A review by diifacto
I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I can critique next to nothing about this novel without spoiling, but I will say this—I liked the ending. I'm sure it's controversial, but I didn't see it coming, which is not what I was expecting from 'I Hope You Get This Message,' especially since the novel's whole premise is kinda "this is how it ends." So, props to Rishi for keeping an "end of the world" novel's readers guessing!

What I can say about this novel is that this type of character-driven, everyone-is-connected writing is my favourite. All of the relationships felt so genuine and realistic, and even characters aside from our three protagonists seemed three-dimensional and unique. That being said, I wouldn't have minded Rishi taking fifty-or-so more pages—even a hundred—to flesh out these relationships a bit more. The pacing wasn't off, and maybe it's better this way (it was a really easy, fast read), but personally, I could've used a few more of those quieter, in-between moments for characters and their relationships to develop just a little bit more. But overall, nothing to complain about, at all.

At risk of saying anything else about the ending, I have to add that I loved how everything—everyone—came together like puzzle pieces at the end, how everyone's stories were intertwined. This sort of interconnectedness reminded me of 'They Both Die At The End,' by Adam Silvera. Actually, as I write this, this entire novel reminded me of 'They Both Die At The End' (though I'd dare say that, personally, I enjoyed the writing style of 'I Hope You Get This Message' a lot more).

Not much else to add here (re: spoilers), but if you a) enjoyed 'They Both Die At The End,' or b) share my taste of character-driven fiction, give 'I Hope You Get This Message' a chance, you'll like it.

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