Book Review- Things to Do Before the End of the World by Emily Barr

The world around me is quite bizarre. India today has her muffled cries echoing down all of her streets. Reading a book with a title “Things to do Before the End of World” was a weird thing for me during this time.

Honestly I thought that I might need to put down the book due to the bleakness of the title. Perhaps, the book would add on to the anxiety I already dealt with. But, no. It is just a title, and one that is, in my opinion, not in sync with the rest of the book. I already know this is going to be a very short review, because I did not enjoy this book. 😐

A tale of a sixteen year old is sometimes fun to read. I, however, did not enjoy the young woman’s tale in this book. Olivia is an introvert. Her crush, her relationship with her parents, a cousin she didn’t know of, her best friend… almost all the things that one usually finds in this genre are present in Things to Do Before the End of the World.

I enjoyed the writing, Emily Barr has a gift for it. But, Things to Do Before the End of the World is in discord with its title. When facing the end of the world, one would assume human emotions go through the wringer. An element which was absent consistently through out this book. And second, the end of the world was an event, called The Creep, which was mentioned here and there. Therefore, the seriousness with which it was dealt with was completely lacking from the plot.

Under the circumstances, the book went on and on and it felt like reading fustian. It was lacking the emotional connect one feels while reading.

Again, this is my opinion. There may be readers who have enjoyed Things to Do Before the End of the World for all it is. But, I did not. And therefore, this one does not do it for me. 😦