You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Dates Read: 7/17/23 - 7/19/23

    You've Reached Sam is a heartfelt story centered around Julie Clarke, a high school senior who is struggling to cope with the loss of her boyfriend, Sam Obayashi. After Sam's tragic death, Julie isolates herself from everyone. However, one day, she calls Sam's number and to her surprise, Sam actually answers the call. Although Sam cannot provide specific details, he manages to communicate with Julie from beyond the grave. The novel explores themes of grief, second chances, and the process of moving on. As Julie navigates her emotions and memories, she embarks on a journey of healing and self-discovery.

    The protagonist's behavior in this book was frustrating to me. Initially, I was understanding of Julie's anger and grief, as everyone processes loss differently. However, I soon realized that her selfishness and rudeness extended beyond her grief, making the reading experience frustrating and unsatisfying. 

    It's unfortunate because the core story is compelling and relatable to those who have struggled with letting go and moving on. The final chapter and epilogue were touching, but I couldn't fully connect with Julie, which diminished the emotional impact. There were other scenes that were very emotional for me, like her driving down the street looking for him, but most just fell flat. The book was sad and evoked some emotions, but they weren't as intense as I had hoped. I wanted a heart-wrenching experience, but instead, I found myself acknowledging the sadness and then moving on without a strong emotional connection. While everyone grieves differently, I was surprised that Julie never considered letting Sam speak to his parents again. 

    The plot of the book revolves around Julie's struggle to cope with the loss of her boyfriend, Sam, who died in a car crash. She discovers that she can temporarily connect with Sam when she calls his phone. However, the story felt repetitive as it mainly consisted of Julie's flashbacks, her conversations with Sam, and how people around her reacted to his death. There was a lack of direction, aside from the deadline of their "final call," and it felt like there wasn't enough happening to fully engage the reader. While I wasn't bored, I felt that there could have been more events or developments within the given pages. Certain scenes, like Julie running to the cemetery and back home, left me questioning their significance and purpose.

    The book accurately portrays the desperation and irrational actions that can accompany grief. However, there seemed to be an imbalance between showing Julie's emotions as contributing to the plot and showing them simply taking up space in the narrative. Julie's character development throughout the story was minimal. Considering that the book focuses on closure and learning to let go, it felt disingenuous that Julie remained relatively unchanged. Her perspective didn't seem to develop, and she didn't appear to learn or grow, which didn't align with the central theme of the plot.

    I gave this three stars because I did enjoy reading it overall, I love stories about grief and heartache. Mika and Julie's friends also made this so much more enjoyable. I do wish I had liked it more. The audiobook narrator also bumped up the stars for this, I really enjoyed listening to it.