What do you think?
Rate this book
The Probability of Everything
A heart-wrenching middle grade debut about Kemi, an aspiring scientist who loves statistics and facts, as she navigates grief and loss at a moment when life as she knows it changes forever.
Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5 .5 trillion, and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out.
But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. Amplus-68 has an 84. 7% chance of colliding with earth in four days, and with that collision, Kemi’s life as she knows it will end.
But over the course of the four days, even facts don’t feel true to Kemi anymore. The new town she moved to that was supposed to be “better for her family” isn’t very welcoming. And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending?
With the days numbered, Kemi decides to put together a time capsule that will capture her family’s truth: how creative her mother is, how inquisitive her little sister can be, and how much Kemi's whole world revolves around her father. But no time capsule can change the truth behind all of it, that Kemi must face the most inevitable and hardest part of life: saying goodbye.
Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5 .5 trillion, and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out.
But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. Amplus-68 has an 84. 7% chance of colliding with earth in four days, and with that collision, Kemi’s life as she knows it will end.
But over the course of the four days, even facts don’t feel true to Kemi anymore. The new town she moved to that was supposed to be “better for her family” isn’t very welcoming. And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending?
With the days numbered, Kemi decides to put together a time capsule that will capture her family’s truth: how creative her mother is, how inquisitive her little sister can be, and how much Kemi's whole world revolves around her father. But no time capsule can change the truth behind all of it, that Kemi must face the most inevitable and hardest part of life: saying goodbye.
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 27, 2023
198 people are currently reading
7075 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 722 reviews
December 10, 2023
Wow! This was kind of amazing. I loved the main character, Kemi. I would have loved this book at ages 9-12.
I have to say one thing though: if the book appeals to you, please add it to your to read list and then wait a long time to read it and don’t read any reviews anywhere near to the time you read it until after you’ve finished the book.
I read one review and added it and almost immediately started reading it. I didn’t think the review had any spoilers but there was this one line in it. Just a single sentence. If I’d waited to read the book I wouldn’t have even remembered it. I did remember it though and it changed the way I read the book and that made the book slightly less enjoyable for me.
I loved this story and these characters, particularly Kemi, and I loved all the relationships. I loved the probability & statistics which is a branch of math that I actually enjoy. Kemi is whip smart and I enjoyed that about her character. The story is sweet, sad, amusing at times, and deeply poignant.
This is one of the hardest reviews I’ve ever had to write for a book. Everything I’m thinking of writing could be a spoiler. This HUGE SPOILER is for my benefit, for my memory, and for those who’ve already read the book. Any reader who might read the book in the future I think that you’ll regret it if you read this:
Highly recommended for 9-11 year old girls and anyone who enjoys good children’s novels.
4-1/2 stars
I have to say one thing though: if the book appeals to you, please add it to your to read list and then wait a long time to read it and don’t read any reviews anywhere near to the time you read it until after you’ve finished the book.
I read one review and added it and almost immediately started reading it. I didn’t think the review had any spoilers but there was this one line in it. Just a single sentence. If I’d waited to read the book I wouldn’t have even remembered it. I did remember it though and it changed the way I read the book and that made the book slightly less enjoyable for me.
I loved this story and these characters, particularly Kemi, and I loved all the relationships. I loved the probability & statistics which is a branch of math that I actually enjoy. Kemi is whip smart and I enjoyed that about her character. The story is sweet, sad, amusing at times, and deeply poignant.
This is one of the hardest reviews I’ve ever had to write for a book. Everything I’m thinking of writing could be a spoiler. This HUGE SPOILER is for my benefit, for my memory, and for those who’ve already read the book. Any reader who might read the book in the future I think that you’ll regret it if you read this:
Highly recommended for 9-11 year old girls and anyone who enjoys good children’s novels.
4-1/2 stars
July 16, 2023
Colby Sharp put this book on my radar through an instagram post, and I’m so glad he did. I couldn’t put it down. Kemi’s story will hook middle grade readers and has YA appeal as well. All the love.
April 24, 2023
Those of you who follow my reviews - if you only pick ONE book I recommend to read this year, make it this one. The Probability of Everything follows an 11 year old girl who has just found out there's an 84.7% chance the world is ending, as an asteroid hurtles towards Earth. As her family gathers around her, she struggles to find a way to ensure that their legacy lives on.
This book is about so much more than I can possibly explain to you. Yes, it will make you cry. Actually, scratch that. It will make you sob. Be sure to have tissues and don't do what I did and read the last 20% on the train on your way to work. It is heart breaking and hopeful all at the same time and truly the best middle-grade book I've read in ages (I think the last book I responded to like this was The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise a few years back) and I think it has appeal to middle schoolers who love emotionally heavy books, teens, and even adults. It's complex and nuanced and beautifully done from start to finish.
This book is about so much more than I can possibly explain to you. Yes, it will make you cry. Actually, scratch that. It will make you sob. Be sure to have tissues and don't do what I did and read the last 20% on the train on your way to work. It is heart breaking and hopeful all at the same time and truly the best middle-grade book I've read in ages (I think the last book I responded to like this was The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise a few years back) and I think it has appeal to middle schoolers who love emotionally heavy books, teens, and even adults. It's complex and nuanced and beautifully done from start to finish.
May 24, 2023
Never underestimate the power of a catchy title. It was on the Publisher’s Weekly blog "Shelf Talker" that I saw the title “When the spoiler is the hook.” In the post, bookseller Kenny Brechner writes, “Handselling a book whose reading experience would be materially diminished by spoilers can be a particularly difficult challenge for a bookseller if the book’s intrinsic strength is related to elements that would be inconsiderate to broach. For example you might ask why reading Sarah Everett’s The Probability of Everything brought up for me the topic of circumventing damaging spoilers, and all I could morally say was that it is an amazing book and you should read it yourself straightway and find out.” For me, that was all I needed to hear. I’d not heard anything about the title at that point, so I picked up my own copy and gave it a go. The first line is, “Dear Reader, If you are reading this then chances are that our world has ended.” The second line is, “I don’t know what that makes you.” And while I’m generally a pretty slow reader, I devoured this baby immediately. How could I not? Sarah Everett wrestles with an outsized and ambitious bit of plotting, all the while keeping her cards close to her chest. Here’s some advice: Hand this to kids that like their books with a bit of a twist. And do NOT skip to the ending and read that first. You will live to regret it if you do.
“We first noticed the asteroid because my little sister, Lo, kept trying to eat it.” The asteroid, in question, is AMPLUS-68 and on that day math-loving Kemi learns that it has an 84.7 percent chance of hitting us. What do you do when everything you’ve ever known in your life is bound to change? In the case of Kemi’s family, they immediately go to her Aunt Miriam’s house where the whole family is going to bear down for the next few days. While there, Kemi decides that she has to do something. Something to make sure her family is never forgotten. The answer seems simple: make a time capsule. But while everyone else in her family knows what to put in, her father’s contribution remains a mystery. And as AMPLUS grows closer and closer, Kemi is uncertain whether or not she’ll have time to get everything ready before it all turns into something else.
The other night I finished reading my son Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me for the very first time. And like this book, that’s a title that could severely limit a reader’s enjoyment if you told them what the book was really about. Yet by not telling them, how would they know how good it is? The advantage of The Probability of Everything is that the ostensible plot itself really is interesting. There is an asteroid headed to Earth and everyone has only a few weeks to live. What kid could resist that? Of course, I’m a children’s librarian by training, so my brain is inclined to make connections whenever I read a new work. Reading this book I did feel hints of the aforementioned When You Reach Me but you know what I kept thinking of time and again? It’s the End of the World and I’m In My Bathing Suit by Justin A. Reynolds. Like that book, it’s got a Black cast and a post-apocalyptic bent. Like that book, most of the story takes place in a small suburb, while whatever action may or may not be happening is happening elsewhere. And honestly? Like this story, that one leans hard into its mundanity. Our hero may or may not be in the midst of a breakdown of civil society, but the only thing he can think about is laundry. Here our heroine, Kemi, is all about creating a time capsule. It’s a familiar idea with results that are anything but familiar.
Okay, I feel like I’m going to have to start spoiling some stuff so if you like surprises you can just skip the rest of this review until the last paragraph.
My big question is whether or not a kid reader who picks up this book is going to see its twist coming. The tag line on the cover is just “Life has an unimaginable impact” which is cute and a little on the nose, but that’s okay. Reading the flap copy/description of the book is the true test. Did you know that authors don’t write their own flap copy? Nope! So it’s a bit of a testament to whatever editor came up with the description for this book. Here’s my favorite part: “And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending?” I mean, well done. WELL done! Somehow that description manages to simultaneously give nothing away and, remarkably, it may also satisfy those kids that get to the twist and start hunting for the clues they missed earlier. Not an easy feat.
I’m no kid, so the book had me pretty fooled. Even after I’d read that article called “When the spoiler is the hook” and knew that there might be some kind of twist, I was still sucked into Everett’s storytelling. Then I skipped to the end. I know! I never do that! But I wanted to see if I could figure it out just by reading the ending and . . . kinda? But not really. Honestly, you will not see what’s going on until you get to the end of Part One. I mean, maybe you will. I certainly didn’t. Not even with its pretty evident Sixth Sense references in there. You also would have thought I’d have noticed the inconsistencies in the story. But see, I didn’t know Sarah Everett as an author. This is the first book of hers I’d ever encountered. For all I knew, she was the kind of writer who specialized in writing stories with inconsistencies (an asteroid is coming and people are still sending their kids to school?). Until now Ms. Everett had only ever written YA novels, and I don’t truck with YA generally. I didn’t know if I could trust her. Fortunately, child readers are savvy but also more trusting than old fogies like me. They’ll be so sucked into the plot of this book that when the twist comes they won’t know what hit them.
When I was a kid, I avoided sad novels for kids like the plague. You couldn’t get a copy of Bridge to Terabithia anywhere near me, and that’s the truth. And though I refuse to read reviews of books much before I read the titles themselves, somehow or other I knew that this was going to be a “sad” book. And it’s true. It’s a grief novel, showing various people grieving in a variety of different ways. But since the central reason for that grief is hidden to you for most of the book, it actually doesn’t feel as sad as it might. I mean, the central conceit, for quite some time, is that an asteroid is going to hit the Earth and kill everyone. That’s just such a huge idea, impossible to wrap your head around, that it cushions you from sadness. It’s only in Part Two of the book that the real emotional heavyweight material comes into play. So, for the most part, I wouldn’t be so quick to label this book as a sad bit of fiction. A better sell would be to those kids into science fiction, those into twists, and those that are subtly better readers than their peers. The trick is in engaging them without giving everything away. Good luck with all that.
Oh! Can I nerd out for a moment about the sheer amounts of math in this book, by the way? That title The Probability of Everything isn’t playing around. I’ve read my fair share of “math”-related books for kids in my day and most of the time a book will profess to love math while, in actuality, the author is scared to death of the subject. So they’ll do some cursory mention of fractions or equations then bolt back to the plotline like their life depended on it. Not Everett. Kemi loves probability and it’s not some fly-by-night obsession. She legitimately thinks it’s the bee’s knees. As a result, the author cleverly finds all kinds of ways to work it into the story. Not that the eloquence of the writing is entirely tied up in statistics.
In this book the author has the singular disadvantage of having to introduce a large cast in a relatively small amount of time. Finding a way to distinguish one personality from another can be tricky. Still, Ms. Everett occasionally goes above and beyond the call of duty with her descriptions. Here’s one of Kemi’s Grandma. “…Grandma put her love into things she made, like knitted sweaters, rag dolls, food. It was almost like she thought love should be useful. It should keep you warm or play with you or make you less hungry.” I just love that sentiment. And I love Kemi’s own thoughts about life changing. “Maybe, I thought, what was scary about knowing when you were going to die was knowing the exact moment you would stop mattering.”
This is the part of the review when I offer a couple constructive criticisms. Generally speaking, I’ve few to offer. I often say that I like books that take big swings and The Probability of Everything is nothing but swingy. I also appreciate a little weirdness in my books for kids and, again, this title provides. I was less enthused with some of the more treacly portions in the text. They aren’t constantly coming up, but when they do they take you out of the reading. For example, in a section called “THINGS YOU CAN PUT IN A TIME CAPSULE”, ostensibly written by Kemi, most of the suggestions are a lot of fun. Then we get to this one: “Letters that remind you love is specially picked words and inky promises.” Nope. Suddenly the hand of the author has cast a shadow over the text and made it impossible to see the character anymore. Has any kid, in the history of the universe, ever written something like that? I get that she wanted to end on an emotional note, but this was not the way. That said, I place the blame for this one on the editor rather than the author. It would have been an easy catch. It takes two to tango, after all.
When my daughter was still quite young, I noticed that she used extensive storytelling about her future life to deal with the uncertainty of the present. It was important to her to have a plan from the get go (even if that plan was to drive a garbage truck in the morning and a school bus in the afternoon, but you get the idea). In The Probability of Everything Kemi finds her own way of dealing with uncertainty. “Based on the past, based on math, the chances that everything would be okay were way more than the chances that things could go wrong.” Of course, things do go wrong, very wrong, for Kemi and the chances of that wrong thing happening were very low. Still, she never gives up her faith in math, or (at least) math’s ability to see her through the tougher moments in her life. So while this is truly a book about grief and dealing with unexpected sorry, the fact that the main character models methods of dealing with that pain is a marvelous thing. The fact that she does it with math? Even better. And the fact that this book is available to kids everywhere, luring in science fiction nerds as well as those kids into realistic fiction? Let’s just say that if you were a fourth or fifth grade teacher and needed a new book to read to a class, I couldn’t think of a better contender than The Probability of Everything. The spoiler may be the hook but kids will be hooked regardless of what they already know about it. A strange, smart winner.
“We first noticed the asteroid because my little sister, Lo, kept trying to eat it.” The asteroid, in question, is AMPLUS-68 and on that day math-loving Kemi learns that it has an 84.7 percent chance of hitting us. What do you do when everything you’ve ever known in your life is bound to change? In the case of Kemi’s family, they immediately go to her Aunt Miriam’s house where the whole family is going to bear down for the next few days. While there, Kemi decides that she has to do something. Something to make sure her family is never forgotten. The answer seems simple: make a time capsule. But while everyone else in her family knows what to put in, her father’s contribution remains a mystery. And as AMPLUS grows closer and closer, Kemi is uncertain whether or not she’ll have time to get everything ready before it all turns into something else.
The other night I finished reading my son Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me for the very first time. And like this book, that’s a title that could severely limit a reader’s enjoyment if you told them what the book was really about. Yet by not telling them, how would they know how good it is? The advantage of The Probability of Everything is that the ostensible plot itself really is interesting. There is an asteroid headed to Earth and everyone has only a few weeks to live. What kid could resist that? Of course, I’m a children’s librarian by training, so my brain is inclined to make connections whenever I read a new work. Reading this book I did feel hints of the aforementioned When You Reach Me but you know what I kept thinking of time and again? It’s the End of the World and I’m In My Bathing Suit by Justin A. Reynolds. Like that book, it’s got a Black cast and a post-apocalyptic bent. Like that book, most of the story takes place in a small suburb, while whatever action may or may not be happening is happening elsewhere. And honestly? Like this story, that one leans hard into its mundanity. Our hero may or may not be in the midst of a breakdown of civil society, but the only thing he can think about is laundry. Here our heroine, Kemi, is all about creating a time capsule. It’s a familiar idea with results that are anything but familiar.
Okay, I feel like I’m going to have to start spoiling some stuff so if you like surprises you can just skip the rest of this review until the last paragraph.
My big question is whether or not a kid reader who picks up this book is going to see its twist coming. The tag line on the cover is just “Life has an unimaginable impact” which is cute and a little on the nose, but that’s okay. Reading the flap copy/description of the book is the true test. Did you know that authors don’t write their own flap copy? Nope! So it’s a bit of a testament to whatever editor came up with the description for this book. Here’s my favorite part: “And Amplus-68 is taking over her life, but others are still going to school and eating at their favorite diner like nothing has changed. Is Kemi the only one who feels like the world is ending?” I mean, well done. WELL done! Somehow that description manages to simultaneously give nothing away and, remarkably, it may also satisfy those kids that get to the twist and start hunting for the clues they missed earlier. Not an easy feat.
I’m no kid, so the book had me pretty fooled. Even after I’d read that article called “When the spoiler is the hook” and knew that there might be some kind of twist, I was still sucked into Everett’s storytelling. Then I skipped to the end. I know! I never do that! But I wanted to see if I could figure it out just by reading the ending and . . . kinda? But not really. Honestly, you will not see what’s going on until you get to the end of Part One. I mean, maybe you will. I certainly didn’t. Not even with its pretty evident Sixth Sense references in there. You also would have thought I’d have noticed the inconsistencies in the story. But see, I didn’t know Sarah Everett as an author. This is the first book of hers I’d ever encountered. For all I knew, she was the kind of writer who specialized in writing stories with inconsistencies (an asteroid is coming and people are still sending their kids to school?). Until now Ms. Everett had only ever written YA novels, and I don’t truck with YA generally. I didn’t know if I could trust her. Fortunately, child readers are savvy but also more trusting than old fogies like me. They’ll be so sucked into the plot of this book that when the twist comes they won’t know what hit them.
When I was a kid, I avoided sad novels for kids like the plague. You couldn’t get a copy of Bridge to Terabithia anywhere near me, and that’s the truth. And though I refuse to read reviews of books much before I read the titles themselves, somehow or other I knew that this was going to be a “sad” book. And it’s true. It’s a grief novel, showing various people grieving in a variety of different ways. But since the central reason for that grief is hidden to you for most of the book, it actually doesn’t feel as sad as it might. I mean, the central conceit, for quite some time, is that an asteroid is going to hit the Earth and kill everyone. That’s just such a huge idea, impossible to wrap your head around, that it cushions you from sadness. It’s only in Part Two of the book that the real emotional heavyweight material comes into play. So, for the most part, I wouldn’t be so quick to label this book as a sad bit of fiction. A better sell would be to those kids into science fiction, those into twists, and those that are subtly better readers than their peers. The trick is in engaging them without giving everything away. Good luck with all that.
Oh! Can I nerd out for a moment about the sheer amounts of math in this book, by the way? That title The Probability of Everything isn’t playing around. I’ve read my fair share of “math”-related books for kids in my day and most of the time a book will profess to love math while, in actuality, the author is scared to death of the subject. So they’ll do some cursory mention of fractions or equations then bolt back to the plotline like their life depended on it. Not Everett. Kemi loves probability and it’s not some fly-by-night obsession. She legitimately thinks it’s the bee’s knees. As a result, the author cleverly finds all kinds of ways to work it into the story. Not that the eloquence of the writing is entirely tied up in statistics.
In this book the author has the singular disadvantage of having to introduce a large cast in a relatively small amount of time. Finding a way to distinguish one personality from another can be tricky. Still, Ms. Everett occasionally goes above and beyond the call of duty with her descriptions. Here’s one of Kemi’s Grandma. “…Grandma put her love into things she made, like knitted sweaters, rag dolls, food. It was almost like she thought love should be useful. It should keep you warm or play with you or make you less hungry.” I just love that sentiment. And I love Kemi’s own thoughts about life changing. “Maybe, I thought, what was scary about knowing when you were going to die was knowing the exact moment you would stop mattering.”
This is the part of the review when I offer a couple constructive criticisms. Generally speaking, I’ve few to offer. I often say that I like books that take big swings and The Probability of Everything is nothing but swingy. I also appreciate a little weirdness in my books for kids and, again, this title provides. I was less enthused with some of the more treacly portions in the text. They aren’t constantly coming up, but when they do they take you out of the reading. For example, in a section called “THINGS YOU CAN PUT IN A TIME CAPSULE”, ostensibly written by Kemi, most of the suggestions are a lot of fun. Then we get to this one: “Letters that remind you love is specially picked words and inky promises.” Nope. Suddenly the hand of the author has cast a shadow over the text and made it impossible to see the character anymore. Has any kid, in the history of the universe, ever written something like that? I get that she wanted to end on an emotional note, but this was not the way. That said, I place the blame for this one on the editor rather than the author. It would have been an easy catch. It takes two to tango, after all.
When my daughter was still quite young, I noticed that she used extensive storytelling about her future life to deal with the uncertainty of the present. It was important to her to have a plan from the get go (even if that plan was to drive a garbage truck in the morning and a school bus in the afternoon, but you get the idea). In The Probability of Everything Kemi finds her own way of dealing with uncertainty. “Based on the past, based on math, the chances that everything would be okay were way more than the chances that things could go wrong.” Of course, things do go wrong, very wrong, for Kemi and the chances of that wrong thing happening were very low. Still, she never gives up her faith in math, or (at least) math’s ability to see her through the tougher moments in her life. So while this is truly a book about grief and dealing with unexpected sorry, the fact that the main character models methods of dealing with that pain is a marvelous thing. The fact that she does it with math? Even better. And the fact that this book is available to kids everywhere, luring in science fiction nerds as well as those kids into realistic fiction? Let’s just say that if you were a fourth or fifth grade teacher and needed a new book to read to a class, I couldn’t think of a better contender than The Probability of Everything. The spoiler may be the hook but kids will be hooked regardless of what they already know about it. A strange, smart winner.
October 21, 2023
Dit is zo’n boek waarvan ik hoop dat iedereen het leest. Wat een waanzinnig goed geschreven en bedacht boek. Niet alleen is het prachtig geschreven en goed weg te lezen, het plot is zo… Mooi? Belangrijk? Heftig? Goed? Ik weet het juiste woord niet. Al weet ik wel dat dit verhaal nog lang bij mij zal blijven.
January 9, 2024
"Dear Reader, If you are reading this then chances are that our world has ended. I don’t know what that makes you."
You'd think that after having read four other Sarah Everett books—one of them being one of my favorite books in high school (Everyone We've Been)—that I would have known that this story would not be as it seemed.
But I didn't. She absolutely fooled me.
Again.
There's not much I can say without spoiling except that this story deals with tough topics of racism, hatred, and depression and does it in an unputdownable way, as expected from Everett.
I wish there had been more books like this when I was growing up because what a special thing it is to read about characters who look like you, teaching you valuable lessons about overcoming tough, unimaginable circumstances.
I was hesitant to read this because I'm not exactly a middle-grade fiction reader, but what a story! I should have known that the probability of a Sarah Everett book being less than a 4-star read for me was less than 10%.
100% recommend.
You'd think that after having read four other Sarah Everett books—one of them being one of my favorite books in high school (Everyone We've Been)—that I would have known that this story would not be as it seemed.
But I didn't. She absolutely fooled me.
Again.
There's not much I can say without spoiling except that this story deals with tough topics of racism, hatred, and depression and does it in an unputdownable way, as expected from Everett.
I wish there had been more books like this when I was growing up because what a special thing it is to read about characters who look like you, teaching you valuable lessons about overcoming tough, unimaginable circumstances.
I was hesitant to read this because I'm not exactly a middle-grade fiction reader, but what a story! I should have known that the probability of a Sarah Everett book being less than a 4-star read for me was less than 10%.
100% recommend.
January 17, 2024
Wat een mooi en goed verhaal! Het was beter dan ik van tevoren kon verwachten.
De plottwist in het verhaal slaat in als een meteoriet. Zodanig dat je deze bladzijde nog eens leest en misschien wel een stuk terugleest om te kijken of je iets gemist hebt.
De waarschijnlijkheid van alles laat je achter met het gevoel dat het boek zich pas echt laat begrijpen als je het daadwerkelijk uit hebt. Het verhaal wordt er alleen maar mooier door.
De oorspronkelijke recensie (en dus uitgebreidere gedachtegang) werd eerder geplaatst op Lezersgoud.nl.
De plottwist in het verhaal slaat in als een meteoriet. Zodanig dat je deze bladzijde nog eens leest en misschien wel een stuk terugleest om te kijken of je iets gemist hebt.
De waarschijnlijkheid van alles laat je achter met het gevoel dat het boek zich pas echt laat begrijpen als je het daadwerkelijk uit hebt. Het verhaal wordt er alleen maar mooier door.
De oorspronkelijke recensie (en dus uitgebreidere gedachtegang) werd eerder geplaatst op Lezersgoud.nl.
January 27, 2024
Like, what?
Normally I love stories with unreliable narrators (False Prince, The Many Assassinations of Samir the Seller of Dreams, Dust)....but there tend to be clues that the narrator is unreliable. In The Probability of Everything, the twist literally came from nowhere. One moment I was reading a Middle Grade sci-fi thriller about the end of the world, the next I was reading a contemporary social justice story? Sarah Everett had a good idea, a good premise...but the execution just didn't work. I really don't like leaving negative reviews, especially for books that deal sensitively with tough topics, but I'm rating this 2 stars because of the twist that came from nowhere. Sarah Everett is a good writer, and I haven't given up on her books! This one just wasn't for me.
One more thing I'd like to add...the main character mentions going to church....but when she's thinking about what happens after death, God is never part of her considerations...that did strike me as odd...
Content:
Mild cussing. A side character has two moms (barely above a mention). Peril. Violence. *spoiler, but an important trigger warning* a major character is shot in front of his family in a racially motivated shooting. Talk of racism, hate crimes, BLM, etc.
*note: an afterword offers advice of what to do in case of a hate crime
Ages 9+ (I guess? Not really recommending this one, but that's what I'd put for an age rating).
Normally I love stories with unreliable narrators (False Prince, The Many Assassinations of Samir the Seller of Dreams, Dust)....but there tend to be clues that the narrator is unreliable. In The Probability of Everything, the twist literally came from nowhere. One moment I was reading a Middle Grade sci-fi thriller about the end of the world, the next I was reading a contemporary social justice story? Sarah Everett had a good idea, a good premise...but the execution just didn't work. I really don't like leaving negative reviews, especially for books that deal sensitively with tough topics, but I'm rating this 2 stars because of the twist that came from nowhere. Sarah Everett is a good writer, and I haven't given up on her books! This one just wasn't for me.
One more thing I'd like to add...the main character mentions going to church....but when she's thinking about what happens after death, God is never part of her considerations...that did strike me as odd...
Content:
Mild cussing. A side character has two moms (barely above a mention). Peril. Violence. *spoiler, but an important trigger warning* a major character is shot in front of his family in a racially motivated shooting. Talk of racism, hate crimes, BLM, etc.
*note: an afterword offers advice of what to do in case of a hate crime
Ages 9+ (I guess? Not really recommending this one, but that's what I'd put for an age rating).
January 9, 2024
If you read lots of middlegrade, this should be one of them. If you read only one middlegrade a year, this should be it. And if you never read middlegrade at all, still pick this up.
I read this today in one sitting and the tears were burning in my eyes the entire way through, in the way that only middlegrade can: sad and heavy but with so much care and heart. Everything about this is so masterfully crafted, this was truly some amazing writing. I'm deeply impressed.
I read this today in one sitting and the tears were burning in my eyes the entire way through, in the way that only middlegrade can: sad and heavy but with so much care and heart. Everything about this is so masterfully crafted, this was truly some amazing writing. I'm deeply impressed.
July 23, 2023
Truly disappointed with this book, I was expecting something new and creative and just got the same ol' same themes that are the popular trend these days. The book was very depressing and I cannot think of any students who would want to read it or that I would recommend it to. I understand the portrayal of grief but feel that the story itself was too disjointed to be impactful. Sorry but I am passing on this.
September 21, 2023
Liked the idea but not the way it was carried out. The purple light ughh!! that phrase repeated over and over ...
October 11, 2023
Kemi Carter is elf jaar en dol op feitjes en statistiek. Door dingen te berekenen en uit te zoeken lukt het haar om de wereld beter te begrijpen. Maar wat ze niet kan opzoeken en kan begrijpen, is hoe het voelt als de wereld vergaat. In de lucht zweeft namelijk de asteroïde AMPLUS-68 en met 84,7% is er de kans dat deze asteroïde op aarde neerstort. Kemi's familie besluit bij elkaar te komen in haar tantes huis en de laatste vier dagen met elkaar door te brengen. Kemi zit vol vragen; hoe voelt het als de wereld vergaat? Waarom blijven andere mensen toch gewoon rustig naar school gaan en eten in hun favoriete restaurant? En zullen de volgende aardbewoners weten hoe het vorige leven eruit heeft gezien? Om die reden besluit Kemi een tijdcapsule te maken met alle belangrijke herinneringen van haar familie en deze in de grond te stoppen. Maar ook de tijdcapsule neemt de angst en het verdriet bij Kemi niet weg.
Het boek bestaat uit twee delen en wordt volledig vanuit Kemi verteld. In het eerste deel leer je vooral Kemi en haar familie kennen. Kemi is een fijn personage om over te lezen en samen met haar leer je verschillende feitjes over asteroïden en cijfers die hiermee te maken hebben. Voor het tweede deel heb je vooral zakdoekjes nodig om je wangen te drogen, want tranen zullen er vallen. Terwijl de asteroïde steeds sneller bij de aarde komt en de wereld steeds paarser kleurt, gaat Kemi op zoek naar tastbare herinneringen om in haar tijdscapsule te stoppen. De angst, de wanhoop en het verdriet spat zowat van het papier af en het zet je aan het denken; wat zou jij de laatste dagen op aarde doen?
De waarschijnlijkheid van alles is een uniek verhaal met wendingen die je niet ziet aankomen. Een verhaal met veel actuele en belangrijke onderwerpen zoals racisme en verlies, leerzame feitjes en mooie metaforen. Een verhaal dat gelezen moet worden. Een verhaal dat je aan het denken zet. Een verhaal over familie, over afscheid nemen, maar ook over sterk zijn. Een verhaal dat je zelf moet ontdekken en waar weinig inhoudelijk iets over gezegd kan worden zonder te spoilen. Maar één ding is duidelijk, lees alsjeblieft dit verhaal!
Het boek bestaat uit twee delen en wordt volledig vanuit Kemi verteld. In het eerste deel leer je vooral Kemi en haar familie kennen. Kemi is een fijn personage om over te lezen en samen met haar leer je verschillende feitjes over asteroïden en cijfers die hiermee te maken hebben. Voor het tweede deel heb je vooral zakdoekjes nodig om je wangen te drogen, want tranen zullen er vallen. Terwijl de asteroïde steeds sneller bij de aarde komt en de wereld steeds paarser kleurt, gaat Kemi op zoek naar tastbare herinneringen om in haar tijdscapsule te stoppen. De angst, de wanhoop en het verdriet spat zowat van het papier af en het zet je aan het denken; wat zou jij de laatste dagen op aarde doen?
De waarschijnlijkheid van alles is een uniek verhaal met wendingen die je niet ziet aankomen. Een verhaal met veel actuele en belangrijke onderwerpen zoals racisme en verlies, leerzame feitjes en mooie metaforen. Een verhaal dat gelezen moet worden. Een verhaal dat je aan het denken zet. Een verhaal over familie, over afscheid nemen, maar ook over sterk zijn. Een verhaal dat je zelf moet ontdekken en waar weinig inhoudelijk iets over gezegd kan worden zonder te spoilen. Maar één ding is duidelijk, lees alsjeblieft dit verhaal!
July 19, 2023
Wow I did not care for this. The majority of the book was an oddly tedious countdown to the apocalypse, with a massive twist thrown in at the end based upon lies of the main character. There were some really interesting plot points that I would've appreciated seeing unpacked -- although naming those here would be a dead giveaway.
July 19, 2023
Wow! This is one of those books that you just go and read! You shouldn't be reading anything about before reading the book! Just go read it!
January 19, 2025
Leesjury bibliotheek Maldegem (boek 4)
Ik geef deze boeken normaal geen rating omdat ik niet het doelpubliek ben, maar goddamn ik heb zo hard zitten bleiten op het eind van dit boek 😭😭
Ik geef deze boeken normaal geen rating omdat ik niet het doelpubliek ben, maar goddamn ik heb zo hard zitten bleiten op het eind van dit boek 😭😭
May 20, 2024
The 11-year-old protagonist of this story, Kemi, is a budding scientist and her favorite assessment tool is Statistics. She applies probability to everything and, in the setting of impending doom, this becomes a coping strategy as well. A planet-sized meteor is on a collision path with Earth. The chance of total annihilation is 84.7% in just 4 days. What will Kemi and her family do with the brief time they have left?
The first 242 pages of this novel appear to be a tween exploration of anticipatory grief in the face of impending doom. It's touching and witty and somewhat pre-YA level. Then, like a projectile from out of the blue, the reader is hit with the real story. It turns out . There were hints along the way but I did not see it coming.
The horrible truth is that, in America, the number one cause of death in children (defined as 1 to 19 years of age) is now Firearm Injury (which first surpassed Motor Vehicle Accidents in 2019) and Drug Overdose (which moved into position number three in 2023) now surpasses Cancer. We should not need books for children who are grieving the deaths of significant people due to the overwhelming presence of guns and drugs in their daily lives, but we do.
Addressing issues of Diversity, Safety, Racism, Hate Crime, Family, Community, and Complicated Grief, this is a wonderful book for the right person (young or old) at the right time. Special thanks to grand-nephew, Evan, for the recommendation!
4.5 stars
The first 242 pages of this novel appear to be a tween exploration of anticipatory grief in the face of impending doom. It's touching and witty and somewhat pre-YA level. Then, like a projectile from out of the blue, the reader is hit with the real story. It turns out . There were hints along the way but I did not see it coming.
The horrible truth is that, in America, the number one cause of death in children (defined as 1 to 19 years of age) is now Firearm Injury (which first surpassed Motor Vehicle Accidents in 2019) and Drug Overdose (which moved into position number three in 2023) now surpasses Cancer. We should not need books for children who are grieving the deaths of significant people due to the overwhelming presence of guns and drugs in their daily lives, but we do.
Addressing issues of Diversity, Safety, Racism, Hate Crime, Family, Community, and Complicated Grief, this is a wonderful book for the right person (young or old) at the right time. Special thanks to grand-nephew, Evan, for the recommendation!
4.5 stars
March 7, 2024
While having breakfast with her family, Kemi sees that an asteroid is going to hit earth in 4 days. So she wants to make a time capsule to let people who finds it know about her family. While working on the capsule the asteroid is making her Dad sick. The more time goes by the worst he gets. When burying the capsule a police officer comes to question her, then she is faced with a horrible truth. Can Kemi face the truth of what happened 4 days before??
A wonderful powerful story of loss and love. I wasn’t sure where this story was taken me, but I knew from the beginning I was going along with the ride. Highly recommend this story for children suffering from grief. So glad I had the opportunity to read this wonderful story and hope all of you have a chance to read it as well!!
A wonderful powerful story of loss and love. I wasn’t sure where this story was taken me, but I knew from the beginning I was going along with the ride. Highly recommend this story for children suffering from grief. So glad I had the opportunity to read this wonderful story and hope all of you have a chance to read it as well!!
August 6, 2023
The world is ending. Plus science and math - so many numbers - and all the feelings - fear and confusion and clinging to the world as it is and hoping the experts are wrong, because then the world won’t really end and everything will be okay… That’s all. That’s all I’m gonna say.
But this book broke my heart into pieces. I read it cover to cover on a flight to Belgium, and I sobbed so much I got tears on the girl next to me.
But you should read it. You should definitely, definitely read it.
- - - - -
"For the record, I'm always on your team.”
“The end is the beginning of a new adventure.”
“I closed my eyes and danced like we weren't getting closer and closer to the end of everything we knew.”
“You can feel two things at once, you know," Dad continued. "You can feel brave but afraid. You can feel happy but sad."
"Summer mode," Dia once told me grandly, "is not a feeling; it's not an experience; it's a way of being.”
“It was weird how nowing that you'd have to say goodbye eventually could make you miss a place or thing or person, even before they were gone.”
“I think you are made up of all the people and things you love.”
“But then I thought about it a little harder and I realized something: People ate on good and bad days. They slept, they prayed, they showered, they washed their hair, they laughed and cried and breathed. How did people keep going - keep existing - on the hard days?”
“The things you couldn't hold on to sometimes helped to understand the things you could.”
“Hope. Crazy-love and mementos, bright socks and stolen menus. Happy memories and favorite stuffies. These were the things I wanted to think about.”
"It's because their light takes millions of years to reach Farth," Dad said. "When you think about it, that means the past is always out there somewhere, still existing. When I lost my dad in college, that thought brought me so much comfort. The stars remind me that we never really lose things or people we love; they are just closer or farther away."
Dad's words reminded me of Fact Four from my research about the end of the world: matter can change from one form to another, but it can never be created or destroyed. The end of something even a human, even a planet -is just a change.
“Do you know what else I love about stars? I like this idea of us, humans, being like stars in the sky. I like the idea that people absorb and emit energy just the way stars do.
We put out light and we receive it too," he said, scratching his chin. He coughed once, then cleared his throat. "Then we surround ourselves with the stars that know and love us, making our very own star clusters."
“Some people prefer to do what is easy, Grit, and hate is easy. Anger is easy.”
“My heart drum rolls in my chest as I go upstairs to get changed, to put on the outfit I will be wearing when the world ends.”
“She doesn’t say anything to me, but she threads her hand in mine.”
'I know," she says. "But you can have it."
"No." I don't want it, I start to say, thinking she has misunderstood me. But then I hear the words again, and have suddenly sounds like love and keep and save. It sounds like carry, that word that means to bear the weight of and hold and protect. It sounds like here is a thing you can carry that reminds you that someone loves you. Some things have no use; they are just there to have.
“My voice is a quiet whisper, round like the shape of a secret.”
“It’s the things that are the hardest to see that are worth looking for.”
“And you’re allowed to fight for that world; you’re allowed to make waves.”
We are seconds away from impact, and because I am always thinking about numbers, I count.
One.
The earth rumbles.
Two.
A crash.
Three.
The world explodes.
Dad appears on my right.
“I’m here,“ he promises me now. I take his hand.
I need him now, and I’ll always need him.
*I don’t know how to be brave.*
"I can't promise you nothing bad will ever happen again. I wish I could, but I can't," Dad says. "But my job and your job isn't to see life coming. It's to be the best you can be, to love people, to live even if it scares you. That's the thing I want most for you--not that you stop being afraid, but that you keep living, even when you’re afraid." I swipe my hand underneath my eyes.
"I cant promise you nothing bad will ever happen again. I wish I could, but I can't," Dad says. "But my job and your job isn't to see life coming. It's to be the best you can be, to love people, to live even if it scares you. That's the thing I want most for you- not that you stop being afraid, but that you keep living, even when you're afraid." I swipe my hand underneath my eyes.
"Can you do something for me?" Dad asks now.
I nod, because I will do anything for him. Because he is my favorite person in the universe. Because if fathers can be best friends, he is mine, and even if they can't, he is mine.
“You don't have to be strong, baby. We'll do it weak. We'll limp and hurt and take everything one day at a time.”
“But my job and your job isn’t to see life coming. It’s to be the best you can be, to love people, to live even if it scares you. That’s the thing I want most for you – not that you stop being afraid, but that you keep living, even when you’re afraid.”
And then he looks down between us to where I've been clinging to his hand. He lets his almost see-through hand loosen around mine and I start crying again.
No no no no no.
"Please don't leave me," I whisper.
"Not ever," Dad says, smiling a little. "You don't need to see me to know I’m still here.”
But this book broke my heart into pieces. I read it cover to cover on a flight to Belgium, and I sobbed so much I got tears on the girl next to me.
But you should read it. You should definitely, definitely read it.
- - - - -
"For the record, I'm always on your team.”
“The end is the beginning of a new adventure.”
“I closed my eyes and danced like we weren't getting closer and closer to the end of everything we knew.”
“You can feel two things at once, you know," Dad continued. "You can feel brave but afraid. You can feel happy but sad."
"Summer mode," Dia once told me grandly, "is not a feeling; it's not an experience; it's a way of being.”
“It was weird how nowing that you'd have to say goodbye eventually could make you miss a place or thing or person, even before they were gone.”
“I think you are made up of all the people and things you love.”
“But then I thought about it a little harder and I realized something: People ate on good and bad days. They slept, they prayed, they showered, they washed their hair, they laughed and cried and breathed. How did people keep going - keep existing - on the hard days?”
“The things you couldn't hold on to sometimes helped to understand the things you could.”
“Hope. Crazy-love and mementos, bright socks and stolen menus. Happy memories and favorite stuffies. These were the things I wanted to think about.”
"It's because their light takes millions of years to reach Farth," Dad said. "When you think about it, that means the past is always out there somewhere, still existing. When I lost my dad in college, that thought brought me so much comfort. The stars remind me that we never really lose things or people we love; they are just closer or farther away."
Dad's words reminded me of Fact Four from my research about the end of the world: matter can change from one form to another, but it can never be created or destroyed. The end of something even a human, even a planet -is just a change.
“Do you know what else I love about stars? I like this idea of us, humans, being like stars in the sky. I like the idea that people absorb and emit energy just the way stars do.
We put out light and we receive it too," he said, scratching his chin. He coughed once, then cleared his throat. "Then we surround ourselves with the stars that know and love us, making our very own star clusters."
“Some people prefer to do what is easy, Grit, and hate is easy. Anger is easy.”
“My heart drum rolls in my chest as I go upstairs to get changed, to put on the outfit I will be wearing when the world ends.”
“She doesn’t say anything to me, but she threads her hand in mine.”
'I know," she says. "But you can have it."
"No." I don't want it, I start to say, thinking she has misunderstood me. But then I hear the words again, and have suddenly sounds like love and keep and save. It sounds like carry, that word that means to bear the weight of and hold and protect. It sounds like here is a thing you can carry that reminds you that someone loves you. Some things have no use; they are just there to have.
“My voice is a quiet whisper, round like the shape of a secret.”
“It’s the things that are the hardest to see that are worth looking for.”
“And you’re allowed to fight for that world; you’re allowed to make waves.”
We are seconds away from impact, and because I am always thinking about numbers, I count.
One.
The earth rumbles.
Two.
A crash.
Three.
The world explodes.
Dad appears on my right.
“I’m here,“ he promises me now. I take his hand.
I need him now, and I’ll always need him.
*I don’t know how to be brave.*
"I can't promise you nothing bad will ever happen again. I wish I could, but I can't," Dad says. "But my job and your job isn't to see life coming. It's to be the best you can be, to love people, to live even if it scares you. That's the thing I want most for you--not that you stop being afraid, but that you keep living, even when you’re afraid." I swipe my hand underneath my eyes.
"I cant promise you nothing bad will ever happen again. I wish I could, but I can't," Dad says. "But my job and your job isn't to see life coming. It's to be the best you can be, to love people, to live even if it scares you. That's the thing I want most for you- not that you stop being afraid, but that you keep living, even when you're afraid." I swipe my hand underneath my eyes.
"Can you do something for me?" Dad asks now.
I nod, because I will do anything for him. Because he is my favorite person in the universe. Because if fathers can be best friends, he is mine, and even if they can't, he is mine.
“You don't have to be strong, baby. We'll do it weak. We'll limp and hurt and take everything one day at a time.”
“But my job and your job isn’t to see life coming. It’s to be the best you can be, to love people, to live even if it scares you. That’s the thing I want most for you – not that you stop being afraid, but that you keep living, even when you’re afraid.”
And then he looks down between us to where I've been clinging to his hand. He lets his almost see-through hand loosen around mine and I start crying again.
No no no no no.
"Please don't leave me," I whisper.
"Not ever," Dad says, smiling a little. "You don't need to see me to know I’m still here.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 25, 2023
I can see why some people might like this book a lot, but I am definitely not one of these people. I'll admit, as soon as the metaphor was done, after like 80% of the way through the book, it got a little better. But before that I couldn't help but be annoyed the entire time.
First, the author seems to think that everyone just takes for granted that they will be a bug or a tree or something in their 'next life.'
Next, the author doesn't know how to use Google properly. No, there aren't hundreds of billions of stars in the observable universe. Try more like a hundred sextillion, i.e. a hundred billion trillion. The author must have gotten the word "Galaxy" mixed up with "Universe."
And yes, I know it was a metaphor, but it would take about 1-2 years, depending on its initial distance from the sun because the asteroid belt is rather wide, for an asteroid in the asteroid belt to hit the earth after it gets knocked into a different orbit. The time frame the book gives would make the asteroid going at least 1.3 million miles per hour. This is borderline relativistic and completely unrealistic.
And the author seems to think it's this big huge deep thing that zero is an even number. It's not.
And the author made the main character not know whether a star or an asteroid was bigger. I hope that every single kid that age, especially ones into science, knows that a star is much larger than an asteroid.
Lastly, the probabilities at the end of the book are off. Makes me question the author's intent.
First, the author seems to think that everyone just takes for granted that they will be a bug or a tree or something in their 'next life.'
Next, the author doesn't know how to use Google properly. No, there aren't hundreds of billions of stars in the observable universe. Try more like a hundred sextillion, i.e. a hundred billion trillion. The author must have gotten the word "Galaxy" mixed up with "Universe."
And yes, I know it was a metaphor, but it would take about 1-2 years, depending on its initial distance from the sun because the asteroid belt is rather wide, for an asteroid in the asteroid belt to hit the earth after it gets knocked into a different orbit. The time frame the book gives would make the asteroid going at least 1.3 million miles per hour. This is borderline relativistic and completely unrealistic.
And the author seems to think it's this big huge deep thing that zero is an even number. It's not.
And the author made the main character not know whether a star or an asteroid was bigger. I hope that every single kid that age, especially ones into science, knows that a star is much larger than an asteroid.
Lastly, the probabilities at the end of the book are off. Makes me question the author's intent.
July 30, 2023
This book was really sad and off-puttingly confusing- so much so that I didn’t want to finish it. I didn’t understand why an 11-year-old would describe the impending end of the world as happysad. It would be terrifying. I didn’t understand why we weren’t getting any info from our highly scientific narrator about the asteroid- its size, speed, where it was going to hit, why it was an 84.7% chance of hitting the earth. Why were other people acting normally- kids going to school etc? Where was the world chaos one would expect from all of humanity if the world was ending in four days? Before I gave up reading it altogether, I read some reviews on here and saw there was a big twist. She is an unreliable narrator. Knowing this helped me get through the rest of the book, but otherwise I wouldn’t have. And that’s a problem. I get what the author was doing. It is a poignant, beautiful concept. But it should have worked without my knowing ahead of time, and it didn’t.
July 20, 2023
I didn’t know if my 7th graders would like this, and I almost stopped a bit over half-way through. Some things weren’t making sense. The character is 11, so I thought, well, maybe that’s why she’s acting like this while her family is not really on the same wavelength as her - when she finds out an asteroid is going to be the end of their world - in four days. I kept reading because Colby Sharp (5th grade teacher/reader) said it was one of the best so far in 2023… I’m thankful for the reward ¾ of the way through - I think, however, it would take a strong and determined middle school reader to get that far for the pay off (that included tons of tissues).
August 12, 2023
I loved this book. It's been a while since I read something this good and almost magical. Yes, it is definitely middle grade, but it will certainly appeal to older readers as well. I ordered 2 copies for my school library, grades 6-8.
And here's the deal-you just have to believe me that it's good. Don't read any "real" reviews, don't read any spoilers, don't try to get a plot synopsis. Just read it. Trust me.
And when you get done, come find me. I'd love to talk about it.
And here's the deal-you just have to believe me that it's good. Don't read any "real" reviews, don't read any spoilers, don't try to get a plot synopsis. Just read it. Trust me.
And when you get done, come find me. I'd love to talk about it.
July 31, 2023
This book has BROKEN me! I may NEVER stop crying!
"Matter can change from one form to another, but it can never be created or destroyed. The end of everything - even a human, even a planet - is just a change."
"Matter can change from one form to another, but it can never be created or destroyed. The end of everything - even a human, even a planet - is just a change."
September 11, 2023
Finished in pretty much one sitting-couldn’t put it down. My heart has to know how it would end. I can’t tell you anymore. Just don’t even read the synopsis. Just read it! It’s that kind of book-go in blind.
September 3, 2023
5 stars. Wow. Pop it to the top of your TBR
Didn’t see it coming - twist is in style of Tiffany Jackson. Read it with a little info as possible - just read it - lots of stuff going on!
Didn’t see it coming - twist is in style of Tiffany Jackson. Read it with a little info as possible - just read it - lots of stuff going on!
August 9, 2023
wow. what a gut punch of a book. My current pick for the Newbery Award. Can't decide though if I think it's speculative fiction or not....
November 10, 2024
Als je me doet wenen, dan moet je het zo doen. Damnit.
September 6, 2023
I went into this knowing there was a twist but not knowing what it was, which meant I spent a lot of the book trying to figure out clues. I came close with a few of my guesses but the impact when I got there was still an absolute gut punch. Anyway, I think this book is incredible and important and if you need me, I will just be over here endlessly sobbing.
December 10, 2023
I did not enjoy this book.
I didn't enjoy the narrator's obsession with leaving things behind so people would remember them and know what they were like, as if that somehow meant they continued to exist. When my dad was dying of cancer when I was twelve years old, I didn't obsess about finding the thing he loved the most. I already knew what that was: Jesus. Instead, I spent time with him!
I also thought it was silly that she thought she could make things less sad for everyone with the thought that they would come back as something else. And the narration just didn't sound like the voice of an eleven-year-old girl to me. It sounded more like an adult who thinks she knows almost everything there is to know about the world.
"How did people keep doing - keep existing - on the hard days?
I didn't know.
I didn't think I ever would."
I know! It's God! God is the one who gets you through the hard days, even when you can't feel him there with you. This author just doesn't get it. Our lives are not random chance. We are not random chance. God has a plan and purpose for everything, even the really, truly, terribly, dreadfully bad stuff! I know this from very personal experience. My brain got very, profusely, extremely sick for for months this year. I lived in what felt like constant fight-or-flight mode because my brain wasn't working, and many nights I didn't sleep at all, and when I did sleep, I didn't feel rested, and I felt so terrified all the time, and I would up hospitalized for a week when I was finally able to get appropriate medical care, and God saved me. God healed me through medicines and doctors. This author has obviously never experienced something like that. A time capsule with stuff in it is not what matters. Jesus love for us is what matters.
I also don't like that the author decided that all the white people in the neighborhood didn't like the family. I think that vast majority of "white" people (my skin has pigment, I don't look like a blank piece of cardstock) really don't care what color anyone else's skin is as long as they are kind and hardworking. Those are the kind of people our country needs. People who are kind and hard working. I don't personally know any white people who don't like other people based on their skin color. I couldn't care less what anyone's skin color is. We're all God's children. What's in the inside is what really matters. But I would also like to point out that I enjoy being around other people who like me, and I don't force myself on people who don't like me, because I'm not defiant. I personally believe that being defiant is wrong in the vast majority of cases, and being defiant doesn't change anyone's heart or win them over to your way of thinking.
I really didn't care for the plot twist.
I also am so sick of the victim narrative. I'm a teacher, and I have students from different countries and nationalities. I love them all. I think the vast majority of people around the world don't hate other people. But there will always be people in this sinful world who don't like people of other skin colors or nationalities. They are a very small minority. But some people choose to focus on that very small group of people and try to make you believe all white people are the bad guys and hate black people. We don't. And you can't create some sort of utopia where everyone is nice to you and there are no bigoted people. You can't change other people, you can only choose to focus on the good. But instead this author chooses to focus on the bad and push her perspective on you. And if you choose that perspective, you're never going to be anything but angry, and that's not good for anybody. So I would instead encourage people to focus on the good, and really to focus on Jesus. Jesus says to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. You will never change anyone's hate with more hate. Only love can truly change someone.
I probably didn't word this all the best, and maybe I misunderstood the author's point, but these were just my initial feelings about the book.
I didn't enjoy the narrator's obsession with leaving things behind so people would remember them and know what they were like, as if that somehow meant they continued to exist. When my dad was dying of cancer when I was twelve years old, I didn't obsess about finding the thing he loved the most. I already knew what that was: Jesus. Instead, I spent time with him!
I also thought it was silly that she thought she could make things less sad for everyone with the thought that they would come back as something else. And the narration just didn't sound like the voice of an eleven-year-old girl to me. It sounded more like an adult who thinks she knows almost everything there is to know about the world.
"How did people keep doing - keep existing - on the hard days?
I didn't know.
I didn't think I ever would."
I know! It's God! God is the one who gets you through the hard days, even when you can't feel him there with you. This author just doesn't get it. Our lives are not random chance. We are not random chance. God has a plan and purpose for everything, even the really, truly, terribly, dreadfully bad stuff! I know this from very personal experience. My brain got very, profusely, extremely sick for for months this year. I lived in what felt like constant fight-or-flight mode because my brain wasn't working, and many nights I didn't sleep at all, and when I did sleep, I didn't feel rested, and I felt so terrified all the time, and I would up hospitalized for a week when I was finally able to get appropriate medical care, and God saved me. God healed me through medicines and doctors. This author has obviously never experienced something like that. A time capsule with stuff in it is not what matters. Jesus love for us is what matters.
I also don't like that the author decided that all the white people in the neighborhood didn't like the family. I think that vast majority of "white" people (my skin has pigment, I don't look like a blank piece of cardstock) really don't care what color anyone else's skin is as long as they are kind and hardworking. Those are the kind of people our country needs. People who are kind and hard working. I don't personally know any white people who don't like other people based on their skin color. I couldn't care less what anyone's skin color is. We're all God's children. What's in the inside is what really matters. But I would also like to point out that I enjoy being around other people who like me, and I don't force myself on people who don't like me, because I'm not defiant. I personally believe that being defiant is wrong in the vast majority of cases, and being defiant doesn't change anyone's heart or win them over to your way of thinking.
I really didn't care for the plot twist.
I also am so sick of the victim narrative. I'm a teacher, and I have students from different countries and nationalities. I love them all. I think the vast majority of people around the world don't hate other people. But there will always be people in this sinful world who don't like people of other skin colors or nationalities. They are a very small minority. But some people choose to focus on that very small group of people and try to make you believe all white people are the bad guys and hate black people. We don't. And you can't create some sort of utopia where everyone is nice to you and there are no bigoted people. You can't change other people, you can only choose to focus on the good. But instead this author chooses to focus on the bad and push her perspective on you. And if you choose that perspective, you're never going to be anything but angry, and that's not good for anybody. So I would instead encourage people to focus on the good, and really to focus on Jesus. Jesus says to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. You will never change anyone's hate with more hate. Only love can truly change someone.
I probably didn't word this all the best, and maybe I misunderstood the author's point, but these were just my initial feelings about the book.
July 29, 2023
Thank you @colbysharp for putting this book on my radar. His advice is “Do not read anything about this book, just read it.” It will stay with me for some time to come. Thank you @netgalley for the early read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 722 reviews