Basically, this book fucking
slaps —
stabs. Short and sweet.
If you like existential road trips, creepy farmhouses, after dark schools, being anxious, tense vibes, and books that can read forward and backwards— this one's for ya.
4 STARS
Rating: really liked it
I am not, in theory, a cheesy person.
https://emmareadstoomuch.wordpress.co...
I shy away from earnestness. Genuine expressions of emotion upset me. The last time I had to have a serious and feelings-based conversation I did everything to prepare for a hermit-esque lifestyle of solitude in the mountains somewhere short of buying a plane ticket (ultimately I recalled that I don't much care for nature).
But all of that changes when I really, truly love a book.
In my head, and to the most trusted people in my life, there is an upper echelon of books I refer to as "the books of my heart." Of the 1,246 books I have marked as read on Goodreads, only 89 are true five stars, and the books of my heart (I really can't believe how corny of a name that is, like how did that come from me, a rock person with Christmas-reject coal for a heart) are a careful selection of even that.
This is a coveted title typically given to the works of Sally Rooney, or dark volumes of adult fantasy, or quirky young adult magical realism.
In short: beautifully written and unique books that mostly take place inside brains, with traces of magic and humor and love.
So this book, a horror-ish novel intensely driven by its narrator's mind that would, if written by a lesser author, be little more than a vessel for its twist, may seem an unlikely choice for that lot.
But it makes sense to me.
Bottom line: I can't think about this book too hard without wanting to read it againagainagain.
---------------
pre-reviewmy skin is crawling and i want to scream and i think this might be a 5 star read.
review to come / at least 4.5 but who are we kidding
---------------
currently-reading updatesi read the first 20 pages of this last night before i went to sleep and got so scared i had to switch to a romance novel.
i will be reading exclusively in daylight from now on.
Rating: really liked it
The back of this book merely promises that you will be afraid and not know why. There are no other details. Funnily enough, that is the most accurate summation of this novel possible.
I don't want to say too much about this novel, because the puzzle and atmosphere are really the ghoulish, psychological fun of it. It's a deeply unsettling novel; that's the point of it, and as such, it's brief — I finished it in a couple of hours.
It's certainly not for everyone. Read the first chapter (you can find previews on most of the big sites) and sample the wind. If you like the beginning, the rest of the book matches. I'd recommend it for folks who like Gillian Flynn, I think, and perhaps those who liked E. Lockhart's latest offerings.
Rating: really liked it
I don’t write a lot of reviews where I give a book under 3 stars; I’d like to think its because I typically know what type of book I like to read, but every now and again I get it completely wrong and I have to write an embarrassing review on why I disliked a novel that everyone else seems to rave about. This was one of those books. I was immediately requesting this one on NetGalley the second I saw it, as it sounded right up my alley. Creepy, suspenseful, vague-YES! However, I’ll say that my not liking this book was not reflective on the writer’s abilities and talent; the book was very well written in style and he is clearly very bright. My problems all lie within the plot itself.
“If I had your number, we could talk, and I’d tell you something funny.”There’s not much I can say about the plot; there’s a reason the blurb is so vague. Jake and “The Girlfriend” are heading on a trip to his parent’s farm and weird things start happening. Then they leave and stop off at an old school and more weird things happen. That’s the gist of it; coming in at 224 pages this one is very brief, and I think if the plot had been fleshed out a little more it might have worked for me. It all felt so BAM BAM BAM DONE! I was left holding my kindle thinking “Um. What?” It takes until 40% of the book for it to even get going; up until that point they are just talking in the car about a lot of weird stuff (ex.
“You are the new man. How delicious cannot forget, special taste. Return the turn flavor.”). Yes, I guess it makes sense once you get to the end, but that was my other big problem; I had this book figured out within the first chapter. If the ending isn’t obvious to you, you very well might enjoy this book much more than I did. Even though I didn’t give this book a glowing rating, I’d like to end my review with a list of things I did like about the book as the author clearly put time and energy into this book and all reviews are worthy of that.
THINGS I LIKED:
The author put together some very intelligent narrative, probably too intelligent for me and proves why I wasn’t a good fit for this book. He clearly researched the meaning behind many big words to make Jake as verbose as he is.
From about 40-90% this book had me sucked in. These parts were gloriously creepy, especially all the farm house scenes. If the entire book had been of this nature I would have given it 5 stars.
Without giving away too much, I really appreciated how the author managed to connect the ending with the beginning; that was a really neat touch that I’m sure was difficult to construct.
*Thank you to both NetGalley and the author for providing me a copy even though it wasn’t my favorite book of the year. I appreciate how publishers and authors take that chance knowing many people will not write glowing reviews and that they don’t stone us in our sleep.
Rating: really liked it
Oooooh, this is a tough one to review, because it's not going to be for everyone, and I also don't want to give too much away. It's a slim volume that packs such a WALLOP! that creeps up on you, it would be super easy to spoil it for someone if you weren't careful.
Many people have this filed as 'Mystery' or 'Psychological Thriller' and it's sorta a blend of those, but way closer to 'Psychological Horror' for me than anything else. It's an unsettling, paranoid mindfuck that at first appearances seems pretty slow-moving and innocuous. There's a young couple on a road trip to visit the guy's parents at their secluded farmhouse, and the girlfriend is "thinking of ending things". In her head she's ruminating on the course of their courtship and mulling over the nagging feeling that it's time to pull the plug on a relationship whose expiration date is past.
But she also has a secret. Dun-dun-DUUUUUN.
But the boyfriend -- who starts the novel normal and quite nice -- starts to appear odd and off kilter as soon as we get to the farmhouse. Then things inexorably creep to majorly weird and unsettling with the parents by the time we get to dessert.
And just as you're processing what's happening in that farmhouse and freaked the hell out because you don't know where the threat is coming from, the book will move to its final act in a deserted high school.
This isn't a book about what HAPPENS. It's one of those HOW WE GET THERE. It's a book of atmosphere and tension and a narrator who absolutely takes the cake on unreliable. It's a paranoid chant in places, and I was literally gripping the book as I was reading it because everything started to feel so portentous, so HEAVY, that the most horrible thing could happen at any moment. All bets are off. As a reader, when I am in the hands of a writer like that, and at their complete mercy, there is no other place I would rather be.
It was horror god Nick Cutter who brought my attention to this book first when he tweeted this about it:
"Creepy as hell. You owe me a few fingernails, Reid, because I've bitten them off reading your book!"
When Mr. Cutter endorses a book like that I will do just about
anything (and I do mean anything people) to get my hands on a copy. Fortunately, I didn't have to kill anybody (and lose precious reading time getting rid of the body since my woodchipper is in the shop). The publisher provided a review copy for free, no violence required, no cleanup in aisle four. Thanks Simon and Schuster Canada!
I want to compare this short read (which you should do in one sitting for maximum impact) with other great stories of the same ilk, but I don't want to risk spoiling anything.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things is psychological, subtle, mind-bendy, and utterly unnerving. I can't wait to read this one again to enjoy its construction and appreciate even more the flawless execution of its moving parts.
Iain Reid, you are on my radar.
Rating: really liked it
Wow. Wow. WOW. Wooooow. Wwwoooowww. Woow. Wow!
I first learned of
I'm Thinking of Ending Things when Kayla, from Books and Lala, mentioned it on her YouTube channel. Based on her reaction to the experience, I knew I wanted to pick it up.
Since watching that video, I successfully avoided all spoilers, reviews and honestly, even the full synopsis.
On a whim, I decided to start the audiobook when I saw it available through my local library.
First, let me just say,
the audiobook was amazing. In my estimation, it's probably the best way to experience this story.
I am not going to say a thing about the content of the story. I wouldn't want to spoil one single sentence for anyone who hasn't read it yet, but wants to.
It's
unconventional, it's weird, it's dark and it shook me. When the big reveal happens in audio, I was out walking my dog and was
so chilled, I literally had to stop walking.
I genuinely thought this was brilliant.
Regardless of the final outcome of the novel, throughout the entire story I was creeped out.
It's such an odd experience, because there is nothing overtly scary happening, but
the feeling of dread that I had the entire time was pretty epic.
Overall, I think
this audiobook is an amazing experience. If you are looking to be played and have everything you thought you knew flipped on its head, pick it up.
Rating: really liked it
Holy crap on a cracker!I put off reading this book for such a long time because there were so many negative reviews and I don't see why! I freaking loved this book! It blew me right way! I got if from the Overdrive library and I'm going to be buying it to keep.
Okay, so like the narrator is this woman that I have no idea who she is, name-wise. Unless I missed it, they never say in the book. She's on a road trip with her boyfriend Jake. He is taking her to meet his parents for the first time and they live a few hours in the country on a farm.
Through-out the ride, SHE, talks about her thoughts. She tells about this man that calls her on the phone all of the time but she hasn't told any one. She hasn't even told Jake. He says scary things, bizarre things.
And, SHE, is kind of weird herself. She keeps talking about ending it with Jake and not ending it with Jake and people and places and weird stuff. I actually thought this book was about teenagers when I started it but these are two adults. Jake works in some kind of lab and he's super smart.
There is a certain point that I started to figure things out. I thought a few different things at first but then the stranger it got it started to click into place.
I was on the edge of my seat to get to the bottom of everything I'm still confused on a few things but it's okay, I never figure everything out in books.
This one was creepy and cool and weird and freaky deaky and I just loved it. There are some meh parts but the cray outweighs the meh!
Awesome peeps! Awesome!
MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List
Rating: really liked it
1.5 Stars.
Rating: really liked it
I listened to the audio of this one and at first I didn't find it too bad. A woman and her boyfriend, Jake are on their way to his parents for dinner. She is like the title says.....thinking of ending things.
"You will be scared. But you won't know why"
That quote from the book is very true. I was so confused and felt very uncomfortable for almost the entire book. I think this book might be too smart for me because I still don't think I understand it. I wonder if reading the actual book would have made a difference in this case.
This book did give me a reason to think about audio vs. book and how easily things can be heard wrong. For example, I thought the girlfriend was saying "I should have told him about the collar". Similar sentences were said a few times before I realized she was saying CALLER not COLLAR. it wasn't until she said something about her phone that I realized my mistake. I thought she was wanting to tell him about a collar. I know that makes me sound dumb. Like really? why would she be talking about a collar. Because this book was an odd one "collar" seemed like a possibility. Had I been reading the book I would have seen the spelling and it wouldn't have been an issue. However I have still been enjoying audio books and this was the first time that has happened.
I was on edge for almost the entire time. I'm not saying it wasn't interesting, because it was at first. I enjoyed learning about the couple, the visit to the farm, etc.. But then everything started weirding me out. Especially the narrator. The girlfriend was thinking about some weird calls she was getting and the messages this person was leaving. When the narrator did the voice of the person leaving the messages my skin started crawling. By the time she repeated it the third time I was freaked right out! I don't know if it's just me but that voice made me shudder.
To be honest I almost dnf'd this one. However, I thought I would give it another try and so I did. I did want to find out what happened. But then I didn't get the ending at all. I listened to the ending a few times and I still didn't get it. I have my theories about what happened which I won't write because on the .000001 percent chance that I'm right I wouldn't want to ruin it.
Maybe it's just me and I missed something. I wasn't always sure who's point of view I was hearing. Maybe in the book the chapters have headings which would definitely make it easier to follow.
I am giving it 2.5 stars because it was right about one thing.......I was scared and didn't know why. I just wish I understood more of what was happening, especially the ending!!
I think this will get a variety of ratings. I can totally understand how some people would really like it. But it just wasn't for me.
2.5 stars
Rating: really liked it
It's been a couple hours since I finished this book and I still feel nauseous. And sad.
For the first half of the book I wasn't sure it was gonna work for me. Although the writing was excellent and there was a thin thread of suspense it was mostly just a car ride with two characters that I couldn't relate to.
The second half changed everything!
I absolutely loved it, I was so impressed.
I was also glad when it was over because it was just too dark in there.
"๐๐ฉ'๐จ ๐ฃ๐ค๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐ง๐ฉ-๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ง ๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐จ๐ ๐ค๐ง ๐๐ก๐ค๐ค๐๐๐ช๐ง๐๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ค๐ง ๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ง ๐ซ๐๐ค๐ก๐๐ฃ๐ฉ. ๐๐ค ๐๐ช๐ข๐ฅ ๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐จ. ๐๐ค ๐ข๐, ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฆ๐ช๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ง๐๐ฃ'๐ฉ ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐๐ก๐ก๐ฎ ๐จ๐๐๐ง๐ฎ. ๐๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐จ๐ค๐ง๐๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐จ, ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฃ๐จ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ'๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ฃ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐๐ง๐๐ฃ๐ฉ๐๐, ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฉ๐จ ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐๐ฉ๐ฎ - ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฉ'๐จ ๐จ๐๐๐ง๐ฎ."
