Review: We All Looked Up

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Release Date: March 24th, 2015
Source: Library
Date Read: 7/7/15 to 7/9/15
384 pages

Rating: ✰✰✰1/2

Before the asteroid we let ourselves be defined by labels:
The athlete, the outcast, the slacker, the overachiever.

But then we all looked up and everything changed.

They said it would be here in two months. That gave us two months to leave our labels behind. Two months to become something bigger than what we'd been, something that would last even after the end.

Two months to really live.

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I'm not exactly sure how I feel about We All Looked Up. On one hand, I loved the characters, the chaos, and the development. But then on the other hand, I was dissatisfied. Where the hell was my conclusion?

The title pretty much sums up the plot of the book. Basically, a huge asteroid is hurtling towards Earth, and the probability of impact is high. In just two months, everyone might be dead.

This obviously comes as a shock. What would you do if you only had two months to live? Travel the world? Say goodbye to family? How about blowing up buildings, falling in love, and throwing an End of the World party? Well, that's basically what Peter, Anita, Eliza, and Andy end up doing. These four, being completely separate before the asteroid, end up coming together despite all of their differences.

The characters are genuine, 

but what really interested me was their development. 

For all of them, the coming of the end of the world ends up being a good thing. Well, almost a good thing. Once you realize that life is coming to an end, it's no surprise that everyone is discontent with at least some part of their life. Peter felt like his lifestyle wasn't bringing anything to the world. Anita hates the fact that she's only an investment to her parents. Eliza realized that she liked having friends. And Andy, well he was going after a girl that didn't even love him! The dynamics between all of them were interesting to watch.

The events were believable, except for some here and there.

Chaos everywhere? Yes. Sending people to prison for disturbing the peace? Yes that's pretty plausible, even if there are only two months left. Throwing an end of the world party? I guess so. Creating a Tumblr photography blog and having it go viral overnight? Yeah...ok, it is fiction. [spoiler] Dying over being beaten up? [spoiler] Uh, I'm not sure how serious it was, but this was just so sudden. At one point he was there, and the next he was not. I almost missed it!

I wanted a conclusion. I continued to read the book for a conclusion!

Did I get it? No, I did not. And because of that, I am sad. I mean fine, sure, it's probably better as an open ender, but that is totally not my style. Though I would have to say that my favorite part was Eliza's made up philosophy, which does tie in with the ending. So I'm not too bummed by the end.

Overall? I'm glad I read this. I didn't expect this to be absolutely AMAZING from reviews I've read months ago, but it was still an interesting topic to explore. Actually to be honest, every time I took a break, I almost believed that an actual asteroid was hurtling our own Earth. And then I remembered it was this book. Ha.