Playlist for the Dead by Michelle FalkoffPublished by HarperCollins on January 27, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, Young Adult
Pages: 288
Amazon • Book Depository •
Here's what Sam knows: There was a party. There was a fight. The next morning, his best friend, Hayden, was dead. And all he left Sam was a playlist of songs, and a suicide note: For Sam—listen and you'll understand.
As he listens to song after song, Sam tries to face up to what happened the night Hayden killed himself. But it's only by taking out his earbuds and opening his eyes to the people around him that he will finally be able to piece together his best friend’s story. And maybe have a chance to change his own.
Disappointing and…irritating.
*Much cursing. Because the quote pissed me off and I’m deciding not to completely reign in my bitchiness.
I’m going to be honest here–I downloaded it simply because I wanted a review book and it reminded me of 13 Reasons Why–which I didn’t love. So finding a book that sounded similar? I sort of thought this would be my second go at it and…man it let me down more than Jay Asher’s.
First of all I’d like to quote this:
Ahem.
“[Suicide] was the third leading cause of death for teenagers, and boys did it more often than girls. Girls tended to use it as what the pamphlet called a “cry for help,” though it sounded more like an attention grab to me. They would slit their wrists but cut the wrong way, or take a bunch of pills when they knew someone was likely to find them.”
Ex-fucking-scuse me? I get that some people do feel that way, but honestly? This pissed me off to no ends. It was heartless and honestly just disgusting. Attention grabbing? Really? If I strangled this main character would I be attention grabbing? (Don’t know how that correlates but guys, this quote just pisses me off so much. So much.)
But ignoring that, I still had so many complaints.
1) There wasn’t a mourning period. His best friend just died, and yet there was barely a section of the book where he actually felt sad abut it. Sure he’d mention it from time to time, but they were few and far between. Hayden’s death just basically seemed like a motive for the character to push the plot forward and it was just bad. The idea was decent I supposed, but the execution honestly wasn’t up to par. It ended up completely unrealistic and random especially what Astrid did. I mean, what kind of friend would someone be when he dies and she decides to lie to his best friend about why? She’s completely psychotic. There were no excuses for what happened really and I just wanted to shove some sense into all of them.
2) The bad guy. Essentially that was Ryan, the bully and Hayden’s older brother. He was a douche from the main character’s eyes. He was a douche in the love interest’s eyes. He was a douche in the best friends’ eyes. And then we suddenly get a perfectly good reason to condone his actions? Seriously? There was so much bullshit in the end I just can’t.
3) Okay so this goes with part of #1. At least ten pages after the funeral, he’s thinking about a girl. About a girl who “knows things” (oooooooh spooky.) and when she refuses to answer his questions, he doesn’t really press on it, despite the fact that it’s about his dead best friend, and possibly the person who keeps talking to him as his dead best friend. (Honestly this probably would’ve made a better psychological thriller.)
I’m going to admit I did sort of skim the end because honestly, I didn’t want to finish it (but I was determined not to DNF another book.) but umm View Spoiler »
Basically I don’t recommend this one at all.
I liked this book but definitely not much. There were somethings that definitely pissed me off and the end was kinda abrupt . And that quote you have mentioned definitely pissed me off too.
great review though
Your reader,
Soma R.
Soma Rostam recently posted…ARC Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman
I just DNFd this one tonight at about 27%. I read the part about the suicide and I was FUMING but I was going to keep going. And then a few paragraphs later he went on about how terrible his sister looks in all her makeup and how tired his mom looks, and if they just shared the makeup they’d look better. Like WTF. Who does this kid think he is?
Thank you for putting to words what I couldn’t articulate about the mourning period. It was a little horrifying that the opening scene was him finding his best friend dead, but other than that, I felt no sadness in almost a third of the book. He spent absolutely NO time being sad or upset about his friend killing himself. Instead he went on and on about how geeky he is and how no one likes him (and gee, I wonder WHY no one likes him. He’s an ass.)
More power to you for sticking it out. This book was such a let down.
Bekka @ Great Imaginations recently posted…Imaginative Discussion: Lyn’s 2014 Reading Data
Suicide statistics*
Bekka @ Great Imaginations recently posted…Imaginative Discussion: Lyn’s 2014 Reading Data