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    History Is All You Left Me: The much-loved hit from the author of No.1 bestselling blockbuster THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END!
    Unavailable
    History Is All You Left Me: The much-loved hit from the author of No.1 bestselling blockbuster THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END!
    Unavailable
    History Is All You Left Me: The much-loved hit from the author of No.1 bestselling blockbuster THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END!
    Ebook340 pages5 hours

    History Is All You Left Me: The much-loved hit from the author of No.1 bestselling blockbuster THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END!

    By Adam Silvera

    4/5

    ()

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    Unavailable in your country

    About this ebook

    From the author of the INTERNATIONAL NO. 1 BESTSELLER THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END comes an explosive examination of grief, mental illness, and the devastating consequences of refusing to let go of the past. 

    Please note that covers may vary.

    You’re still alive in alternate universes, Theo, but I live in the real world where this morning you’re having an open casket funeral. I know you’re out there, listening. And you should know I’m really pissed because you swore you would never die and yet here we are. It hurts even more because this isn’t the first promise you’ve broken.

    Griffin has lost his first love in a drowning accident. Theo was his best friend, his ex-boyfriend and the one he believed he would end up with. Now, reeling from grief and worsening OCD, Griffin turns to an unexpected person for help. Theo's new boyfriend. But as their relationship becomes increasingly complicated, dangerous truths begin to surface. Griffin must make a choice: confront the past, or miss out on the future... 

    PRAISE FOR HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME:

    'There isn't a teenager alive who won't find their heart described perfectly on these pages.' Patrick Ness, author of The Knife of Never Letting Go

    'This book will make you cry, think, and then cry some more.' Nicola Yoon, author of Everything, Everything

    'Sweetly devastating, passionately honest, breathtakingly human.' Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster UK
    Release dateFeb 9, 2017
    ISBN9781471146190
    Unavailable
    History Is All You Left Me: The much-loved hit from the author of No.1 bestselling blockbuster THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END!
    Author

    Adam Silvera

    Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of They Both Die at the End, The First to Die at the End, More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, the Infinity Cycle, and—with Becky Albertalli—What If It’s Us and Here’s to Us. He worked in the publishing industry as a children’s bookseller, community manager at a content development company, and book reviewer of children’s and young adult novels. He was born and raised in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. He is tall for no reason. Visit him online at adamsilvera.com.

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    Reviews for History Is All You Left Me

    4/5

    225 ratings14 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Adam Silvera just has a knack for dragging you wig through the mud with his writing and making you enjoy it. Or at least, he's dragged mine for the second time with History is All You Left Me. I was a fan of his previous book, More Happy Than Not, and can very happily report that he avoids the sophomore slump. He does so by giving us the story of Griffin, a teenager with extreme OCD, who is burying the love of his life Theo. At the funeral, he runs into Jackson, Theo's new boyfriend, and the two manage to be drawn together in their grief, trying to put the pieces of their lives back together. In another timeline, we see the development of Griffin and Theo's relationship, and it's eventual demise.

      Where I think the strengths of Adam's writing lie are in the characterizations of young people. There is not a character in this story that doesn't feel fully lived in and jumps off the page, even as he keeps the book solely in Griffin's POV. In order for fiction books to soar off the page, they need strong characters. What I loved so much about History is All You Left Me is that each character has tangible faults and qualms, which in turn make them stronger. Griffin is a doozy of a protagonist, and we experience him in two timelines, the pre-Theo death TL and the post-Theo death TL, meaning that as we get a deeper exploration of his OCD than we normally would. The amount of detail and heart Adam must have poured into this character is evident on the page as we root for Griffin to be able to move past having to have everything come in even numbers or standing on someone's side. But this book is all the better for allowing Griffin to not force our sympathy. Griffin is messy, he's a bit impulsive, and his grief has made him not the nicest person, and I appreciated being able to root for a character without him needing to be 100% perfect.

      I think the main problem I had with the book, is a similar complaint I've levied against many YA books, is that the ends of them, the third act if you will comes with a moment that drastically impacts the story. However, in coming near the end, these situations and moments are not often given the fullest time to breathe. I think Adam fares better than most within the genre confines, especially with More Happy Than Not. In this book though, I felt that given the non-linear nature of the book that we would be in for some major reveals, and lordt does this book really drag your emotions, but personally I felt like it was a lot for me to comprehend and unpack. This could very well be a personal issue, as I've pointed it out before, but in a book that's so measured in it's plotting, I felt a bit walloped over the head.

      History is All You Left Me arrives on Jan 17, 2017.
    • 5/5
      You know a book is going to be good when you're crying on the first page.

      This book is absolutely, stunningly beautiful. It is also incredibly sad. I really don't know what to say about it, because I loved everything. The book delivered everything I wanted it to and more. What I thought would happen, happened, but it happened very differently than I expected it to. The secrets that cloud the text are revealed at precisely the right moments, and once you know everything, it's very easy to piece all the pieces together.

      One of my favourite parts of this novel is the absence of Theo's voice (which is very much intentional and a brilliant move on the author's voice). Everything we see is through the lens of grief, and it clouds our own judgement, just as it clouds those grieving. I love how real everything feels, and how the characters come right off the page. I love how you, like Griffin and Jackson, are left with questions of "what if?" and what could have been. These questions have no answers, and cannot have answers. You can dream, you can wish, but as our protagonist learns, eventually, you have to go on.

      Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. I can safely say that History Is All You Left Me is one of my favourite novels, and it's going to stay with me for a very long time.

    • 4/5
      After his ex-boyfriend drowns, Griffin who suffers from OCD, gets together with his ex's current boyfriend as they try to work out their grief.
    • 5/5
      Well, this book absolutely destroyed me. I'm a crier anyway - I'll shed a tear at most books - but I absolutely sobbed my way through most of this. The portrayal of grief was so raw that I felt it, hollow in my chest, and I couldn't sleep after reading because the feeling wouldn't leave me. My original intention had been to finish it in one sitting, since it's a fairly short book, but it was so heavy and emotionally draining that I couldn't.

      I really liked Griffin as a protagonist. He makes some really bad choices, and at times I wanted to shake some sense into him, but he was such a real and flawed character, and it just made it all the more possible to connect to him. He showed the ugly and selfish side of grief and love, and while I couldn't relate to his OCD, I could relate to the way his love for Theo affected him. Maybe it's because my own experience was so similar to Griffin and Theo's, and I was able to totally relate to all those messy parts of first love, like the endless optimism of hoping it'll last forever. While my story isn't so tragic, I know what it's like to see something end that you thought would last forever.

      I honestly can't describe the emotional impact this book has on me, because even just reading back through my highlights to write this review is making my chest tighten with emotion. This is not a nice fluffy book with a happy ending all tied up in a ribbon. But it is a positive one, that shows all the messy, terrible parts of grief and love and learning to move on.

      I feel like this was such an important book for me to read. It was incredibly painful, and draining, but I think I'm better for having read it. I won't say this book is for everyone - grief is an incredibly difficult topic, and this is not an easy read. BUT, while this isn't a happy book, it is healing, and I would encourage anyone who wants to read this to give it a go.
    • 5/5
      One of my favourite book from the author Adam Silvera. The story written smart and complex. Goes into past and present back and forth. But it's We'll structured and I enjoyed this book so much.
    • 5/5
      The action of the novel is well-structured and complex. Also, I think it helps that the author chose to express Griffin's angst by adding mental health disorders as OCD in the story. It spreads the awareness the world needs.
    • 5/5
      I honestly loved this book. It gutpunches in all the right ways while also staying incredibly genuine. Incredibly real and often brutal in its honesty.
    • 2/5
      teen fiction (realistic fiction for mature teens; gay teen mourns ex-boyfriend, finds common ground with his ex's new boyfriend). I got to page 137--almost halfway through and liked it ok, but found Griffin to be awfully self-assured for his age--spending lots of time opining and expressing his thoughts matter-of-factly. He's funny and clever and I get that he's grieving and deserves time to be self-absorbed, but his voice eventually loses its refreshing quality and grows tiresome--it eventually got so I could never read more than 4-10 pages at a time. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, since there are many books I enjoy consuming slowly, a little at a time, but right now I just don't care to pick this book up again.

      Parental/content note: Griff and Theo (and I guess Jackson) are sexually active (responsibly using condoms), though the author doesn't go into detail for those parts.
    • 3/5
      3.5

      I didn't realize this book was YA when I picked it up -- I was just looking for something sad. I think the author captured the teen narrator's voice very well, but almost too well for my taste. It was frustrating to watch him make poor choices and circle through the same thoughts over and over. But I think that was part of the point. I did enjoy the way the author left clues for the reader to pick up on before the narrator did. I personally found it a little tedious to read but that's more about me and my preferences than the book itself, I think.
    • 5/5
      Incredible and so so heartbreakingly good ! Definitely worth the read
    • 5/5
      Griffin and Jackson must both come to terms with the accidental death of Theo, Griffin’s former boyfriend and first love, Jackson’s present boyfriend, in this intensely insightful novel. There is more than enough heartbreak to go around, but somehow Griffin learns to navigate it and to even embrace his personal history despite a number of setbacks.
    • 4/5
      This book was provided to me as a digital review copy by the publisher, via Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

      When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.
      To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.
      If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

      Griffin is drowning in his grief in much the same way that his ex-boyfriend, Theo, drown in the ocean. He struggles to cope with disappointment, guilt, and anger, toward himself and toward others. History is All You Left Me is emotional in a manner that far overshadows the normal teen angst that is depicted in YA novels. The book explores aspects of death that many people don’t consider, such as dealing with the unanswered questions that a loved one leaves behind when they pass, and how to move on when there are so many loose ends that will never be tied up. Griffin chooses a surprisingly mature way to cope when he decides to bond with Jackson, but grief will make people do things that they would never normally consider, and that is the case here. In the end, Griffin has to learn how to cope without self-destructing, and how to help his friends cope without it turning into a competition with the winner being the one who hurts the most. The author does a good job of taking the characters through the stages of grieving. The writing is well done, though there are times that the jumps between time periods are confusing. I would recommend this book to older teenagers who are empathetic enough to appreciate the characters’ pain, but not so sympathetic that they’ll require grief counseling afterward.
    • 2/5
      I loved Adam Silvera’s debut, More Happy Than Not, a one-of-a-kind blend of speculative fiction and coming-of-age tale, so I was extremely eager to get my hands on his sophomore effort – History is All You Left Me.Unfortunately, the flaws that I was willing to overlook in his first novel because of its uniqueness completely overshadow the storyline in this one. Basically it’s about two NYC high school sweethearts who are separated when one gets an early acceptance to a university in California and then drowns within his first year away…but not before finding a West Coast boyfriend. Griffin, the boy who’s been left behind in New York narrates the story by speaking directly to Theo, his dead ex-boyfriend. The narrative is probably the best and most unique thing about the book. As it moves back and forth between the present day (late 2016 – after Theo’s death) and “history,” (from 2014 up through Theo’s death), the reader sees how Theo and Griffin went from friends (part of a three man “squad” of high school nerds) to lovers to ex-lovers/friends to grief-stricken survivor and his deceased beloved. The problem isn’t the plot, per se, nor the structure, but with the characters and the strenuous way in which Silvera tries to manipulate the reader’s feelings. There’s way too much telling and not enough showing. The reader is told that Theo is a genius, but there’s nothing to support that on the page. We are told that Griffin’s OCD is nearly debilitating but, with the exception of some internal dialogue involving his obsession with even numbers, his need to be on everyone’s left side and the occasional nervous palm-scratching, it never feels like a serious issue. We are also told, over and over, that Griffin and Theo are meant to be together but there is little real evidence of that either. And, much like in his first novel, the boys' pursuits and conversations seem more juvenile than nerdy. I mean, seriously, how many male high school kids (gay, geeky or otherwise) put together jigsaw puzzles (and make up stories about the images) and use coloring books? Nothing about any of it rang true for me.On top of that, at nearly 300 pages the book seems padded and desperately in need of an editor to trim out much of the redundancy. The story seems to frequently meander, with the boys bickering and making up and falling out again. And rather than being simply an unreliable narrator, Griffin struck me as childish, inconsistent and difficult to care about. The author kept hammering home how sad it all was, but somehow it didn’t translate.I really wanted, and completely expected, to enjoy this book because More Happy Than Not was so refreshingly unexpected and unlike anything out there in the LGBT YA market. Perhaps the success of that one caused the publisher to rush this one to press before it was ready. Let’s hope this is just a hiccup in a promising career.
    • 3/5
      I finished this last night, and the ending was really sweet and gave me warm, fuzzy feelings. I just found our main character, Griffin, a bit of a tool, and just annoying. I totally understand that this book is about grief, and first loves, and everything that comes with that, and to top it all off, Griffin has a mental illness, but I couldn't connect with him. The whole time he was waxing poetic about Theo, I was just like, get over it, that guy was a jerk.

      I did really like how Griffin, grew throughout the novel, and showed the ability to see through all the mess, and really admit to himself that things weren't quite so fine and dandy. It was great to see his realizations and him trying to work on himself and his relationships with other people.

      I think I just missed the connection factor with this book, overall I really did enjoy it, but it wasn't a favourite.

      2 people found this helpful