Title: I Hope You Get This Message
Author: Farah Naz Rishi
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, LGBTQI, Science fiction, Young adult
Dates read: 23rd – 27th May 2020
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Harper Teen
Year: 2019
5th sentence, 74th page: Derek had been crushing on Mia Jimenez – a junior and the current president of the Video Game Club – since day one of their freshman year.

Seven days. Seven days. The Earth might end in seven days.

When news stations start reporting that Earth has been contacted by a planet named Alma, the world is abuzz with rumors that the alien entity is giving mankind only few days to live before they hit the kill switch on civilization.

For high school truant Jesse Hewitt, though, nothing has ever felt permanent. Not the guys he hooks up with. Not the jobs his underpaid mom works so hard to hold down. Life has dealt him one bad blow after another — so what does it matter if it all ends now? Cate Collins, on the other hand, is desperate to use this time to find the father she’s never met, the man she grew up hearing wild stories about, most of which she didn’t believe. And then there’s Adeem Khan. While coding and computer programming have always come easily to him, forgiveness doesn’t. He can’t seem to forgive his sister for leaving, even though it’s his last chance.

With only seven days to face their truths and right their wrongs, Jesse, Cate, and Adeem’s paths collide even as their worlds are pulled apart.

Holy crap. This book was amazing. It was brilliant, funny and completely impossible to put down! I absolutely adored this novel. And just. Wow. At first I was actually kind of pissed off at the open-ended nature of the ending. But, the more I’ve thought about it, the most I’ve realised just how amazing it truly is.

I really loved the idea that we are not actually the dominant race in the universe – that really, we’re just a genetic experiment. Kind of like sheep. Or cattle. Or something else that we figure is just something to play with and watch. Without really wondering too much about our hopes, dreams and desires. It kind of helps to put you in your place and remind you that the universe is filled with mysteries – of which we know nothing about.

There aren’t many stories that so seamlessly follow the lives of three separate characters. Yes, they eventually all join up and you find the common threads (like the common threads we constantly find in our own lives). But it’s the fact that even when they are completely separate, the characters are each so beautifully distinct and unique. It is impossible to get any mixed up and you fall completely under the spell of each and every one of them. They are all just so wonderful and intense, with their own somewhat difficult and tragic battles to face.

This is a fantastic story that you just won’t be able to put down. There is a great SciFi aspect to it that is enthralling – the transcripts from Alma that are the discussion of our continuation. But there is also the beauty in humanity. There are the absolute best of humanity throughout this story, and the total dickheads, Rishi doesn’t try and pretend that humanity is filled with the good… but rather a mix of both good and bad. This is a wonderful story that still kind of made me hope at the end. And it’s definitely a fantastic book to be reading at this time in the world… with all of the insanity surrounding us.

<- Farah Naz Rishi

Science Fiction ->

Image source: Goodreads