You've Reached Sam(2021)

 You've Reached Sam(2021)

Author:Dustin Thao

Pages:304

Published on 2021 November 9th by Wednesday Books

Rating:4/5

Start date: 2022.06.08

Finish date: 2022.06.09

Summary(source:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53086843-you-ve-reached-sam):

Seventeen-year-old Julie has her future all planned out—move out of her small town with her boyfriend Sam, attend college in the city, spend a summer in Japan. But then Sam dies. And everything changes.

Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.

And Sam picks up the phone.

In a miraculous turn of events, Julie’s been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isn’t easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Sam’s family is going through. Unable to stand by the sidelines and watch their shared loved ones in pain, Julie is torn between spilling the truth about her calls with Sam and risking their connection and losing him forever.

My Review:

I've anticipated this book ever since I saw it on Tiktok, and it definitely did not disappoint. However I was a bit surprised at how unlikeable the main character was, but I realized it was more accurate to reality in that way. Everyone takes in grief differently, and it can make some people hurt in a way others won't ever understand. I fortunately have not lost anyone important to me in my life yet, and it was interesting to read through Julie's character growth throughout the book. At the beginning she just wanted to forget. To run away from the thoughts of Sam as if she could somehow erase his existence to stop hurting. When she discovered she could connect with Sam through phone calls, she was reluctant to let go, but at the end of the book she comes to the conclusion that Sam and her both have to move on some point in their life so she comes to an agreement with Sam to break their connection forever. There are many quotes from the book which are absolutely heartbreaking, like the way Julie always wishes Sam were there when she's with her friends or sees something exciting, but there are also very heartwarming lines coming from Julie's friends and family. The book also covers teenager's confusion about their future which is something I often worry about at my age. Julie's mother told her that if she kept worrying about choices to make she would miss all that was happening around and in front of her. Ever since entering high school I often feel guilty when I take time off to do some hobbies, or I frequently ask myself whether the things I'm doing right now would benefit my future. But sometimes the fact that I'm enjoying what I'm doing is more important. There are many times you cannot relive in your life and I want to be able to cherish my life without worry.

I relate to Julie in many ways. If I were in her shoes I would probably have the same reaction to reaching a passed one on the phone. I would want to save the calls forever and never let go. I don't think I'm capable of saying goodbye to someone I loved as dearly as Julie loved Sam. Julie also says she prefers movies which make her cry because she wants to feel something. I am also a fan of books and movies with tragic endings. I feel like I feel the strongest emotions through those. One thing I wouldn't be able to agree with is Julie is how she missed Sam's funeral and all the other memorial traditions for him that followed, even if she knew how much it would mean to him for her to attend. How could she decide she wanted to forget about him a week within his death? Sam was so nice to her and some of her reactions made me think he deserved better, but maybe it's because I don''t know what it's like to loose someone so close to you. The book skips between memories and reality, and it is always painful to see Julie saying she never thought that would be the last time they did something on the last paragraphs. The world is cruel for taking someone so young and so innocent, yet no one is to blame for the night of Sam's death, but if I were Julie or Taylor or any of his other friends, I would think about how things would have turned out if things didn't happen the way they did. 

I thought I would cry while reading this book but I didn't. I still felt my heart ache while reading some of the sentences though, especially Sam's voicemail at the end. It was best for them to move on < but moving on doesn't mean forgetting. Like what one of Julie's friends said, Sam is already a part of Julie and it is impossible to erase the memory of him. It's best for her to keep on with her life, and occasionally think back on the past, of him, and of them. I don't think grief is something one can ever completely overcome, and I think the ending was appropriate, as sad as it was.