Avery Byrne is about to take her own life when she receives the news that a huge asteroid is headed for the earth and everyone has just nine days left to live. This spurs her to reconnect with her family and her best friend, Cass, who she has been secretly in love with for years.
It’s an incredibly arresting opening – you know that the book is not going to end well, but you’re still thoroughly invested in Avery sorting out her relationships in the time she has left.
In between her family’s attempts to stockpile food and prepare a basement bunker in the hope of surviving the fallout, we see through flashbacks how Avery’s friendship with Cass unfolded over the years, as well as Avery’s struggles with her mental health.
Avery is someone who has always succeeded at anything she has tried, but her success is a brittle veneer over the depression that has haunted her for her whole life. When she goes away to college and struggles to keep up with the work, she fears that she has the same deep sadness inside herself as her aunt who walked into the sea to her death, on the day Avery was born.
I have some pupils who are big fans of ‘All That’s Left in the World’ so I’ll definitely be recommending this to them. It also reminded me of ‘The Forevers’ by Chris Whitaker.
This book is definitely about emotional resolution more than death-by-asteroid resolution, so if you’re expecting a high-stakes dystopian thriller, this is not that book. It is, however, a beautifully rendered picture of a friendship developing into a romantic relationship as well as a sensitive and nuanced exploration of depression. I thoroughly enjoyed this – a heartbreaking and yet surprisingly hopeful read.
Swimming in Books 