Book Review: We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Four high school seniors put their hopes, hearts, and humanity on the line as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth in this contemporary novel.

They always say that high school is the best time of your life.

Peter, the star basketball player at his school, is worried “they” might actually be right. Meanwhile Eliza can’t wait to escape Seattle—and her reputation—and perfect-on-paper Anita wonders if admission to Princeton is worth the price of abandoning her real dreams. Andy, for his part, doesn’t understand all the fuss about college and career—the future can wait.

Or can it? Because it turns out the future is hurtling through space with the potential to wipe out life on Earth. As these four seniors—along with the rest of the planet—wait to see what damage an asteroid will cause, they must abandon all thoughts of the future and decide how they’re going to spend what remains of the present.

This was an unexpected gem of a novel, and it was surprisingly more sad than I thought it would be. There has been a glut of post-apocalyptic fiction in the past few years, but in recent months, I’ve come across quite a few books – Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel and Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle come to mind – that can rather be classified as pre-apocalyptic, detailing humanity’s proverbial descent to hell in a handbasket.

We All Looked Up is told from the perspective of four teens, all realistically flawed in their own ways. And they’re not always likeable, but as the reader we are given enough information to at least understand their behavior, if not justify it. Of course, with the impending doom of asteroid Arden, tensions across the town are heightened, with many taking a ‘screw it’ approach and shunning routine for vicariously living out their last days. As one would expect, anarchy reigns in the streets, civil disobedience rises, and others just bunker down, hoping to wait out disaster.

With heightened tensions come heightened feelings, and things that would otherwise have remained hidden come to the fore – ‘it’s now or never’ has never been so appropriate. With Andy, Peter, Anita and Eliza connected first via necessity and then by feelings of love/lust/friendship, there are confessions in amongst rescue missions and unlikely allies are formed. [I also just have to make mention of how well the author deals with and deconstructs the slut-shaming trope. It’s a great thing to see in YA lit.]

I loved the author’s writing and descriptive imagery – there were a number of evocative sentences that really stood out for me.

Anita never thought the last book of the New Testament fit in very well with the rest of it. You started off with this incredibly nice guy who spent his time with prostitutes and preached forgiveness, and you ended up with eternal damnation and the Whore of Babylon.

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The best books, they don’t talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you’d always thought about, but that you didn’t think anyone else had thought about. You read them, and suddenly you’re a little bit less alone in the world. You’re part of this cosmic community of people who’ve thought about this thing, whatever it happens to be.

I also admired the fact that the novel stayed away from cheesy high school tropes – these kids are alternately wise and impulsive, destructive and compassionate. And as much as we might want it to, things don’t end conveniently for everybody. There are deaths, unrequited feelings, and examples of the very worst humanity has to offer. It’s remarkable how easily the author taps into our very real fears of ‘what if’, and perfectly encapsulates them in his story of modern society grinding to a standstill.

I said don’t be afraid of the asteroid. This is the twenty-first century. The oceans are rising. Mad dictators have access to nuclear weapons. Corporatism and the dumbing down of the media have destroyed the very foundations of democracy. Anyone who isn’t afraid is a moron.

While some may balk at the way the book left off, I personally think the ambiguous ending was the perfect way to go. The tension that permeates throughout the novel reminds unresolved. Despite this, We All Looked Up really captured my attention with its thoughtful prose, existential subject matter, and moments of humour and affection amidst the chaos.

It turned out they’d been right here all along, standing in the darkness, appealing to the stars for some sign of what was to come, and never getting anything back but the shifting constellations of a swiftly spinning, precariously tilted planet.

Rating: 8/10

ARC received from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. Quotes taken from uncorrected proof and may differ from final publication.

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