Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.
And Sam picks up the phone.
In a miraculous turn of events, Julie’s been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isn’t easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Sam’s family is going through. Unable to stand by the sidelines and watch their shared loved ones in pain, Julie is torn between spilling the truth about her calls with Sam and risking their connection and losing him forever.
I blame my older sister for this and it shall forever be her fault. That aside, this book is the most depressing book I’ve read this year and I cried. Multiple times. Kind of. Anyways, let’s dive into this depressing and yet beautiful work that is You’ve Reached Sam.
The story begins after Sam’s death and our protagonist, his girlfriend Julie, is grieving. Her dreams and plans for the future are shattered in an instance, all that is left is a broken hollow shell of a girl who doesn’t know what to do anymore. Something inside her snaps, and out of despair she calls Sam’s phone just to hear his voice. And Sam picks up. It feels like fever dream at first and with each call Julie feels herself falling in love with Sam all over again. But with every call, it gets harder to say goodbye.
First of all, I am at a loss of words. I don’t think I’ve cried while reading a book since Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller sometime last fall–that book was depressing as heck and I love Patroclus and Achilles so much. But this book just made me cry like multiple times after I thought I was done crying when I finished. My older sister wasn’t of much help either, “comforting” and totally not laughing at me while I was wallowing in a ball of sadness and tears. Thanks a lot sis.
While Julie may not be the most likeable character but her personality and the emotional pain she goes through is almost too relatable. Grief is messy. It’s mentally and emotionally draining. It’s something everyone goes through when they’ve lost someone, and it makes people change in ways that would have never occurred prior to the loss. It’s personal and should be understood, but after a certain period of time it goes from being understood to not. Which is actually ridiculous but unfortunately that’s how the world works. Sam’s old friends were a pure example of that, and every time they were just being straight up rude I swear a little part of me wanted to cry out of frustration. But they’re irrelevant and I am going to pretend they don’t exist so I don’t commit a felony to a non-existent character.
You’ve Reached Sam was a pure work of art and is proudly the first book I rated 5 boba drinks this year in the contemporary genre. While the middle of the book paced a bit slower, it was necessary to keep the story going so that Julie could heal and attempt to move on. The portrayal of grief and the several stages through it was depicted almost perfectly and I am most likely still mentally and emotionally scarred. I would without a doubt recommend this book and I hope that if you pick it up, you’ll love it as much as I did. Thank you Dustin Thao, for writing this beautiful heartbreaking novel that turned this bubble tea obsessed potato into an emo mess.
FINAL RATING:
