I found the romantic comedy — about a man trying to fulfill his late friend’s last wish — both completely wrenching and hilarious. I mean like, crazy funny. The offbeat story about love, family and mortality really sticks with you. The ideal summer read.” — Cup of Jo
“An uncanny novel that hits the zeitgeist.” — Thrillist , “The Best Books of 2019 (So Far)”
“It’s a risk to write a hilarious novel about grief and regret. It’s a bigger risk to tell the story solely through virtual communication. Mary Adkins succeeds on both fronts in this epistolary novel . . . . A story of flawed people who have connected under the worst of circumstances. It’s a quick, worthwhile read.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Delightful… An epistolary novel for the 21st century, When You Read This sparkles with a perfect blend of humor, pathos and romance…. Adkins has managed to paint an authentic and nuanced portrait of grief and the various ways people attempt to cope and continue on with life when the worst has happened. Inventive and irresistible, When You Read This is a tender and uplifting story about love, loss and the resilience of the human heart that will have you laughing and crying in equal turns.” — BookPage
“Stellar. . . witty, entertaining and at times heartwrenching. . . . When You Read This is an outstanding addition to contemporary literature that effectively addresses the issues people face today in a poignant and cleverly insightful manner. It is a true standout and should not be missed.” — BookReporter
“Adkins brilliantly captures the rhythms and cadences of the epistolary format in the digital age through a delightful cast of quirky, imperfect characters, both dead and alive. Tart, sweet, poignant, and rich with humor; completely irresistible.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“When You Read This checks all the essential boxes of Up Lit—though-provoking, tear-jerking, funny—and adds a delectable epistolary twist.” — Refinery29
“A touching, funny, and life-affirming tale.” — Publishers Weekly
“[A] heartfelt page-turner . . . A natural readalike for Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go Bernadette and Rainbow Rowell’s Attachments .” — Booklist
“This inventive and hilarious novel has it all: Mid-life crisis sufferers denying their regrets, a lawless intern with alarming email etiquette, poetic online therapists and a moving message about the resiliency of the human heart. Read this book—I loved it!” — Courtney Maum, author of Touch and I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You
“Warm, original, funny and heartbreaking, this novel made me drop everything so I could read it in one lovely afternoon. WHEN YOU READ THIS is inventive and witty, but more importantly it’s honest and wise. I adored it.” — Jennifer Close, author of Girls in White Dresses and The Hopefuls
“Deeply moving but also uplifting, Mary Adkins’ debut novel is easy to read but hard to forget.” — Anne Youngson, author of Meet Me at the Museum
“I loved every word of this sweet little gem of a book. It was a quick, humorous—but ultimately touching—read that I couldn’t put down!” — Meg Cabot
An uncanny novel that hits the zeitgeist.
“The Best Books of 2019 (So Far)” Thrillist
When You Read This checks all the essential boxes of Up Lit—though-provoking, tear-jerking, funny—and adds a delectable epistolary twist.
Delightful… An epistolary novel for the 21st century, When You Read This sparkles with a perfect blend of humor, pathos and romance…. Adkins has managed to paint an authentic and nuanced portrait of grief and the various ways people attempt to cope and continue on with life when the worst has happened. Inventive and irresistible, When You Read This is a tender and uplifting story about love, loss and the resilience of the human heart that will have you laughing and crying in equal turns.
Stellar. . . witty, entertaining and at times heartwrenching. . . . When You Read This is an outstanding addition to contemporary literature that effectively addresses the issues people face today in a poignant and cleverly insightful manner. It is a true standout and should not be missed.
This inventive and hilarious novel has it all: Mid-life crisis sufferers denying their regrets, a lawless intern with alarming email etiquette, poetic online therapists and a moving message about the resiliency of the human heart. Read this book—I loved it!
It’s a risk to write a hilarious novel about grief and regret. It’s a bigger risk to tell the story solely through virtual communication. Mary Adkins succeeds on both fronts in this epistolary novel . . . . A story of flawed people who have connected under the worst of circumstances. It’s a quick, worthwhile read.
[A] heartfelt page-turner . . . A natural readalike for Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go Bernadette and Rainbow Rowell’s Attachments .
I found the romantic comedy — about a man trying to fulfill his late friend’s last wish — both completely wrenching and hilarious. I mean like, crazy funny. The offbeat story about love, family and mortality really sticks with you. The ideal summer read.
I loved every word of this sweet little gem of a book. It was a quick, humorous—but ultimately touching—read that I couldn’t put down!
Warm, original, funny and heartbreaking, this novel made me drop everything so I could read it in one lovely afternoon. WHEN YOU READ THIS is inventive and witty, but more importantly it’s honest and wise. I adored it.
Deeply moving but also uplifting, Mary Adkins’ debut novel is easy to read but hard to forget.
[A] heartfelt page-turner . . . A natural readalike for Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go Bernadette and Rainbow Rowell’s Attachments .
An uncanny novel that hits the zeitgeist.
“The Best Books of 2019 (So Far)” Thrillist
It’s a risk to write a hilarious novel about grief and regret. It’s a bigger risk to tell the story solely through virtual communication. Mary Adkins succeeds on both fronts in this epistolary novel . . . . A story of flawed people who have connected under the worst of circumstances. It’s a quick, worthwhile read.
[A] heartfelt page-turner . . . A natural readalike for Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go Bernadette and Rainbow Rowell’s Attachments .
Delightful… An epistolary novel for the 21st century, When You Read This sparkles with a perfect blend of humor, pathos and romance…. Adkins has managed to paint an authentic and nuanced portrait of grief and the various ways people attempt to cope and continue on with life when the worst has happened. Inventive and irresistible, When You Read This is a tender and uplifting story about love, loss and the resilience of the human heart that will have you laughing and crying in equal turns.
Stellar. . . witty, entertaining and at times heartwrenching. . . . When You Read This is an outstanding addition to contemporary literature that effectively addresses the issues people face today in a poignant and cleverly insightful manner. It is a true standout and should not be missed.
When You Read This checks all the essential boxes of Up Lit—though-provoking, tear-jerking, funny—and adds a delectable epistolary twist.
I loved every word of this sweet little gem of a book. It was a quick, humorous—but ultimately touching—read that I couldn’t put down!
I found the romantic comedy — about a man trying to fulfill his late friend’s last wish — both completely wrenching and hilarious. I mean like, crazy funny. The offbeat story about love, family and mortality really sticks with you. The ideal summer read.
In her brave debut, Mary Adkins challenges readers to rethink the measure of a life well lived as social media changes the way we interact with others and, by extension, the way we grieve and, eventually, heal. WHEN YOU READ THIS is a poignant commentary on the endless possibility of connection in the online age and the pain and loneliness we experience when those connections fail.
A remarkable new take on the epistolary novel, WHEN YOU READ THIS manages to thread the finest of needles: a book about a young woman who died of cancer that is neither maudlin nor sentimental, but rather clear-eyed, poignant, and just as often hilarious as it is somber. One of the more memorable books I’ve read this year.
As with Maria Semple’s mixed-media masterwork Where’d You Go, Bernadette , Adkins’s debut novel is so much more than its clever style. I read it briskly with a permanent smile on my face, even when the tears were falling. Like a quasar, WHEN YOU READ THIS feels miraculous and leaves a lasting impression long after its final moment.
Sarah Naughton deftly narrates this 21st-century epistolary novel, full of emails and blog posts, emojis, and graphics. The humor is spot-on as the story focuses on millennial intern Carl; his overextended boss, Smith, who is still grieving the death of his young secretary, Iris; and Iris’s older sister, Jade. Naughton smoothly moves between Carl’s snarky emails and Iris’s thoughtful “Dying to Blog” posts. But so many characters (and canned emails) jumble the narration. Another miss: Iris’s blog graphics are ad-libbed. A casual listen may turn into several rewinds to understand that Naughton is describing a picture that Iris has drawn on her blog post. Despite these small glitches, this is an interesting approach to an audiobook, and Naughton’s performance makes the story worth a listen. M.P.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Sarah Naughton deftly narrates this 21st-century epistolary novel, full of emails and blog posts, emojis, and graphics. The humor is spot-on as the story focuses on millennial intern Carl; his overextended boss, Smith, who is still grieving the death of his young secretary, Iris; and Iris’s older sister, Jade. Naughton smoothly moves between Carl’s snarky emails and Iris’s thoughtful “Dying to Blog” posts. But so many characters (and canned emails) jumble the narration. Another miss: Iris’s blog graphics are ad-libbed. A casual listen may turn into several rewinds to understand that Naughton is describing a picture that Iris has drawn on her blog post. Despite these small glitches, this is an interesting approach to an audiobook, and Naughton’s performance makes the story worth a listen. M.P.P. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
2018-11-13
A vibrant epistolary collage with pieces of satire, romance, and family drama overlapping.
With six months to live according to her oncologist, 33-year-old Iris Massey covertly, and with some degree of irony, starts an account on Dying to Blog, a visual blogging platform for the terminally ill. The irony stems from the fact that Iris and her boss, Smith, helped launch the platform with their small, struggling PR firm and privately (and mercilessly) made fun of it, inside jokes being part of the deeply companionable work relationship between the two. Most of the novel takes place after Iris' death, when Smith learns that she left him a printout of this blog for potential publication. Missing his colleague and hoping to fulfill her last wishes, Smith contacts Jade, Iris' somewhat neurotic, totally no-bullshit older sister, who is a joy to read. The charming quality of Jade and Smith's developing relationship—both combative and empathetic—is anchored by their grief and by sections from Iris' blog, which is strikingly self-aware and sometimes breathtakingly poignant, especially the sentiments rendered in charts and graphs. The book moves with the entertaining swiftness and abrupt tonal shifts of communication in the digital age, with particular thanks to Carl, the intern Smith hires following Iris' death: a millennial ex machina who juices up the plot with perfect self-importance and -absorption. But thanks to Adkins, even Carl has a (hint of) compelling backstory and a delightful arc.
An excellent story that's condensed into a great example of the epistolary format: something that's thrilling to expand and decode while reading.
