This Is Where the World Ends

by Amy Zhang

From Amy Zhang, the acclaimed author of Falling into Place, comes a heart-wrenching new novel about best friends on a collision course with reality. Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That's how it's been since they were children, when Janie Vivian moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It's the perfect friendship-as long as no one finds out about it.

• ISBN10: 0062417878
• ISBN13: 9780062417879
• Publish Date: 21 April 2016 (first published 22 March 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 14 May 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Greenwillow Books
• Edition: International ed.
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[girlinthepages]

It's rare that I don't really know what I'm getting myself into with a book, but This is Where the World Ends can't really be explained in any other way for me. Like everyone else, I had heard a lot of people rave about the author's debut, Falling Into Place, so when I saw her second novel available immediately on Overdrive I thought it would be a great book to read on my phone as a contemporary on-the-go selection (I usually always have a book queued up and ready to go on my phone because YOU JUST NEVER KNOW when you'll need one). While the writing was definitely strong and it's a style I'd return to, everything else about This is Where the World Ends was unfortunately kind of a mess. The plot was all over the place, the ending was too abrupt, and a huge event happens in the middle of the book that changes the tone of the novel in a big way.

This is Where the World Ends is a dark novel. This in and of itself is not a problem for me, as I tend to favor heavier contemporaries and don't mind books that tackle tough topics. Life is often unfair and cruel, and there's a raw honesty that comes across in the pages of this book that really drive home that message. However, what was hard for me when reading this book was not the cruelty of fate that the characters encountered, but rather the disdain I fostered toward the characters themselves, often driven by their own cruelty and stupidity. Janie is a manic-pixie-dream-girl type in a lot of ways, and even putting my dislike for characters like that aside, she was just not a genuine or kind human being. She treated Micah like literal human garbage, using him and manipulating him over and over again, yet had the audacity to internally monologue about how much she loved him and how they were one soul. While this at first fostered a bit of sympathy for Micah from me, that was quickly eradicated by his complete lack of self-respect and dignity...there's comes a time when you have to draw a line in the sand and make people accountable for how they let others treat them, and Micah always ended up enabling Janie. Basically everyone in this book was horrid and unpleasant and it's a crash course in Toxic Relationships 101.

*Spoilers discussed in the next paragraph! You've been warned*

Then there's the issue of plot. While the synopsis definitely gives you a general overview of the plot (Janie goes missing, Micah is faced with the revelation that she wasn't that decent of a human being, etc.) it also omits an important plot point: About halfway through the novel, it is revealed that Janie is raped. Now I'm not someone who believes trigger warnings should be placed on everything, but I was pretty surprised that it was integrated into the plot in such a huge way and isn't at least alluded to before readers start the novel. The story actually presents a very hard look on high school rape culture, as Janie doesn't even have the chance to process what's happened to her and seek help before she learns that Ander, the perpetrator, has already spread the rumor that she's pretending she was raped because she regrets that they were intimate. Janie's social fate is sealed for her before she even has a chance to make a decision on how to approach the issue of what happened to her, and it's so very, very sad but also very true. As Janie continues to deal with the harassment from her peers (harassment for being a victim, which is so, so horrible) it's implied that Ander will most likely get away with what he did, especially after Janie dies. It's such a bitter note to end the novel on, but powerful in its depressing realism that so often these crimes go unreported and unpunished.

While the story tackles some really intense issues, the final element that made it impossible for me to rate it higher that I did was the abrupt ending. Micah finally remembers what happened to Janie (after his convenient plot amnesia which is starting to get really overdone), almost does something drastic, and then comes to the conclusion that everyone should stop being terrible friends to each other. But there's no action taken from this revelation, it's merely stated by his only other friend, and Micah is basically like "Yep that's it, that's the key to life, nothing more to see here folks." I was literally dumbfounded when I reached the end because after such an emotional story, the ending felt thoroughly inadequate.

Overall: This is Where the World Ends is no doubt a novel written by a competent writer. It deals with searing subjects in a raw and unfiltered way, and I really admire Amy Zhang for that. However, the disjointed feeling of the plot, completely toxic relationships, and abrupt ending heavily factored into my overall rating of the book. I'd definitely try this author again, but this book was a miss for me.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[Kelly]

This is Where The World Ends was lyrically beautiful, engaging and swept me off my feet with it's charm and sense of adventure. But ultimately it was a story told in halves, the before and after referencing Micah waking up in hospital with no recollection of how or why.

Told in dual narratives, Micah and Janie couldn't be more different from one another. While he's quiet, meek and reflective, Janie is the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, fun, quirky, often irresponsible and able to charm her way out of any situation. Janie decided that in middle school, their friendship wouldn't extend to behind the school gates, leaving Micah with one friend and Janie as the popular, beautiful girl her peers are enchanted with. Here lies my first issue. I didn't feel their friendship was ever genuine on Janie's behalf, existing only on her terms and seemingly where no one else would know. Although she relied heavily upon Micah, he was an afterthought and her character left me struggling to invest emotionally in their storyline as it progressed. I adored her character on the surface, but not what lied beneath her idiosyncrasies.

Micah was ordinarily lovely. He genuinely cared so deeply for Janie and even against his better judgement, it was clear that she took advantage of him and the attention she so desperately craved. It wasn't until Janie moved away where she felt as though she was losing her hold on Micah. It's obvious that Micah was infatuated with her, his only friend in Dewey seeing the toxic hold Janie had on him and the underlying jealousy of his friendship with Dewey as well.

Beyond the storyline, the writing was so lyrical and lovely, almost dreamlike.

Stars and stars, night after night, secrets spilled in a world too big for sleep.

We fall asleep to fairy tales, and the world rotates and revolves and time passes and we grow up and understand that they are false.

My heart aches for the beauty of Amy Zhang's style of writing, reminding me of Jandy Nelson. It's effortless and so easy to immerse yourself, even if I couldn't connect emotionally to Janie's character.

Despite it's issues, This Is Where The World Ends is an immersive and enjoyable read. Amy Zhang's style of writing is beyond lovely.

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight
I was sure that it was just a fluke that I didn't love Falling Into Place. Everyone and their mom loved it. Who knows, maybe my mom loved it. I loved the writing. I did not love the book. So I firmly believed that this foray into Amy Zhang's work would go better. And it did, for a time. It gave me feels. And I excuse just about anything with the right amount of feels. And this book was heavy, emotionally. Oh, there is also a trigger warning for this one too, but I will place under spoiler tags, just in case There is rape involved in this book.

My problem with it lies in that I knew the general plot immediately. There was no real sense of urgency, since I knew, for the most part, exactly what happened from close to the start. So I knew we were looking at a really unhappy situation- it says so in the synopsis, really- and that made it hard to read. But I was definitely moved by Micah and Janie's emotions, so I forged on. Janie and Micah's friendship is painful- she is embarrassed to know him, and he worships the ground she walks on. But he's at her beck and call, and she knows she has him on the hook. Then reading along as things get worse and worse for them both... it's hard, but in an unsatisfying way. It's difficult to connect to either of them, because Janie isn't the nicest person, and we're reading her POV from the past; and Micah because even Micah himself doesn't know what is going on half the time.

I think I could have even been okay with the whole thing, but the ending was incredibly lacking for me. Since I kind of knew most of what was happening in the story already, I was hoping for some "oomph" at the end. Instead, I got a whimper, and a ton of unanswered questions and loose ends. 

Bottom Line: I hate that I didn't love this one. I still don't think I will give up on Amy's writing though, since it really is fabulous. Third time's the charm?

*Copy provided by publisher for review.