We All Looked Up Review

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

 

Star Rating: ★★★

Cover Rating: LOVE

Overall Thoughts: Okay

“The best books, they don’t talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you’d always thought about, but that you didn’t think anyone else had thought about. You read them, and suddenly you’re a little bit less alone in the world.”

What would you do if 2/3 of the world’s population was going to die in two months or less? This is the main idea of We All Looked Up. I love books raise questions like this because they really make you think. Sadly, this book did not reach my expectations.

I liked some of the characters, but this is more a love story than an end-of-the-world one. There’s a love square between all the main characters, similar to Carolyn Mackler’s Tangled. Two of the guys are in love with Eliza, Eliza likes one of them and Anita likes another, they all end up together in the end.

The summary on the side of the book didn’t really provide you with much information about the story besides that there’s an asteroid. A lot more happens in this book than I expected. The story starts giving a little perspective into each characters life, each of them being a “high school cliché.” Eliza: the slut, Anita: the over-achiever, Peter: the athlete, and Andy: the slacker. They all get caught in each other’s lives

What I disliked most about this book was the slut-shaming. Eliza is constantly put down for being a “slut” and people’s outfits are described as “slutty.” When will the day come where a girl who is wearing “short” and “tight” clothes won’t be immediately assumed to be a slut?

“She’d dressed up for the occasion like a true punk-rock slut–short pink-and-black tartan skirt and spiderweb tights, tight pink tank top, and a black bow in her hair.”

I would’ve liked a little more closure in the ending. It was really open ended, but I guess that sort of works for the book.

The cover of this book is spectacular, which is why I was drawn to it. To me, this sounded like it would be a Breakfast Club meets the 5th Wave kind of book. I really loved the idea, but the actual story didn’t actually work for me.

What would you do if you only had two months to live? I would go sky diving. Tell me below.

xx, Sophie