Review: Together We Will Go

Together We Will Go by J. Michael Straczynski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Unique. Emotional. Unexpected. Sad. Happy. You already know that this book is about suicide so you can't be upset if you read this book and then want to complain! The characters are as complex as their reasons are to end their lives. I was totally invested and immersed in each character and I actually wish that their book had been longer so we could see the ramifications of those who chose a different path. The writing is unique since we have a variety of styles-instant messages, journals, recordings (they have been transcribed), and one on one interactions. I am glad that I chose to read this. I was skeptical at first but soon found myself fascinated with this book. *ARC supplied by the publisher, the author, and ATTL/Edelweiss.

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SYNOPSIS: "The Breakfast Club meets The Silver Linings Playbook in this powerful, provocative, and heartfelt novel about twelve endearing strangers who come together to make the most of their final days, from New York Times bestselling and award-winning author J. Michael Straczynski.

Mark Antonelli, a failed young writer looking down the barrel at thirty, is planning a cross-country road trip. He buys a beat-up old tour bus. He hires a young army vet to drive it. He puts out an ad for others to join him along the way. But this will be a road trip like no other: His passengers are all fellow disheartened souls who have decided that this will be their final journey—upon arrival in San Francisco, they will find a cliff with an amazing view of the ocean at sunset, hit the gas, and drive out of this world.

The unlikely companions include a young woman with a chronic pain sensory disorder and another who was relentlessly bullied at school for her size; a bipolar, party-loving neo-hippie; a gentle coder with a literal hole in his heart and blue skin; and a poet dreaming of a better world beyond this one. We get to know them through access to their texts, emails, voicemails, and the daily journal entries they write as the price of admission for this trip.

By turns tragic, funny, quirky, charming, and deeply moving, Together We Will Go explores the decisions that brings these characters together, and the relationships that grow between them, with some discovering love and affection for the first time. But as they cross state lines and complications to the initial plan arise, it becomes clear that this is a novel as much about the will to live as the choice to end it. The final, unforgettable moments as they hurtle toward the decisions awaiting them will be remembered for a lifetime."