you've reached Sam by Dustin Thao: a review

This book has been on my TBR for so long (since the book was published in November 2021 ) that it seems crazy to me that I finally got around to reading it. I first saw the book floating around TikTok and as it gained popularity it raised my interest. I kept putting off reading it because of its reputation for making people cry. 

I was honestly quite worried that this would be one of the overhyped books that float around the internet and will be underwhelming however this was 100 per cent not the case at all. Facebook was so so good and I was well aware that it might make me cry but I think that it's such an accurate representation of grief and life after loss.

Here’s a quick plot summary: 

Juliette is a 17-year-old girl who thought she had a future all planned out. However, life has a way of making Plants very difficult to carry out. She had hoped to move out of her city and spend the summer in Japan with her boyfriend Sam. But then Sam dies. Juliet is heartbroken and she calls Sam's phone just to listen to the voicemail. 

Miraculously Sam picks up the phone. 

 

This book is so unbelievably accurate in the way it presents the way people deal with grief in different ways. I personally really enjoyed the jump between the two timelines of present and past though I know that is a deal-breaker for some people. I think that it was an intense book considering the actual length of the book everything was very believable and for me, this book lived up to the hype.

This book was not one that I thought would put me on such an emotional journey but I'm telling you that this is one of the most powerful books that I've read. I found it very easy to empathize with Juliet and her grief and confusion throughout the book.

It's a fantastic debut by Dustin Thao And I can't wait to see what he gets up to next in his career.

Happy reading,

-Mei