Rating: ★★★★☆
GOODREADS
FIVE MOST IMPORTANT POINTS
1. Amazing writing
2. Philosophy all around
3. 500 Days of Summer romance
4. Death row lawyers!!
5. A tad overdramatic at times
I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion of the book.
I wasn't sure what to expect from The Life of the World to Come by Dan Clunchey. For once, this wasn't a cover-download, but I just really liked the synopsis of the story. Leo Brice, a law student, meets Fiona, a Marilyn Monroe-esque girl who takes him on a crazy roller coaster during their time together. But like all good things, this ends too and Leo is left to pick up the pieces of their relationship and his life.
What I loved most about this book is the amazing writing. On the one hand, this is a novel about first loves and how they can take a piece away from us. On the other hand, it's about Leo's law studies and how he deals with having to represent a client on death row. Though these two things might seem completely unrelated, Dan Clunchey ties them together beautifully with a narrator whose voices I absolutely loved.
At its core, this is a book about death. Death of friendships. Death of love. Death of justice. Death of certain people. This sounds terribly pessimistic and dark, but it somehow isn't. Leo at his core loves life, and though he might forget it at some points, his voice always carries a certain optimism with it. And if it doesn't, there are other characters who fulfil that role in the novel.
Overall, The Life of the World to Come is an easy and amazing read. What makes life worth living? You leave the novel knowing what Leo would say, but you will continue thinking about your own answer for a long time after finishing this novel. If you love lawyers, doomed romances and/or philosophy, you cannot miss this stunning novel.