I recently read the book for the first time and I cried after I was done. It resonates with my fears so much about loneliness, depression, and wasting your life. Just felt like the book spoke to me and scared me so much that I want to get back into film after dropping out of college. Seems to me like a cautionary tale.
those two whole pages of just the words "what are you waiting for?" was hair-raisingly unsettling. i've never felt so scared of that sentence alone after that. on another note, i have an opinion that the school itself might be a symbolism for depression. like the school, depression feels like a maze that has no exit, but you don't know it doesn't have one until you've walked over everything. you won't know that you're actually trapped, that you have no choice, and that it's inevitable until it's too late
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!! Jake didn't imagine the janitor, he was the janitor. Remember when she's in his parents house and overhears the argument about someone quitting his classes? That was him. He was really smart but emotionally and mentally unstable and so have up all his ambitions. Also the "girlfriend" was real. He saw her at a pub when he was young but was too afraid to move beyond a brief conversation and has been fantasizing about her for the rest of his life. Also, he really commits suicide in the school at the end.
Wait so...... hold up. It's not the girl hiding in the closet at the end and the janitor comes up to her its actually Jake all along and he is alone and all the other characters (the janitor and the girl) are made up?????? Wot the fawk.
@@madison9812 there is one real character in the entire story. Everyone else was just in his mind. He would essentially just picture most of these conversations in his head as what could have been. Like when you think about past decisions you regret and recreate it in your head as a what if. Or sometimes they were subconscious thoughts seeping into the recreation. He saw the girl in real life decades ago and was thinking about what life could have been like if he had done things differently.. the book actually does explain it very well. Reread the last 4 chapters.
the entire first half of the book made me uneasy because of how uncannily it was written, i was so off put bc none of the characters talked like normal people
I will never forgive google for spoiling the entire book, I was just looking for a summary cause it had no summary on the back cover and it literally showed me an “ending explained” recap of the entire twist so it wasn’t so impactful. That said I just finished the book and I’m speechless
I know exactly which part you were talking about when you talked about the repeating part, that part was FRIGHTENING!!! That was the only part where I started to feel like the book crossed into horror territory. The other parts were very unsettling, but didn't really freak me out like that part. However, I differ from you in that I appreciated how it ended because I guess I didn't really see it as a horror book, a suspense and thriller maybe, but not a horror. And sometimes suspense and thriller books take a sad turn, so I was not disappointed that readers may end up more sad than anything. I also did not thought of the character as having actual mental illness. I thought he just didn't bothered to make any human connections because he either didn't think he needed human connection to survive or just didn't considered intensionally trying. I don't see severe introversion as a mental illness, but if it's affecting a persons life negatively I guess it can be considered one. I never connected the character's introversion to actually being mentally ill though.
I totally agree about the creepy parts! Did you listen to the audio or read it physically? Just wondering if it might have been a bit different! As I read more thrillers I'm realizing that it's not uncommon to have sad endings, I guess I'm just more used to horror and the killer clowns lol I hope it didn't sound like I thought introversion was a mental illness - it's not at all!! I just assumed there was some sort of mental illness going on because he seemed so affected by fear and the scenarios/other characters that he had made up in his head. To me it seemed like he was maybe hallucinating and disassociating, though I don't remember that ever being stated explicitly, so my reading of it could be completely wrong. The end wrapped up so quickly so we didn't get much explanation! Good point and thanks for bringing it up!
@paperbackpuns I listened to the audiobook, but I do have the physical copy of the book. I really like the discussions they had in the car, I thought it was interesting to think about. I appreciated it. The other part that disgusted me more then scare me was the pig dying story, do you know what I'm talking about. That's a part that made me think, "Uuuughhh! That's horrible!! POOR POOR PIGS!!!" and not "That scares me!!". I didn’t think of it as him hallucinating. I feel like the whole novel was set up as him doing an experiment in his mind, like he just reimagined a whole new reality in his own head because he wanted to kill himself, so he wondered would he not want to if he had made human connections. It’s almost like a simulation entirely in his own mind, and this is why there were strange inconsistencies because the mind does not always render everything in perfect detail or in exactly the same way. In the end he decided that his experiment was done, and he really wouldn’t end up any differently. He commits suicide because of it.
I just finished it a while ago and made the mistake of making it an all nighter read, and when I i got to those specific pages I didn’t even want to look at them it was so unsettling I actually didn’t want to read it and then flipping the page just to see more and more made me so petrified it was something new I haven’t experienced from a book
Loved this book so much! I've read it several times now and I just think it's so interesting that the tone totally shifts on the second read. It goes from being this tense, terrifying experience of a woman fighting for her life in the school on the first read, to a man fighting for his life in an entirely different way, battling depression and thoughts of suicide on the second read. Ugh, I love it.
I just read this book in its entirety in one five hour sitting. No bathroom breaks or anything. I have never been so terrified as I was in parts of this book. I feel completely mind blown.
@@zekekasichiro-smith4725 I'd rate it super high for the camera work and the hidden meaning behind everything. The actors were incredible too. The ending is very strange, even to those who haven't read the book, so that makes it a bit hard but I'd give it around an 8 😊
@@mayahjade I wanna buy the book but its currently sold out in my country. I'm excited to roll up my mind and be drain but satisfied also 😂😫. I only spoil myself with the trailer.
I just finished it and WOW. Absolutely loved it! As soon as she entered the school I knew something mentally was going on, though I first thought we were inside her mind... until that line came and the men's voice started taking over and they started talking about "we" instead of "I". And I agree, the audio was phenomenal! I really want to reread it already 🤓
i still don’t understand the meaning/significance behind the whole creepy paintings in the basement thing...UGH I JUST FINISHED THE BOOK IN 3 HOURS AND ITS SO FRUSTRATING idk if i’ll say i liked the ending though....i read that Jake probably had DID or schizophrenia or something, and yes, that does make the whole story more understandable. but i just don’t know if the ending is “PHENOMENAL” yk also, it’s “what’re you waiting for”!!! the line she/he/they(?!?!?!) kept repeating
Spoiler alert: I took it as he has multiple personalities, dissociative disorder. The paintings were of the different personalities. That was what I thought at the end at least.
I took it as attempts to design a companion; in the paintings, everything stays constant except for the person holding the child’s hand (the child being Jake, as I understand it). There are several allusions to the idea that Jake knows the narrator inside and out, and that can be explained fairly easily seeing as she is a fantasy of his, but I think she’s the final attempt to create this imaginary companion and the only one that Jake actually goes through with
It could be the self portrait of Jake and his characters in his mind. I feel like the painting that Jake's mom gave the gf is the painting from the basement. Near the end. When the characters become aware, they say this " This is who we are. Nails. Fistful of hairs. Blood on our own hands", which means they are not alive.( Before this, they talk how they talk about how the hair is dead and all that)
Jake IS the janitor. He is daydreaming about his past life and imagining what if he had actually dated all the girls he wanted to but was too socially awkward to ask out. I think the ending or maybe the whole thing is Jake's life passing through his mind as he is dying.
That makes so much sense wow! I understood that in the end they never dated and he was simply reminiscing on what could have been, but I feel like you saying that the whole thing is his whole life flashing by as he dies rlly tied it together for me, so thank you!
I feel like I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I had listened to the audiobook instead of reading it in print! It was too easy to mentally escape from the creepiness when I can read it at my own speed in my own voice 😅
I was expecting more insight on her childhood stalker... I mean she/he/they saw the polka dot shirt in the school. The novel doesn't make sense to me, but it's a good read.
I just read this and to me the scariest part was something that was never answered, at least it didn’t seem to be answered, just echoed. “The Caller” and the voicemails. They unsettled me so much and I didn’t get closure with it. I need to reread it but GAH!
It’s Jake interrupting his own little daydream and saying to himself “What are you waiting for? Stop dreaming and dilly dallying around and just finish yourself.”
But that was an awsomely good book - I so loved it. Unfortunately saw the movie before the book and before the audiobook. But as they are not the same anyway it was actually a double joy. The audiobook is just fantastic. I find it great if a book has such an impact.
Spoiler Alert 🚨🚨 I wish some stuff were explained more,maybe it’s just supposed to add more suspense?like the stalker the girl had?or the bruised dairy queen worker?Ms.Veal?That was all in Jake’s head but was there any hidden meaning to it i might have missed?
the stalker the girl had is jake. it’s kinda hard to explain but I’ll try lol😭 throughout the book she keeps receiving the phone calls asking about “there’s one question to answer.” at the end of chapter 12, “what are you waiting for?” is repeated several times for like 5 pages. and the last line on page 238 is, “I’ve answered the question.” so basically “the caller” is Jake talking to himself and asking himself “what are you waiting for?” and at the end of the book when he kills himself, he has finally answered.
I was in the disappointed group. I just felt nothing at the end. Like ohh ok. I guess this guy is crazy. The end. I may be more dead inside than you hanajaj
Hi! Here after reading the book and watching the movie, then finding your amazing review by accident. I guess this is my way of coping with my own frustration and disappointment towards the film and being a huge Kaufman fan, but that is another topic lol. I feel you with the "looking for a book that gives me chest pains" thing, I feel like that's how I know something is really good. I relate so much to your description of the book, I was almost half through the video when I realised you said you listened to it, which sounds like such a terribly good idea if that makes any sense. The thought of the voices overlapping once it is revealed that the girl, the janitor, the "brother", etc. are all Jake, his past, present, future and what ifs, god, that gives me chills, and I'm so going to get the audiobook just for that reason. The way I discovered this book was by the trailer of the movie, that in my opinion created such high expectations in me that I fell the movie failed to use - or at least adapt- many of the brilliant resources Iain Reid does in the book. I love how it is all in her head and how it all comes full circle with one simple line towards the end of the book which is "We had to try putting her here with us. To see what could happen. It was her story to tell", and the fact that there is such a feminine quality in the way the book is narrated, not because of the use of the words but because of how she -whoever she is - seems to move and perceive others and ultimately how she reacts to those things, I saw so much of myself in her because I tend to overanalyze and philosophize even the simplest of things, when I'm in a bad place mentally, and as women we tend to idealize the person we deem attractive, which is what I think she does when looking at Jake, at the beginning of the book, saying he's polite and smart and tall and lean, hansome and always with good posture, then in page like 60 I realized I didn't know the name of the girl or much about her in general, because I related so much to her in the confusion, curiosity and care she had handling all these horrible situations thrown at her. Of course she was non confrontational with her boyfriend, they had known eachother for seven weeks and she was alone with him in a car in the middle of nowhere and had never seen him lose his temper, reading most of the book in her shoes felt like that one part where she gets out of the car to go look for Jake in the dark, scary as fuck. But then it becomes obvious that there are so many layers to this situation when you realize that that's how Jake (the janitor) probably looks at the world, imagining this perfect image of their S.O equates to imagining himself as he would like to look through someone elses eyes at times and like a woman afraid of being raped and murdered in the streets at night. Alone, sad, just one of many in this unjust system society has created for some us. I loved the ending, it was sad and disturbing and also a little unnerving. For me at least, this book had no low point, because everything was tied so perfectly together, the only two things that still confuse me a bit are the meaning of the paintings and who Ms. Veal was, but apart from that, and I don't know how this works in the audibook and I notice you didn't mention it, but in the paperback version, there are no chapters, I had never read a book like that, instead it has these sections of conversations in italics between two people discussing a horrible incident, that in the end you are able to piece together to understand that they were some sort of detectives talking to each other about what had happened to Jake (An incredibly smart man that wasted his life working as a janitor for 30 years) that was found in a closet after jaming a metal hanger repeatedly into his body and bleeding to death slowly, giving him time to write the book of his what ifs which is obviously "I'm thinking of ending things". At the end we are left not knowing how jake really looks like and with the advice to start at the end and circle back, which I did, and highlighting all the little details and clues given from the beginning and then comparing them to the end, really gives you perspective and makes you appreciate the genius of Reid.
I just listened to the book. Finished it, and exactly like you said, I was like “wtf did I just read [listen to]?” Lol! Thank you for saying that and basically everything you said. I was getting worried about my own intellect around the moment that the voices started saying that thing over and over and over because I was so confused. The last 15 minutes or so did basically explain everything but to go 5 hours guessing what’s happening and have it all semi cryptically explained super fast and last minute literally forced me to TH-cam book reviews and hear anyone else’s opinion of what was going on there. Anyway, long story short, thank you for your review, I got a good laugh out of it and felt far less alone hearing your take on it. Thanks!
Just read the book after watching the god awful Kaufman movie, the book was fucking terrifying at times, read it an afternoon, it's brilliant and mindbending.
If I understand it correctly, the whole books isn’t really about the characters, it’s the janitors diary or story that he wrote. Jake and the unnamed girlfriend aren’t real necessarily. Although, still no idea who the caller is
i definitely need to check out the audiobook i read it physically but i can tell what scene youre talking about and i can see how thatd be different on audio
No. There are a few violent details in the book and at the same time: nothing super duper disturbing. Let's say for instance, really shocking stuff you would see in a show made by a cable network or an R rated movie.
@@Misadventures_85afaik it will be a series, but maybe it's a movie? I don't how they going to adapt the book because one of my favorite things is that there are so many ways to interprate the ending
True! And I've been curious about how a bunch of the main character's thoughts are gonna be "portrayed" (so to speak). What comes to mind for me is voice overs and a bit of montage.
I recently read the book for the first time and I cried after I was done. It resonates with my fears so much about loneliness, depression, and wasting your life. Just felt like the book spoke to me and scared me so much that I want to get back into film after dropping out of college. Seems to me like a cautionary tale.
Right. The first time I read it I felt emptiness. But when I reread it two times later, I end up crying everythime I reach the end.
those two whole pages of just the words "what are you waiting for?" was hair-raisingly unsettling. i've never felt so scared of that sentence alone after that. on another note, i have an opinion that the school itself might be a symbolism for depression. like the school, depression feels like a maze that has no exit, but you don't know it doesn't have one until you've walked over everything. you won't know that you're actually trapped, that you have no choice, and that it's inevitable until it's too late
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!
Jake didn't imagine the janitor, he was the janitor. Remember when she's in his parents house and overhears the argument about someone quitting his classes? That was him. He was really smart but emotionally and mentally unstable and so have up all his ambitions. Also the "girlfriend" was real. He saw her at a pub when he was young but was too afraid to move beyond a brief conversation and has been fantasizing about her for the rest of his life. Also, he really commits suicide in the school at the end.
WAIT REALLY??? wow I just finished it and I had that same conclusion of delusional narrative but stilllll HOW WAS THE GIRLS POV NOT REAL wow
Wait so...... hold up. It's not the girl hiding in the closet at the end and the janitor comes up to her its actually Jake all along and he is alone and all the other characters (the janitor and the girl) are made up?????? Wot the fawk.
@@madison9812 No, Jake is the janitor. He met the girl once when he young but was afraid to speak to her & fantasizes about her the rest of his life.
@@madison9812 there is one real character in the entire story. Everyone else was just in his mind. He would essentially just picture most of these conversations in his head as what could have been. Like when you think about past decisions you regret and recreate it in your head as a what if. Or sometimes they were subconscious thoughts seeping into the recreation. He saw the girl in real life decades ago and was thinking about what life could have been like if he had done things differently.. the book actually does explain it very well. Reread the last 4 chapters.
How does he commit suicide tho? Like in what ways? I'm really curios, looking for an answer
the entire first half of the book made me uneasy because of how uncannily it was written, i was so off put bc none of the characters talked like normal people
I will never forgive google for spoiling the entire book, I was just looking for a summary cause it had no summary on the back cover and it literally showed me an “ending explained” recap of the entire twist so it wasn’t so impactful. That said I just finished the book and I’m speechless
I know exactly which part you were talking about when you talked about the repeating part, that part was FRIGHTENING!!! That was the only part where I started to feel like the book crossed into horror territory. The other parts were very unsettling, but didn't really freak me out like that part. However, I differ from you in that I appreciated how it ended because I guess I didn't really see it as a horror book, a suspense and thriller maybe, but not a horror. And sometimes suspense and thriller books take a sad turn, so I was not disappointed that readers may end up more sad than anything.
I also did not thought of the character as having actual mental illness. I thought he just didn't bothered to make any human connections because he either didn't think he needed human connection to survive or just didn't considered intensionally trying. I don't see severe introversion as a mental illness, but if it's affecting a persons life negatively I guess it can be considered one. I never connected the character's introversion to actually being mentally ill though.
I totally agree about the creepy parts! Did you listen to the audio or read it physically? Just wondering if it might have been a bit different! As I read more thrillers I'm realizing that it's not uncommon to have sad endings, I guess I'm just more used to horror and the killer clowns lol
I hope it didn't sound like I thought introversion was a mental illness - it's not at all!! I just assumed there was some sort of mental illness going on because he seemed so affected by fear and the scenarios/other characters that he had made up in his head. To me it seemed like he was maybe hallucinating and disassociating, though I don't remember that ever being stated explicitly, so my reading of it could be completely wrong. The end wrapped up so quickly so we didn't get much explanation! Good point and thanks for bringing it up!
@paperbackpuns I listened to the audiobook, but I do have the physical copy of the book. I really like the discussions they had in the car, I thought it was interesting to think about. I appreciated it. The other part that disgusted me more then scare me was the pig dying story, do you know what I'm talking about. That's a part that made me think, "Uuuughhh! That's horrible!! POOR POOR PIGS!!!" and not "That scares me!!".
I didn’t think of it as him hallucinating. I feel like the whole novel was set up as him doing an experiment in his mind, like he just reimagined a whole new reality in his own head because he wanted to kill himself, so he wondered would he not want to if he had made human connections. It’s almost like a simulation entirely in his own mind, and this is why there were strange inconsistencies because the mind does not always render everything in perfect detail or in exactly the same way.
In the end he decided that his experiment was done, and he really wouldn’t end up any differently. He commits suicide because of it.
@@paperbackpuns3704 I wonder if you were ever going to respond to my second comment because I thought we were having a conversation.
@@NightOwlReader2790 Interesting thoughts. I believed that he had Dissociative identity disorder because of the way he referred to himself as 'we'.
I just finished it a while ago and made the mistake of making it an all nighter read, and when I i got to those specific pages I didn’t even want to look at them it was so unsettling I actually didn’t want to read it and then flipping the page just to see more and more made me so petrified it was something new I haven’t experienced from a book
Loved this book so much! I've read it several times now and I just think it's so interesting that the tone totally shifts on the second read. It goes from being this tense, terrifying experience of a woman fighting for her life in the school on the first read, to a man fighting for his life in an entirely different way, battling depression and thoughts of suicide on the second read. Ugh, I love it.
I finished this book 10 min ago and needed an explanation immediately for whatever that ending was
Somehow it was terrfying before anything was happening.
Ikr there were so many weird stuff like the pig and lambs,the creepy paintings
I just read this book in its entirety in one five hour sitting. No bathroom breaks or anything. I have never been so terrified as I was in parts of this book. I feel completely mind blown.
AHHH I FINISHED THIS BOOK IN TWO DAYS BECAUSE I LOVED IT SO MUCH AND I USUALLY TAKE MONTHS
What's your review? Out of 10? ✨
@@zekekasichiro-smith4725 I'd rate it super high for the camera work and the hidden meaning behind everything. The actors were incredible too. The ending is very strange, even to those who haven't read the book, so that makes it a bit hard but I'd give it around an 8 😊
@@mayahjade I wanna buy the book but its currently sold out in my country. I'm excited to roll up my mind and be drain but satisfied also 😂😫. I only spoil myself with the trailer.
@@mayahjade did you just review the book or the movie? i’m confused
@@orangelarian4754 the first comment I did was about the book, second was about the movie 😊 sorry LOL it is a bit confusing
I just finished it and WOW. Absolutely loved it! As soon as she entered the school I knew something mentally was going on, though I first thought we were inside her mind... until that line came and the men's voice started taking over and they started talking about "we" instead of "I". And I agree, the audio was phenomenal! I really want to reread it already 🤓
Me has never read a thriller and has decided this is going to be my first lol.
omg! haha good luck, this isn't a bad place to start! Would love to know what you think of it after
yes i just finished it!
i still don’t understand the meaning/significance behind the whole creepy paintings in the basement thing...UGH I JUST FINISHED THE BOOK IN 3 HOURS AND ITS SO FRUSTRATING
idk if i’ll say i liked the ending though....i read that Jake probably had DID or schizophrenia or something, and yes, that does make the whole story more understandable. but i just don’t know if the ending is “PHENOMENAL” yk
also, it’s “what’re you waiting for”!!! the line she/he/they(?!?!?!) kept repeating
Spoiler alert:
I took it as he has multiple personalities, dissociative disorder. The paintings were of the different personalities. That was what I thought at the end at least.
I took it as attempts to design a companion; in the paintings, everything stays constant except for the person holding the child’s hand (the child being Jake, as I understand it). There are several allusions to the idea that Jake knows the narrator inside and out, and that can be explained fairly easily seeing as she is a fantasy of his, but I think she’s the final attempt to create this imaginary companion and the only one that Jake actually goes through with
It could be the self portrait of Jake and his characters in his mind. I feel like the painting that Jake's mom gave the gf is the painting from the basement. Near the end. When the characters become aware, they say this " This is who we are. Nails. Fistful of hairs. Blood on our own hands", which means they are not alive.( Before this, they talk how they talk about how the hair is dead and all that)
I'm so glad someone else thought the audiobook was scary because of that line. I listen to my audiobooks on 2x speed and it was UPSETTING
Jake IS the janitor. He is daydreaming about his past life and imagining what if he had actually dated all the girls he wanted to but was too socially awkward to ask out. I think the ending or maybe the whole thing is Jake's life passing through his mind as he is dying.
That makes so much sense wow! I understood that in the end they never dated and he was simply reminiscing on what could have been, but I feel like you saying that the whole thing is his whole life flashing by as he dies rlly tied it together for me, so thank you!
That sequence in the audiobook did creeped me out a little because I was listening to this while trying to fall asleep 😂
I feel like I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if I had listened to the audiobook instead of reading it in print! It was too easy to mentally escape from the creepiness when I can read it at my own speed in my own voice 😅
Not milkshake, the lemonade!
I was expecting more insight on her childhood stalker... I mean she/he/they saw the polka dot shirt in the school.
The novel doesn't make sense to me, but it's a good read.
i took that part to be more metaphorical than literal, like a representation of childhood mental illness
I just read this and to me the scariest part was something that was never answered, at least it didn’t seem to be answered, just echoed. “The Caller” and the voicemails. They unsettled me so much and I didn’t get closure with it. I need to reread it but GAH!
It’s Jake interrupting his own little daydream and saying to himself “What are you waiting for? Stop dreaming and dilly dallying around and just finish yourself.”
I can't wait for We Spread. I really liked Foe too. Not that cheery, but point taken.
Reading a book is not the same that listen an audiobook. Reading a book have a ritual behind. Just saying
Loved the book BTW
But that was an awsomely good book - I so loved it. Unfortunately saw the movie before the book and before the audiobook. But as they are not the same anyway it was actually a double joy. The audiobook is just fantastic. I find it great if a book has such an impact.
Spoiler Alert 🚨🚨 I wish some stuff were explained more,maybe it’s just supposed to add more suspense?like the stalker the girl had?or the bruised dairy queen worker?Ms.Veal?That was all in Jake’s head but was there any hidden meaning to it i might have missed?
the stalker the girl had is jake. it’s kinda hard to explain but I’ll try lol😭 throughout the book she keeps receiving the phone calls asking about “there’s one question to answer.” at the end of chapter 12, “what are you waiting for?” is repeated several times for like 5 pages. and the last line on page 238 is, “I’ve answered the question.”
so basically “the caller” is Jake talking to himself and asking himself “what are you waiting for?” and at the end of the book when he kills himself, he has finally answered.
Amazing Summary and Review. You are perfection
3:12 omg, that must have been so stressing. i just skipped those pages, lol.
I was in the disappointed group. I just felt nothing at the end. Like ohh ok. I guess this guy is crazy. The end. I may be more dead inside than you hanajaj
Hi! Here after reading the book and watching the movie, then finding your amazing review by accident. I guess this is my way of coping with my own frustration and disappointment towards the film and being a huge Kaufman fan, but that is another topic lol.
I feel you with the "looking for a book that gives me chest pains" thing, I feel like that's how I know something is really good.
I relate so much to your description of the book, I was almost half through the video when I realised you said you listened to it, which sounds like such a terribly good idea if that makes any sense. The thought of the voices overlapping once it is revealed that the girl, the janitor, the "brother", etc. are all Jake, his past, present, future and what ifs, god, that gives me chills, and I'm so going to get the audiobook just for that reason.
The way I discovered this book was by the trailer of the movie, that in my opinion created such high expectations in me that I fell the movie failed to use - or at least adapt- many of the brilliant resources Iain Reid does in the book. I love how it is all in her head and how it all comes full circle with one simple line towards the end of the book which is "We had to try putting her here with us. To see what could happen. It was her story to tell", and the fact that there is such a feminine quality in the way the book is narrated, not because of the use of the words but because of how she -whoever she is - seems to move and perceive others and ultimately how she reacts to those things, I saw so much of myself in her because I tend to overanalyze and philosophize even the simplest of things, when I'm in a bad place mentally, and as women we tend to idealize the person we deem attractive, which is what I think she does when looking at Jake, at the beginning of the book, saying he's polite and smart and tall and lean, hansome and always with good posture, then in page like 60 I realized I didn't know the name of the girl or much about her in general, because I related so much to her in the confusion, curiosity and care she had handling all these horrible situations thrown at her.
Of course she was non confrontational with her boyfriend, they had known eachother for seven weeks and she was alone with him in a car in the middle of nowhere and had never seen him lose his temper, reading most of the book in her shoes felt like that one part where she gets out of the car to go look for Jake in the dark, scary as fuck.
But then it becomes obvious that there are so many layers to this situation when you realize that that's how Jake (the janitor) probably looks at the world, imagining this perfect image of their S.O equates to imagining himself as he would like to look through someone elses eyes at times and like a woman afraid of being raped and murdered in the streets at night. Alone, sad, just one of many in this unjust system society has created for some us.
I loved the ending, it was sad and disturbing and also a little unnerving. For me at least, this book had no low point, because everything was tied so perfectly together, the only two things that still confuse me a bit are the meaning of the paintings and who Ms. Veal was, but apart from that, and I don't know how this works in the audibook and I notice you didn't mention it, but in the paperback version, there are no chapters, I had never read a book like that, instead it has these sections of conversations in italics between two people discussing a horrible incident, that in the end you are able to piece together to understand that they were some sort of detectives talking to each other about what had happened to Jake (An incredibly smart man that wasted his life working as a janitor for 30 years) that was found in a closet after jaming a metal hanger repeatedly into his body and bleeding to death slowly, giving him time to write the book of his what ifs which is obviously "I'm thinking of ending things".
At the end we are left not knowing how jake really looks like and with the advice to start at the end and circle back, which I did, and highlighting all the little details and clues given from the beginning and then comparing them to the end, really gives you perspective and makes you appreciate the genius of Reid.
I just listened to the book. Finished it, and exactly like you said, I was like “wtf did I just read [listen to]?” Lol! Thank you for saying that and basically everything you said. I was getting worried about my own intellect around the moment that the voices started saying that thing over and over and over because I was so confused. The last 15 minutes or so did basically explain everything but to go 5 hours guessing what’s happening and have it all semi cryptically explained super fast and last minute literally forced me to TH-cam book reviews and hear anyone else’s opinion of what was going on there. Anyway, long story short, thank you for your review, I got a good laugh out of it and felt far less alone hearing your take on it. Thanks!
Just read the book after watching the god awful Kaufman movie, the book was fucking terrifying at times, read it an afternoon, it's brilliant and mindbending.
oh congrats on 300! woo!
and wow uh this sounds like a crazy book
ooo definitely going to try this book on audio!
If I understand it correctly, the whole books isn’t really about the characters, it’s the janitors diary or story that he wrote. Jake and the unnamed girlfriend aren’t real necessarily. Although, still no idea who the caller is
This is a sign that I should read this book SOON.
i want to read this! i’m glad you found that thrill
haha the thrills were there x10. Oooh yes I hope it goes well for you!
I don't know about the book but the movie is a dumpster fire.
Listening to it the dark by yourself? I had to turn on all the lights and grab my cat!
i def felt most of what u said in this. SPOILERS the part with the picture of the mc in the house Got me i was like oh SHIt
i definitely need to check out the audiobook i read it physically but i can tell what scene youre talking about and i can see how thatd be different on audio
@@snailsthatread5957 ikr like things were creepy even before the school part
I'm really curious of this book. I stop in 4:05 but I have a question: it's get gory?
No. There are a few violent details in the book and at the same time: nothing super duper disturbing. Let's say for instance, really shocking stuff you would see in a show made by a cable network or an R rated movie.
@@Misadventures_85 I already read it and I really like the audiobook and now Netflix it's going to do a series
Same. Excellent narration. And.. series? Oh, nice! I thought it was gonna be a movie.
@@Misadventures_85afaik it will be a series, but maybe it's a movie? I don't how they going to adapt the book because one of my favorite things is that there are so many ways to interprate the ending
True! And I've been curious about how a bunch of the main character's thoughts are gonna be "portrayed" (so to speak). What comes to mind for me is voice overs and a bit of montage.
6:56
I did not like this book, the first 100 pages before they even get to their destination was incredibly boring for me
Since when is walking around in the dark an exclusively female fear? Lmao
Save yourself, this book is fucking horribly written.... hope the movie is better. Maybe that's the secret, shitty book- good movie!