Uhhhhhh. Heavy sigh.
It’s got a twist.
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyy
I loooooOooOoove twists.
Especially when the foreshadowing of the twist is indistinguishable from terrible writing (absurd internal monologues, nonsensical dialogue between characters) on your first, and probably last, reading of the text.
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT
Canonically, the book you’re reading, except for the flashforward interstitials between most chapters, was written by an autistic man who kills himself by the end of the book (a truly inspirational tale, thank you so much for your service Iain).
Iain could have made an attempt at portraying this autistic character with dignity throughout pivotal moments of his life (the ups and downs). Instead he chose to write a book about a delusional and clinically depressed autistic man who kills himself because he is crippled by regret (relatable) and has nothing to live for.
I hesitate to say that this book is bad. For me, the way the story is told combined with how depressing it is made it hard for me to appreciate the text for what it is. If I squint real hard, I can see another version of myself enjoying this book.
I think that “I’m thinking of ending things” is a good piece of art because of how confused and angry it makes me.
Overall though, it’s not for me.