Never World Wake

Name: Never World Wake

Author: Marisha Pessl

Published: 2018

Beatrice hasn’t seen her best friends since Jim’s death. A year later, with her boyfriend’s mysterious demise still an unsolved case, she decides to meet with them one more time. One last time. How wrong she would be.

After a close brush with death, a stranger visits their isolated seaside mansion with a terrifying message. They are stuck; stuck in the time between life and death, doomed to repeat the day of the crash over and over until they vote. Vote to who can wake up to a tomorrow, while the others die. But maybe, with unlimited time on her hands, Beatrice can finally discover what happened to Jim. Because while each of her friends claim innocence, none of them were where they said they were on that fateful night. 

Marisha Pessl’s new psychological thriller for young adults will have you gripped. With explosive plot twists every few pages and a unique and beautiful insight on life and death, you will remember this book after you’ve turned the last page. The ending was brilliant, very satisfying and there was a lot of “I never saw that coming…” However, I thought that the setting for the finale – with the lake? If you know, you know – was a bit odd and confusing. Pessl could have chosen so more climatic, dramatic settings. Additionally, I just didn’t feel much of a connection with any of them really, they were all quite self absorbed and obnoxious, even the main character, with more than their fair share of secrets to hide.

SWEETENER: What do you think would happen if you were doomed to repeat the same day over and over again? I wouldn’t be happy. The characters reactions were definitely very reasonable, and it felt very personal. The ‘wakes’ seem to send them all a bit mad, and certainly when the plot began to go a bit askew as they time travelled (yes, time travelled!) to locations in the past. But I guess it was a very, let’s say original, idea to solve Jim’s murder. There is also literally so many wakes they begin to lose track, sometimes it just said ‘a few thousand wakes later’. Yes, I think I would go just a little bit mad.

While it may sound a bit odd, I thought at certain points it felt like the author was trying too hard to describe the settings and stuff, there was just too many similes and the paragraphs were excessively long and dense. I just wanted her to get on with the story!  But, in short, ‘Neverworld Wake’ was very original, the plot is so intricate – its not one fit you’re looking for a light read, a lot is crammed into the reasonably short novel.

MATURE CHEESES ONLY! I really enjoyed it as something different. However, it is a young adults book, so naturally there is some subjects and language in it that may not be suitable for anyone under say 13. It is perfect for fans of ‘The Truth Lies Here’ or ‘One of Us is Lying,’ which there is a superb blog about a few scrolls down 🙂

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