Denton Little's Death Date Book Review

Denton Little's Death Date by Lance Rubin

Rating: 3/5

Goodreads Summary:

Denton Little’s Deathdate takes place in a world exactly like our own except that everyone knows the day on which they will die. For Denton, that’s in just two days—the day of his senior prom.

Despite his early deathdate, Denton has always wanted to live a normal life, but his final days are filled with dramatic firsts. First hangover. First sex. First love triangle—as the first sex seems to have happened not with his adoring girlfriend, but with his best friend’s hostile sister. (Though he’s not totally sure—see, first hangover.) His anxiety builds when he discovers a strange purple rash making its way up his body. Is this what will kill him? And then a strange man shows up at his funeral, claiming to have known Denton’s long-deceased mother, and warning him to beware of suspicious government characters. . . . Suddenly Denton’s life is filled with mysterious questions and precious little time to find the answers.

Thoughts and Opinions:

         Basically, the book is set in the near future where scientists have figured out when most people would die, through genetics and other science-y ways. Denton, the MC, has his death day in less than 48 hours, and so the adventure begins (or ends.. depending how you look at it).

         Right off the bat, this wasn't how I expected the book to be because this book is Weird with capital W. I thought it would be reflective and philosophical for some reasons. I mean yes, there were times where the MC would actually think about life and death, if he's ready for it, but most of the times it's usually the MC and his friends in a crazy situation. I don't think most of us actually think about death and how when or how it's going to be happen, but in Denton's world, they know when they're going to die from the moment they were born. There were moments in the book when the MC is quite serious and it got the wheels on my head working because as a Christian, I sometimes wonder if I'm living in light of the Gospel, or not and this book appealed to me I guess because of that. Questions like: am I living like it's my last day? Being kind to others, reading my Bible, and all other kind of thoughts on how I should act.

         On the other hand, the book was crazy and four things were happening at the same time that I didn't even really focus on those thoughts as much. Denton Little and this whole book was awkward. There were moments when I couldn't go through because cringe. However, the awkwardness of the MC worked well for the book, in my opinion. Denton is 17, relatable because I'm 17 and I don't have my life in order. Although, I'm pretty sure I make better decisions and life choices (being biased here, but I honestly don't see myself doing most of what he did in the book), but he was dorky and socially awkward. It made the book more believable and was refreshing because most books in with highschool MCs usually have events that would never actually happen in real life. But for this book, I could relate to the awkwardness.

        Things really picked up for me in the end because things got more interesting and there were so many things happening. Even though there were moments where things were kinda rushed, it felt okay because it was coming through Denton's POV and that's how he is so it would make sense that the book would take on that nature of writing as well. I enjoyed reading it because it was a light and funny book. There were times when I would laugh because I'd just be like: "same".

        It did end with a  cliff hanger though, and I wouldn't mind reading the next book to see what happens next.