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I Love You Don't Die
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Expected 17 Mar 26Acclaimed author Jade Song (Chlorine) returns with her latest literary exploration: a lyrical, poignant, and heartfelt novel about the meaning of love, friendship, debt, depression, and death in New York City—a coming-of-age for a new generation, in the vein of Sally Rooney and Ottessa Moshfegh.
For as far back as she can remember, Vicky has been fascinated and obsessed with death as the only inevitable thing in life. From living above a Chinatown funeral parlor to working at a celebrity start-up for bespoke urns, she has surrounded herself with death—in her home, in her work, and in her ever-growing collection of zhizha, paper creations meant to be burned for the dead, adorning the walls of her apartment. Yet, though living in Manhattan and working her dream job is all she ever wanted, she still struggles to have meaningful connections—or find any meaning at all—in her life. Too often she spends the day in bed, only drawn out from time to time by her best (and only) friend, Jen.
That changes when a dating app leads her into a throuple with an artist and a labor organizer, who offer exactly the kind of love she needs. For some time, it’s perfect, but no one understands better than Vicky that all things must end. As doubts grow over the love in her life, her friendship with Jen, and her professional success, the oddly comforting abstraction of death starts becoming something else altogether. With everything beginning to feel hollow and temporary, Vicky must decide how to keep moving forward. To try and hold on to what she has, or to once again do what she does best: destroy.
For as far back as she can remember, Vicky has been fascinated and obsessed with death as the only inevitable thing in life. From living above a Chinatown funeral parlor to working at a celebrity start-up for bespoke urns, she has surrounded herself with death—in her home, in her work, and in her ever-growing collection of zhizha, paper creations meant to be burned for the dead, adorning the walls of her apartment. Yet, though living in Manhattan and working her dream job is all she ever wanted, she still struggles to have meaningful connections—or find any meaning at all—in her life. Too often she spends the day in bed, only drawn out from time to time by her best (and only) friend, Jen.
That changes when a dating app leads her into a throuple with an artist and a labor organizer, who offer exactly the kind of love she needs. For some time, it’s perfect, but no one understands better than Vicky that all things must end. As doubts grow over the love in her life, her friendship with Jen, and her professional success, the oddly comforting abstraction of death starts becoming something else altogether. With everything beginning to feel hollow and temporary, Vicky must decide how to keep moving forward. To try and hold on to what she has, or to once again do what she does best: destroy.
288 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication March 17, 2026
9485 people want to read
About the author
Jade Song
2 books885 followersJade Song is a writer and artist whose debut novel Chlorine won the Writer's Center First Novel Prize and the American Library Association Alex Award. Chlorine has been translated into Mandarin Chinese, Turkish, French, and other languages. Song pole dances and lives with too many books in Brooklyn.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
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December 22, 2025the type of vibe i bring to the function
dnf
November 3, 2025I never thought I'd DNF a book by Jade Song, but alas, at 65% I am certain this will be a two-star read, and I don't see the point in investing time into it. As someone who loved Chlorine, I was excited by this release, but it missed the mark for me.
The premise of the book centres around mortality, depression, and the disillusionment that young people experience as a result of capitalism, climate change, burnout, gentrification, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Interesting premise, but the satirical commentary casts aside nuance entirely. We often get tangents and monologues about societal injustices that feel too shoehorned in; for example, the wailing sirens of an ambulance in the background turn into our protagonist reflecting on whether or not the patient has insurance, whether or not they can afford it, and whether or not the insurance system will con them. These monologues are constant and forced into scenes that are otherwise unrelated.
The cast of characters in the novel is limited, yet they aren't given any character development. Vicky comes across as melodramatic, and her mental illness does not feel particularly nuanced or personalized. Her cynicism feels very cheesy (e.g., she hates romantic movies because "like everything good, they always end"), and results in her self-sabotaging actions feeling entirely incongruous with her very self-aware monologues. Her past is seldom explored, and ultimately leaves her a very shallow narrator. Also, minor critique, but despite her mental illness and complete ambivalence towards her job, she is somehow a star performer, even putting in the bare minimum. It all feels a little cliché.
Other characters also feel more like caricatures than people - Vicky's boss is the stereotypical workaholic, bootlicking capitalist. Her best friend is a stand-in for wellness influencers. Her attraction to Angela and Kevin is built solely on projection, and their relationship has no organic development. The reader is just expected to take everything at face value.
Lastly, though likely no fault of Song, the marketing lists this as "in the vein of Sally Rooney and Ottessa Moshfegh" which entirely misrepresents the book. It is darkly comedic, tongue-in-cheek, and other than the genre overlap, I don't see the comparison. Had I known this was more akin to Emily Austin or Halle Butler than the aforementioned authors, I would have adjusted my expectations accordingly.
Overall, a long rant to basically say: this isn't the book I expected, which does not mean it is a bad book or others shouldn't read it, but it's not the type of literary fiction I enjoy. Thank you to William Morrow for the ARC!
The premise of the book centres around mortality, depression, and the disillusionment that young people experience as a result of capitalism, climate change, burnout, gentrification, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Interesting premise, but the satirical commentary casts aside nuance entirely. We often get tangents and monologues about societal injustices that feel too shoehorned in; for example, the wailing sirens of an ambulance in the background turn into our protagonist reflecting on whether or not the patient has insurance, whether or not they can afford it, and whether or not the insurance system will con them. These monologues are constant and forced into scenes that are otherwise unrelated.
The cast of characters in the novel is limited, yet they aren't given any character development. Vicky comes across as melodramatic, and her mental illness does not feel particularly nuanced or personalized. Her cynicism feels very cheesy (e.g., she hates romantic movies because "like everything good, they always end"), and results in her self-sabotaging actions feeling entirely incongruous with her very self-aware monologues. Her past is seldom explored, and ultimately leaves her a very shallow narrator. Also, minor critique, but despite her mental illness and complete ambivalence towards her job, she is somehow a star performer, even putting in the bare minimum. It all feels a little cliché.
Other characters also feel more like caricatures than people - Vicky's boss is the stereotypical workaholic, bootlicking capitalist. Her best friend is a stand-in for wellness influencers. Her attraction to Angela and Kevin is built solely on projection, and their relationship has no organic development. The reader is just expected to take everything at face value.
Lastly, though likely no fault of Song, the marketing lists this as "in the vein of Sally Rooney and Ottessa Moshfegh" which entirely misrepresents the book. It is darkly comedic, tongue-in-cheek, and other than the genre overlap, I don't see the comparison. Had I known this was more akin to Emily Austin or Halle Butler than the aforementioned authors, I would have adjusted my expectations accordingly.
Overall, a long rant to basically say: this isn't the book I expected, which does not mean it is a bad book or others shouldn't read it, but it's not the type of literary fiction I enjoy. Thank you to William Morrow for the ARC!
November 11, 2025
I was immediately pulled in by the cover alone & then I read the synopsis & thought "yay, a new weird girl lit fic to dive into" & well...what I got instead was a sad but tender story about love, friendship, mental health & death.
As a former sad girl I immediately related to Vicky. She's sad, lonely, wants to love & to be loved but doesn't always know the best way how. When things get tough or emotions are too high she's prone to self isolate/self sabotage. There's a lot about Vicky that I think people will relate to, which makes her feel a lot more real as a character.
Jen x Vicky's relationship shows us that even at our darkest, when we feel the most lonely, as long as you have that one person you're never truly alone. The relationship between Vicky, kevin & Angela felt a little...awkward?? I don't know, I just didn't really get the point of making the romantic relationship a throuple if we only focus on Angela & Vicky..what exactly was the point of Kevin if we see him for what felt like a chapter & a half? I get they were bonded over being depressed baddies but Kevin as a character felt unnecessary. For a big chunk of the story I forgot Kevin was even supposed to be part of the throuple because it's so focused on Angela & Vicky.
The writing is poetic, really capturing the longing & the grief throughout the story. There is quite a bit of rambling sentences going on that felt like filler to take up space on pages. Some of the dialogue lacked depth as well. Overall, an enjoyable read just make sure you're in the right headspace before diving in!
3.5 rounded up.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review
As a former sad girl I immediately related to Vicky. She's sad, lonely, wants to love & to be loved but doesn't always know the best way how. When things get tough or emotions are too high she's prone to self isolate/self sabotage. There's a lot about Vicky that I think people will relate to, which makes her feel a lot more real as a character.
Jen x Vicky's relationship shows us that even at our darkest, when we feel the most lonely, as long as you have that one person you're never truly alone. The relationship between Vicky, kevin & Angela felt a little...awkward?? I don't know, I just didn't really get the point of making the romantic relationship a throuple if we only focus on Angela & Vicky..what exactly was the point of Kevin if we see him for what felt like a chapter & a half? I get they were bonded over being depressed baddies but Kevin as a character felt unnecessary. For a big chunk of the story I forgot Kevin was even supposed to be part of the throuple because it's so focused on Angela & Vicky.
The writing is poetic, really capturing the longing & the grief throughout the story. There is quite a bit of rambling sentences going on that felt like filler to take up space on pages. Some of the dialogue lacked depth as well. Overall, an enjoyable read just make sure you're in the right headspace before diving in!
3.5 rounded up.
Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review
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February 24, 2026
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November 6, 20252026 most anticipated list <3
Chlorine ★★★★
Chlorine ★★★★
August 11, 2025
4.5 🫶🏼🫶🏼Whew. This book took me by surprise. I read Chlorine and wasn’t a fan, but I really wanted to give this author another go and I’m so happy I did!
In this book we are following Vicky who works a remote position at home, which is perfect for her because she really doesn’t want to live… or she likes the idea of not living…but she has this best friend Jen who is her lighthouse(codependent at times for sure) who checks in on her and loves her.
Vicky decides she wants to get back into dating..mainly because Jen pushes her to so she meets up with this other couple and they start dating..to an extent.
I loved Vicky so much. Her life has shaped how she views love and the limits she has set around it. While her and Jen don’t have this perfect friendship, I found it refreshing.
The ending of this book had me 🥹🥹
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC!
In this book we are following Vicky who works a remote position at home, which is perfect for her because she really doesn’t want to live… or she likes the idea of not living…but she has this best friend Jen who is her lighthouse(codependent at times for sure) who checks in on her and loves her.
Vicky decides she wants to get back into dating..mainly because Jen pushes her to so she meets up with this other couple and they start dating..to an extent.
I loved Vicky so much. Her life has shaped how she views love and the limits she has set around it. While her and Jen don’t have this perfect friendship, I found it refreshing.
The ending of this book had me 🥹🥹
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC!
August 15, 2025
For all my Sylvia Plath and Ottessa Moshfegh girlies: this one’s for you.
This speculative fiction novel is steeped in death, grief, suicidal ideation, and the raw, complicated beauty of friendship. It follows Vicky, an Asian American woman whose life revolves around death literally and emotionally. She works at a company that specializes in helping people pre-plan their funerals. She struggles to form close connections, haunted by intrusive thoughts and vivid dreams of losing those she loves. Her mind is a battleground of suicidal ideation and deep, aching loneliness.
This is Vicky's story as she attempts to navigate young adulthood while living with major depressive disorder. Though there is a romantic subplot, the emotional core of the book is her relationship with her best friend, Jen. Their bond is messy, real, and heartbreakingly intimate. It's rare and refreshing to read a story where the protagonist isn’t "saved" by romantic love, but by a soulmate of a different kind: a best friend who sees her, understands her, and holds space for her pain when she can’t hold it herself.
The book is dark, lyrical, and unflinching. It doesn’t tidy up grief or glamorize mental illness, it sits in the discomfort and longing. The prose is beautiful, melancholic, and precise.
If you liked Chlorine, you’ll find familiar threads here: an Asian protagonist, themes of mental illness, and the search for identity. But this novel carves a different, more intimate path. It’s haunting, human, and unforgettable.
This speculative fiction novel is steeped in death, grief, suicidal ideation, and the raw, complicated beauty of friendship. It follows Vicky, an Asian American woman whose life revolves around death literally and emotionally. She works at a company that specializes in helping people pre-plan their funerals. She struggles to form close connections, haunted by intrusive thoughts and vivid dreams of losing those she loves. Her mind is a battleground of suicidal ideation and deep, aching loneliness.
This is Vicky's story as she attempts to navigate young adulthood while living with major depressive disorder. Though there is a romantic subplot, the emotional core of the book is her relationship with her best friend, Jen. Their bond is messy, real, and heartbreakingly intimate. It's rare and refreshing to read a story where the protagonist isn’t "saved" by romantic love, but by a soulmate of a different kind: a best friend who sees her, understands her, and holds space for her pain when she can’t hold it herself.
The book is dark, lyrical, and unflinching. It doesn’t tidy up grief or glamorize mental illness, it sits in the discomfort and longing. The prose is beautiful, melancholic, and precise.
If you liked Chlorine, you’ll find familiar threads here: an Asian protagonist, themes of mental illness, and the search for identity. But this novel carves a different, more intimate path. It’s haunting, human, and unforgettable.
August 23, 2025
Many Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing an advanced
copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I was a big fan of Chlorine, and was very exited to get to preview her next release: I Love You Don't Die. In this novel, Song steps away from the more horror aspects of Chlorine as she touches on so many topics: Late Stage Capitalism, Labor Rights, Climate Change, Sexuality, Privilege, 3rd generation immigrant identity, Polyamory and non-monogamy. But most of all its about depression. Depression and the way it affects how we handle the tough things in life. The way this book is almost trying to do it all without taking away from the main story is insane.
Our main character, Vicky, struggles with depression as she works for a trendy tech-bro funerary company. Her avoidant attachment style basically runs her life and dictates how she handles all of her relationships, even in her choices to seek out couples rather than one-on-one
connection. As someone who has struggled with depression, I really resonated with each of the characters. We get insights into our side characters as well, who are each handling their own grief and mental issues in different ways. I wouldn't say any of the characters are exactly likeable, but this book sure was. Highly recommend, but be sure to take a peek at the TW list if you are sensitive to things
copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
I was a big fan of Chlorine, and was very exited to get to preview her next release: I Love You Don't Die. In this novel, Song steps away from the more horror aspects of Chlorine as she touches on so many topics: Late Stage Capitalism, Labor Rights, Climate Change, Sexuality, Privilege, 3rd generation immigrant identity, Polyamory and non-monogamy. But most of all its about depression. Depression and the way it affects how we handle the tough things in life. The way this book is almost trying to do it all without taking away from the main story is insane.
Our main character, Vicky, struggles with depression as she works for a trendy tech-bro funerary company. Her avoidant attachment style basically runs her life and dictates how she handles all of her relationships, even in her choices to seek out couples rather than one-on-one
connection. As someone who has struggled with depression, I really resonated with each of the characters. We get insights into our side characters as well, who are each handling their own grief and mental issues in different ways. I wouldn't say any of the characters are exactly likeable, but this book sure was. Highly recommend, but be sure to take a peek at the TW list if you are sensitive to things
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Immature novel of sad queer-ish 20somethings living in New York, stymied by ethical living under capitalism. Hopefully the page long paragraphs of musings of death, capitalism, food, sadness, art, etc were a kindle formatting error because by the last 40% my eyes were glazing over each time I reached one. Definitely too earnest for satire, with each opinion justified in dense text. I don't even know what to do with the end.
The one nice thing- I read one night when I couldn't sleep so it was a fast read.
The one nice thing- I read one night when I couldn't sleep so it was a fast read.
January 29, 2026
The parts of this that I liked were little moments throughout in which the author really nailed a specific feeling, like being out at a bar late at night with friends when you’re young and everything is suddenly bright and magical, or how it feels to let all of your anger and stress dissolve into an incredible meal. Those sorts of experiences.
In some ways, main character Vicky is kind of relatable. But in others, she’s very frustrating. And that only intensified as the story continued. Her job at the urn company was interesting at first, but eventually I felt like it was encroaching too much on the rest of the story. Even so, not a lot happens in this book as far as plot until probably the last third or so, but I also wouldn’t call it a “just vibes” book, either.
There are empty conversations between characters that I didn’t want to be present for. (I don’t like meaningless small talk in real life, so I don’t enjoy it in books, either.) Another example would be the conference calls Vicky has to do for her job. And the ending felt melodramatic and over the top, especially given Vicky’s prior behavior. I mean, I know she’s struggling but I wasn’t buying it. It probably sounds mean to say that she came across as performative, but I’m going to say it anyway. (I’m being vague on purpose.) I understand why the POV switching was done for various chapters, but it felt uneven and disorienting.
I’m giving this one a 2.5 rounded up to 3. Parts of it that dealt with mental illness and addressed different sexualities felt real and capably explored. But the overall story and much of the scene work holding the chapters together didn’t keep me incredibly invested. I do have this author’s other book “Chlorine” waiting on my Kindle and I plan to read it when the weather gets warmer.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
Please mind the triggers on this one, especially if Depression/Suicidal behavior is a no go for you.
Biggest TW: Disordered eating, Anxiety, Suicidal Ideation, Substance Abuse, Racism, Depression, Self-Harm
In some ways, main character Vicky is kind of relatable. But in others, she’s very frustrating. And that only intensified as the story continued. Her job at the urn company was interesting at first, but eventually I felt like it was encroaching too much on the rest of the story. Even so, not a lot happens in this book as far as plot until probably the last third or so, but I also wouldn’t call it a “just vibes” book, either.
There are empty conversations between characters that I didn’t want to be present for. (I don’t like meaningless small talk in real life, so I don’t enjoy it in books, either.) Another example would be the conference calls Vicky has to do for her job. And the ending felt melodramatic and over the top, especially given Vicky’s prior behavior. I mean, I know she’s struggling but I wasn’t buying it. It probably sounds mean to say that she came across as performative, but I’m going to say it anyway. (I’m being vague on purpose.) I understand why the POV switching was done for various chapters, but it felt uneven and disorienting.
I’m giving this one a 2.5 rounded up to 3. Parts of it that dealt with mental illness and addressed different sexualities felt real and capably explored. But the overall story and much of the scene work holding the chapters together didn’t keep me incredibly invested. I do have this author’s other book “Chlorine” waiting on my Kindle and I plan to read it when the weather gets warmer.
Thank you to Netgalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.
Please mind the triggers on this one, especially if Depression/Suicidal behavior is a no go for you.
Biggest TW: Disordered eating, Anxiety, Suicidal Ideation, Substance Abuse, Racism, Depression, Self-Harm
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January 7, 2026
Book Riot’s Most Anticipated Books of 2026:
Song's debut Chlorine was one of the most visceral reading experiences I've had, and her sophomore novel sounds like a more-than-worthy followup. Vicky is obsessed with all things death. It brings her a comfort she's never had in making meaning or relationships in her life. Periodically, her best and only friend Jen can pull her away from spending her non-work time in bed. So when Vicky gets involved with a throuple thanks to a dating app, all seems to be changing for her. But it won't take long before death beckons to Vicky again. This one's got all of the weird girl vibes that make for excellent (and cringey) reading. —Kelly Jensen
Song's debut Chlorine was one of the most visceral reading experiences I've had, and her sophomore novel sounds like a more-than-worthy followup. Vicky is obsessed with all things death. It brings her a comfort she's never had in making meaning or relationships in her life. Periodically, her best and only friend Jen can pull her away from spending her non-work time in bed. So when Vicky gets involved with a throuple thanks to a dating app, all seems to be changing for her. But it won't take long before death beckons to Vicky again. This one's got all of the weird girl vibes that make for excellent (and cringey) reading. —Kelly Jensen
August 11, 2025
This has been compared to Rooney and Moshfegh, to me this felt like a slightly darker Emily Austin with a deeply interior and depressed protagonist.
There’s a real heaviness to this especially when it comes to suicide and suicidal ideation so be wary if this is a triggering topic for you. Additionally, these characters are complex and very unlikeable which may be offputting to some.
It’s rare to see ace and poly representation in litfic and even bi rep is pretty limited so I enjoyed seeing this here. While there is romance here, friendship is at the front and center, explored at its best and worst.
I also liked the exploration of Vicky’s identity as a 3rd generation immigrant who is both othered by white America and disconnected from her Chinese heritage.
There was something almost dystopian about this book despite it being set in the present day. It feels satirical in how it digs into the despair of late stage capitalism and trying to survive as a creative. It offers a sharp critique on identity as a commodity or a market waiting to be unlocked.
I did enjoy this, and I’m glad I picked it up despite not really vibing with Chlorine.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!
There’s a real heaviness to this especially when it comes to suicide and suicidal ideation so be wary if this is a triggering topic for you. Additionally, these characters are complex and very unlikeable which may be offputting to some.
It’s rare to see ace and poly representation in litfic and even bi rep is pretty limited so I enjoyed seeing this here. While there is romance here, friendship is at the front and center, explored at its best and worst.
I also liked the exploration of Vicky’s identity as a 3rd generation immigrant who is both othered by white America and disconnected from her Chinese heritage.
There was something almost dystopian about this book despite it being set in the present day. It feels satirical in how it digs into the despair of late stage capitalism and trying to survive as a creative. It offers a sharp critique on identity as a commodity or a market waiting to be unlocked.
I did enjoy this, and I’m glad I picked it up despite not really vibing with Chlorine.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!
November 20, 2025
I’m genuinely so upset I didn’t love this 😫
I ADORED Chlorine by Jade Song and was so excited for this new read. I was bored. I honestly forgot at several points I was reading this.
I didn’t get the overall message and connection of the themes of death, it all just felt kind of hodge podged in.
Also, the arson at the end!! Hello???
I ADORED Chlorine by Jade Song and was so excited for this new read. I was bored. I honestly forgot at several points I was reading this.
I didn’t get the overall message and connection of the themes of death, it all just felt kind of hodge podged in.
Also, the arson at the end!! Hello???
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Books for this arc in exchange for my honest review!
This story follows Vicky, a woman in her twenties living alone in NYC and working as a writer. While she is living in her dream city working as a creative, she finds herself severely depressed and cannot stop obsessing over the concept of death. To make things worse, she works for a company that sells urns, profiting off of death. Vicky has a hard time maintaining romantic relationships, and prefers to date for fun/sex before moving on. The only consistent figure in her life is her best friend Jen, who also lives in NYC. Then Vicky becomes romantically intwined with a couple that she may care more for than she wants to admit.
This book centers death, friendship, love, and trying to survive in one of the most cut-throat and expensive cities in the world. I think any woman navigating her twenties would relate to Vicky or Jen in some capacity. Song’s writing style is beautiful and I think she really encapsulated the uncertainty/anxieties that go along with being a young person trying to get by so well. I think it’s easy for writers to make young people sound a bit cringey or unrealistic in their dialogue, but this was not the case at all for this story. The dialogue felt natural and the friendship between Vicky and Jen felt very real and relatable.
Please check trigger warnings before you go into this book, it can get pretty dark. I definitely cried at the end.
I think if you like Halle Butler or Emily Austin, you would probably like this one too! Definitely recommend!
This story follows Vicky, a woman in her twenties living alone in NYC and working as a writer. While she is living in her dream city working as a creative, she finds herself severely depressed and cannot stop obsessing over the concept of death. To make things worse, she works for a company that sells urns, profiting off of death. Vicky has a hard time maintaining romantic relationships, and prefers to date for fun/sex before moving on. The only consistent figure in her life is her best friend Jen, who also lives in NYC. Then Vicky becomes romantically intwined with a couple that she may care more for than she wants to admit.
This book centers death, friendship, love, and trying to survive in one of the most cut-throat and expensive cities in the world. I think any woman navigating her twenties would relate to Vicky or Jen in some capacity. Song’s writing style is beautiful and I think she really encapsulated the uncertainty/anxieties that go along with being a young person trying to get by so well. I think it’s easy for writers to make young people sound a bit cringey or unrealistic in their dialogue, but this was not the case at all for this story. The dialogue felt natural and the friendship between Vicky and Jen felt very real and relatable.
Please check trigger warnings before you go into this book, it can get pretty dark. I definitely cried at the end.
I think if you like Halle Butler or Emily Austin, you would probably like this one too! Definitely recommend!
October 11, 2025
I Love You Don’t Die is a searing perspective into debilitating depression and Vicky’s relentless pursuit to keep her head above water, even if she doesn’t know what for. She wants to die so she can stop fearing the deaths of those she loves. She wants to say goodbye first so no one else can beat her to it. It is the temptation that plagues her nearly every second of every day. Jade Song portrays mental illness and those it impacts so well. I found the writing to be repetitive at times, and felt we could have used more plot, but I also think Song disappeared time perfectly as so often happens when we’re lost to our own episodes. This is a hard, complicated read worth your time.
September 26, 2025
Damn these girls are sad.
What do you get when you have depressed girls in a new but intense relationship and one of them is extremely codependent and never wants to be alone and the other one self isolates when feeling are too high and disappears for weeks at a time? A hot mess. Oh and Kevin is there too, sometimes.
What do you get when you have depressed girls in a new but intense relationship and one of them is extremely codependent and never wants to be alone and the other one self isolates when feeling are too high and disappears for weeks at a time? A hot mess. Oh and Kevin is there too, sometimes.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I came into this book with very high expectations, as Chlorine was one of my favorite books of 2025. Unfortunately I was disappointed.
We follow a small cast of characters, and bounce between their POVs. Vicky is the main character and has the most “screen time” if you will, but we also hear from her friend Jen and her partners Angela and Kevin briefly. Vicky is one of the most nihilistic characters I have ever read from, and the story is very bleak and depressing. She works for a startup company that manufactures urns and helps people prepare for death, lives above a funeral home, and decorates her apartment with zhizha, paper creations that are meant to manifest whatever they depict in the afterlife. She annoys Jen and everyone else in her orbit by constantly bringing up death and generally being unable to care about much of anything. I found Vicky to have some relatable moments, and I think it’s easy to understand how a person could look at the world right now and become so entirely hopeless. That being said, she was a hard voice to read from, and I did get frustrated with her at times for withdrawing so intensely from everyone. I actually found Jen a bit more relatable, just trying to keep it all together and be there for her friend, but hoping for an ounce of reciprocation. Jade Song examines female friendship in Chlorine as well, and that was also a huge theme of her sophomore novel.
The dynamic between Vicky and the couple she begins dating was a bit lackluster for me. I didn’t find myself invested in the relationship she had with Angela or Kevin.
In terms of plot, there wasn’t much to speak of in this book. I found it a bit slow to get through because of this; I spent the first half of the book waiting for something to kickstart the action. Because of the pacing throughout the whole novel, the ending didn't feel super believable to me.
This one was definitely a mixed bag for me.
*Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow Books, and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
We follow a small cast of characters, and bounce between their POVs. Vicky is the main character and has the most “screen time” if you will, but we also hear from her friend Jen and her partners Angela and Kevin briefly. Vicky is one of the most nihilistic characters I have ever read from, and the story is very bleak and depressing. She works for a startup company that manufactures urns and helps people prepare for death, lives above a funeral home, and decorates her apartment with zhizha, paper creations that are meant to manifest whatever they depict in the afterlife. She annoys Jen and everyone else in her orbit by constantly bringing up death and generally being unable to care about much of anything. I found Vicky to have some relatable moments, and I think it’s easy to understand how a person could look at the world right now and become so entirely hopeless. That being said, she was a hard voice to read from, and I did get frustrated with her at times for withdrawing so intensely from everyone. I actually found Jen a bit more relatable, just trying to keep it all together and be there for her friend, but hoping for an ounce of reciprocation. Jade Song examines female friendship in Chlorine as well, and that was also a huge theme of her sophomore novel.
The dynamic between Vicky and the couple she begins dating was a bit lackluster for me. I didn’t find myself invested in the relationship she had with Angela or Kevin.
In terms of plot, there wasn’t much to speak of in this book. I found it a bit slow to get through because of this; I spent the first half of the book waiting for something to kickstart the action. Because of the pacing throughout the whole novel, the ending didn't feel super believable to me.
This one was definitely a mixed bag for me.
*Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow Books, and the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
August 20, 2025
We follow Vicky, who is a young woman just basically struggling through life. She has an existential crisis constantly and has struggles with mental health. She is working a job she's constantly terrified of underperforming at because she knows her boss has high expectations and will fire her if she doesn't meet his standards. She has a weird obsession with death and a fear of the people she loves dying. She meets a couple that she starts dating, a cynical and severely depressed woman named Angela and an artist who doesn't understand mental health struggles in the way they do named Kevin.
I relate to Vicky's character so much, which is why it surprises me to admit this book fell a little flat for me. I loved the deep understanding of mental health struggles and how accurate it is to the way I think sometimes and my personal anxieties. It just didn't give me enough. It was missing a lot of character growth to get me really attached to anyone. I feel like with more development of the characters and more stuff happening than just short-term dating and one bad event, I could have been a lot more invested in them.
I definitely am one of the people that can strongly relate to the characters thoughts and struggles so I feel like I was the target audience for this book but I could sum up everything that happened in this book to someone in a paragraph and they really wouldn't be missing any important details. The ending was also bizarre and not how any person would react, mental health issues, or not.
Ultimately, this book needed to be longer to portray the message it was going for.
Thank you Jade Song, William Morrow, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
I relate to Vicky's character so much, which is why it surprises me to admit this book fell a little flat for me. I loved the deep understanding of mental health struggles and how accurate it is to the way I think sometimes and my personal anxieties. It just didn't give me enough. It was missing a lot of character growth to get me really attached to anyone. I feel like with more development of the characters and more stuff happening than just short-term dating and one bad event, I could have been a lot more invested in them.
I definitely am one of the people that can strongly relate to the characters thoughts and struggles so I feel like I was the target audience for this book but I could sum up everything that happened in this book to someone in a paragraph and they really wouldn't be missing any important details. The ending was also bizarre and not how any person would react, mental health issues, or not.
Ultimately, this book needed to be longer to portray the message it was going for.
Thank you Jade Song, William Morrow, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
August 3, 2025
4.5
This story follows Vicky, a young depressed woman living in New York. She has quite the obsession with death. She works for a famous urn company, lives above a funeral parlor, and collects zhizha. This is an amazing deep dive into depression, grief, death, life, love, and so much more. An insanely human story. We meet a few people close to Vicky and see how all the things mentioned before play a role in their lives and how differently people handle the “heavy” things. What it’s like living with, loving, and interacting with someone who struggles with depression or suicidal ideation etc. This was an extremely real, painful, and beautiful read.
Jade Song can actually do no wrong.
This story follows Vicky, a young depressed woman living in New York. She has quite the obsession with death. She works for a famous urn company, lives above a funeral parlor, and collects zhizha. This is an amazing deep dive into depression, grief, death, life, love, and so much more. An insanely human story. We meet a few people close to Vicky and see how all the things mentioned before play a role in their lives and how differently people handle the “heavy” things. What it’s like living with, loving, and interacting with someone who struggles with depression or suicidal ideation etc. This was an extremely real, painful, and beautiful read.
Jade Song can actually do no wrong.
Want to read
January 12, 2026Okay, I am super interested in this, the title reminds me of that line in 'Sorry, Baby' and the cover reminds me of me... And a throuple with an artist and a labor organizer sounds amazing, I will just be very miffed if the non-monogamy is toxic in this!
January 27, 2026
Thank you Netgalley and William Morrow for this ARC of I Love You Don’t Die by Jade Song.
I really admire the writing style of Jade Song, however I could not get behind this plot or lack thereof. I was confused on the lack of development of Vicky, Jen, and the rest of the characters….and that ending? Not for me but please note that anyone else reading should check trigger warnings.
I really admire the writing style of Jade Song, however I could not get behind this plot or lack thereof. I was confused on the lack of development of Vicky, Jen, and the rest of the characters….and that ending? Not for me but please note that anyone else reading should check trigger warnings.
February 22, 2026
got an ARC for this book (thx net galley) and really enjoyed it. not an easy read (i cried) but so beautiful and human with personality and charm in abundance.
August 5, 2025
3.25 stars rounded down.
I can see that some people will read this book and it will speak to them on a deep emotional level and they will feel seen and heard and absolutely adore this book. I am not one of those people.
The book is mostly told from Vicky's perspective, with her friends Jen, Kevin, and Angela each getting one chapter for themselves. I really struggled to relate to Vicky, her thoughts were heavy and difficult for me to wade through. It was about half the book before I was able to be invested in the story. I found the other characters' chapters to be a bit of a breath of fresh air. The book is written almost as poetry instead of as prose, which will again work for some readers but I found it slowed down the story for me. The book is so full of long rambling sentences written in passive voice that by the time I reached a verb I wouldn't remember what the noun was anymore. This meant I was constantly rereading blocks of text. Finally, look, I know I have a hyper-literal brain and this is meant to be an allegory and not taken at face value, but here it is. Is committing a felony and going to jail really going to help with your depression?
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I can see that some people will read this book and it will speak to them on a deep emotional level and they will feel seen and heard and absolutely adore this book. I am not one of those people.
The book is mostly told from Vicky's perspective, with her friends Jen, Kevin, and Angela each getting one chapter for themselves. I really struggled to relate to Vicky, her thoughts were heavy and difficult for me to wade through. It was about half the book before I was able to be invested in the story. I found the other characters' chapters to be a bit of a breath of fresh air. The book is written almost as poetry instead of as prose, which will again work for some readers but I found it slowed down the story for me. The book is so full of long rambling sentences written in passive voice that by the time I reached a verb I wouldn't remember what the noun was anymore. This meant I was constantly rereading blocks of text. Finally, look, I know I have a hyper-literal brain and this is meant to be an allegory and not taken at face value, but here it is. Is committing a felony and going to jail really going to help with your depression?
Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
August 16, 2025
This book is a mixed bag. Elements of the story were interesting but I found myself waiting for more. I wanted to explore her and Jen’s relationship deeper. I wanted to see more of her relationship with Angela and Kevin. It felt like in baking where instead of using they put and “extract” of it. Enough to hint at its taste but not enough where you can really taste it. This book gave the reader the extract of the character without ever feeling like they were really there. I think perhaps telling the story in first person instead of third person would have been better. Much of the story I felt very detached from the characters. Which is a shame because all of them were interesting and compelling in different ways and for different reasons. Its too bad we weren't able to explore them in more depth.
December 8, 2025
“It’s a privilege to love. To love is to build a life.”
Jade Song’s sophomore effort I Love You, Don’t Die follows the clinically depressed Vicky on her quest to love despite the inevitability that the people she love will one day die.
While I can see this book being a real hit for many people, it wasn’t for me, which is disappointing after I liked Song’s debut so much. There are a lot of beautiful sentences here, and Vicky’s particular fixation on death as a driving mechanism for her anxiety is thoughtfully done. I also think this is one of the better renderings of New York life that I’ve read in a while, and I suspect it’s also a pretty true to life depiction of what its like to be a young advertising employee.
Unfortunately though, I find it really hard to read about characters who are so clearly unwell, but who have no intention or interest in being anything else. Please don't get me wrong, I have read and really loved so many books about characters in difficult emotional situations, working through or against their own depression. But it’s one thing when a character is in a depressive pit, but you know they would rather not be – it’s another when they are intent to dwell in that pit because they have romanticized their own sadness. Here, depression is such a part of who Vicky is that she has not entertained the possibility of changing anything about herself, nor do she or her equally depressed friends do or say anything to help each other, since this is their norm and their baseline. That makes the characters really tough to root for, because none of them are even particularly intent upon rooting for themselves. I want Vicky to be well, but Vicky doesn’t particularly want Vicky to be well.
I also thought the ending was choppy and disconnected from the whole of the story. Maybe this was a meta-craft thing – Vicky, as our narrator, has a narrow world view mired in her own emotional state, so she misses context clues for the plot, and therefore fails to pass them along to us as the reader – but I don’t quite think it accomplishes that because the things Vicky has missed are so narrowly tied to this one event, and we don’t see those clues until a random POV switch in the chapter where the event is unfolding. So, this felt like a lot more jarring and a lot less intentionally well crafted. In addition, even when I had the full context, the dramatic emotional climax seemed...sudden? Surprising? I did not feel that a short stint of dating should have realistically brought about these particular emotional responses.
This one is out March 17, 2026. I DO think it’ll be a hit for a lot of people, and I want to talk about it more, so even though it wasn’t my favorite, I want people to pick this up and then DM me about it, lmao (I love discourse books!). Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for the honest review!
Jade Song’s sophomore effort I Love You, Don’t Die follows the clinically depressed Vicky on her quest to love despite the inevitability that the people she love will one day die.
While I can see this book being a real hit for many people, it wasn’t for me, which is disappointing after I liked Song’s debut so much. There are a lot of beautiful sentences here, and Vicky’s particular fixation on death as a driving mechanism for her anxiety is thoughtfully done. I also think this is one of the better renderings of New York life that I’ve read in a while, and I suspect it’s also a pretty true to life depiction of what its like to be a young advertising employee.
Unfortunately though, I find it really hard to read about characters who are so clearly unwell, but who have no intention or interest in being anything else. Please don't get me wrong, I have read and really loved so many books about characters in difficult emotional situations, working through or against their own depression. But it’s one thing when a character is in a depressive pit, but you know they would rather not be – it’s another when they are intent to dwell in that pit because they have romanticized their own sadness. Here, depression is such a part of who Vicky is that she has not entertained the possibility of changing anything about herself, nor do she or her equally depressed friends do or say anything to help each other, since this is their norm and their baseline. That makes the characters really tough to root for, because none of them are even particularly intent upon rooting for themselves. I want Vicky to be well, but Vicky doesn’t particularly want Vicky to be well.
I also thought the ending was choppy and disconnected from the whole of the story. Maybe this was a meta-craft thing – Vicky, as our narrator, has a narrow world view mired in her own emotional state, so she misses context clues for the plot, and therefore fails to pass them along to us as the reader – but I don’t quite think it accomplishes that because the things Vicky has missed are so narrowly tied to this one event, and we don’t see those clues until a random POV switch in the chapter where the event is unfolding. So, this felt like a lot more jarring and a lot less intentionally well crafted. In addition, even when I had the full context, the dramatic emotional climax seemed...sudden? Surprising? I did not feel that a short stint of dating should have realistically brought about these particular emotional responses.
This one is out March 17, 2026. I DO think it’ll be a hit for a lot of people, and I want to talk about it more, so even though it wasn’t my favorite, I want people to pick this up and then DM me about it, lmao (I love discourse books!). Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for the honest review!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I'm not sure why this is tagged as a horror on Goodreads. That's not how I would categorize this book. This is a medium to slow-paced literary fiction story that follows Vicky, a jaded woman in her late 20s who is obsessed with death and struggles through her depression. It's not a book that you devour quickly, nor is it one that has a lot of plot points. It's introspective and follows the journey that depression takes: lethargic, numb, ostensibly content, until something happens that creates urgency and overwhelm. The book shows how hard friendships and romantic relationships are to keep while also showing why it's so vital that people put in the effort to safe-guard them.
The book also had such nonchalant representation of polyamory, sapphic relationships, and the ace spectrum. I appreciated how that representation felt authentic, mostly because it didn't take over the plot with the characters trying to figure out their sexualities. Not that those aren't important stories, but because it wouldn't have fit in this story about people trying to find something to hold onto in life. The characters' sexualities just felt like another part of them, like Vicky who prefers to date couples and has a preference for the woman in the couple. It's not why she's polyamorous that's interesting, it's how she navigates her relationship and accepts or rejects the love she's given that's interesting. Similarly, Vicky meeting up with her long-time friend, Jen--who is in a loving, happy, and mostly sexless marriage--is interesting not because of Jen's sexuality but because of the ebbs and flows of their friendship and how that impacts each other's mental health.
Overall, it was a comforting, wandering, gut-wrenching, hopeful story with some of the best, poignant observations on what it's like to live with depression that I've read in a while. It also had beautiful perspectives on all kinds of love. Here are some of my favorite lines:
The book also had such nonchalant representation of polyamory, sapphic relationships, and the ace spectrum. I appreciated how that representation felt authentic, mostly because it didn't take over the plot with the characters trying to figure out their sexualities. Not that those aren't important stories, but because it wouldn't have fit in this story about people trying to find something to hold onto in life. The characters' sexualities just felt like another part of them, like Vicky who prefers to date couples and has a preference for the woman in the couple. It's not why she's polyamorous that's interesting, it's how she navigates her relationship and accepts or rejects the love she's given that's interesting. Similarly, Vicky meeting up with her long-time friend, Jen--who is in a loving, happy, and mostly sexless marriage--is interesting not because of Jen's sexuality but because of the ebbs and flows of their friendship and how that impacts each other's mental health.
Overall, it was a comforting, wandering, gut-wrenching, hopeful story with some of the best, poignant observations on what it's like to live with depression that I've read in a while. It also had beautiful perspectives on all kinds of love. Here are some of my favorite lines:
"Alive, alive, alive, rings her alarm."
"Everybody is unhappy and everybody is dying. It isn't that Vicky doesn't care. More that she cares so much that the inordinate amount paralyzes her."
"For Jen, there is nothing about Vicky to accept because acceptance implies the existence of rejection, which has never been in the realm of possibility anyway."
"Only during self-destruction could she remember she had a self."
"Love meant grief."
"She loves looking at that far-off steely mass of fast walking and high rent where she's managed to make a life for herself--an inconsequential life, yet a life nonetheless. A life that is hers, or trying to be, and when she sits here, she can almost convince herself that the mere trying is the most meaningful act of all."
"Everything good ends. Though everything bad ends too--forevers dissolving into questions of remember when?"
"...depression is a separation from the separation, reality twice removed."
"To love is to built a life."
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Quick read, full review to come. Thank you to William Morrow for the ARC, I am delighted to have had the opportunity to read Jade Song’s newest work.
I knew going into I LOVE YOU DON’T DIE that it was more literary fiction than anything. I don’t read too much marketing so I am not disappointed by being left high and dry over comps that didn’t prove accurate. Jade Song is a talented author with a strong voice. That being said I had some personal gripes.
***HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD (marked review) as well as triggering topics so be aware.
Holy fuck Jen and Vicky lit a fire inside of me that I wanted to put out as soon as it started. Jen reminded me of friends I’ve had and myself in shitty ways, but then so did Vicky. Self involved, diluted by thinking any kind of depression is profound or worth guiding how we treat others. This read like MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION, during which I just screamed and pulled my hair out because why??? Why must we wallow??? Why can’t we get help when we so obviously need it??? (ding ding ding it’s because depression is a beast)
I think if this had focused on Jen and Vicky the most, I may have gotten more from it. But with the introduction of Kevin and Angela, things got a little twisty. It was immediately clear where the story was going, conversations between Angela and Vicky made me want to reach through the pages and hold Angela and scream at Vicky because get over yourself already, my god! And in the end, when Kevin gets nothing but a little angry with Vicky and then that’s kind of …. it. For a book that so heavily wallowed on about death, dying, suicide, ideation, and so on, it really skimmed the fuck over the devastation of Angela’s suicide. I get it, when death happens life rattles on. But Vicky’s reaction and those literal fireworks at the end….are we over it? Are we romanticizing it? I can’t really tell.
Overall as a lifelong depressed person (ya da ya da) this book felt a little like a slap. A slap to call my sister more, a slap to not give into the dark entrails of my own depression, a slap to stop centering my struggles and zoom out more. And yet, it was still a slap to the face of writing and wasting a character like Angela … why couldn’t Vicky show up for her like Jen did in that big dramatic last moment? What business did Vicky have to go on about loving everyone so much when her love was characterized by self involvement and a requirement that all else bend to the whims of her inconsistency?
Maybe I’m supposed to feel this frustrated by the outcome, and if that was Song’s goal, well then good on ya.
I knew going into I LOVE YOU DON’T DIE that it was more literary fiction than anything. I don’t read too much marketing so I am not disappointed by being left high and dry over comps that didn’t prove accurate. Jade Song is a talented author with a strong voice. That being said I had some personal gripes.
***HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD (marked review) as well as triggering topics so be aware.
Holy fuck Jen and Vicky lit a fire inside of me that I wanted to put out as soon as it started. Jen reminded me of friends I’ve had and myself in shitty ways, but then so did Vicky. Self involved, diluted by thinking any kind of depression is profound or worth guiding how we treat others. This read like MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION, during which I just screamed and pulled my hair out because why??? Why must we wallow??? Why can’t we get help when we so obviously need it??? (ding ding ding it’s because depression is a beast)
I think if this had focused on Jen and Vicky the most, I may have gotten more from it. But with the introduction of Kevin and Angela, things got a little twisty. It was immediately clear where the story was going, conversations between Angela and Vicky made me want to reach through the pages and hold Angela and scream at Vicky because get over yourself already, my god! And in the end, when Kevin gets nothing but a little angry with Vicky and then that’s kind of …. it. For a book that so heavily wallowed on about death, dying, suicide, ideation, and so on, it really skimmed the fuck over the devastation of Angela’s suicide. I get it, when death happens life rattles on. But Vicky’s reaction and those literal fireworks at the end….are we over it? Are we romanticizing it? I can’t really tell.
Overall as a lifelong depressed person (ya da ya da) this book felt a little like a slap. A slap to call my sister more, a slap to not give into the dark entrails of my own depression, a slap to stop centering my struggles and zoom out more. And yet, it was still a slap to the face of writing and wasting a character like Angela … why couldn’t Vicky show up for her like Jen did in that big dramatic last moment? What business did Vicky have to go on about loving everyone so much when her love was characterized by self involvement and a requirement that all else bend to the whims of her inconsistency?
Maybe I’m supposed to feel this frustrated by the outcome, and if that was Song’s goal, well then good on ya.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
If you loved Chlorine, don’t just assume this one is for you.
I expected to love this. After the first ~25%, I wanted to like it. I kept waiting for it to pick up, but it’s a slow read. It took me six weeks to finish as I found myself losing interest after a couple chapters, and there just wasn’t enough there to keep me coming back.
This is not a plot-driven novel, yet the main characters lack the dimension and development you’d expect from a character-driven story. The main character in Chlorine felt three dimensional — equally as relatable as she was insane. It was one of the things that made me love that book so much. Unfortunately, every character in I Love You, Don’t Die felt flat. Even their names felt slapped on, thoughtless: Vicky, Jen, Angela, Kevin. I found the main character, Vicky, completely insufferable. And I like an unlikable main character!
Vicky is an anti-capitalist obsessed with death who works in marketing for an urn company actively profiting off of people’s deaths. Everything she does feels performative. She begins dating a couple despite not actually being interested in the boyfriend, whose character seems to serve the sole purpose of making Vicky & Angela’s relationship a throuple. Her inner monologues are that of someone who gets their political beliefs from leftist instagram accounts. She often expects a level of contentiousness from those around her that she doesn’t think to extend in reverse.
This could have been a character I loved to hate. I expected to get there at some point throughout the story, assuming that the underlying point of the book was to critique the cognitive dissonance we see in so many “woke” young professionals. It just felt either too obvious to be satire or too earnest to be making that critique. There was no clear tone of either critiquing this behavior nor condoning it. I do assume this was meant to be satire, but again, it just fell flat. It’s like the author was just saying “you know how everyone under 35 is a hyper-woke yuppie now?” But never following up with a point or punchline.
Overall, I’m hoping this is just a sophomore slump for Jade Song. I’m glad I read Chlorine before this — I really don’t think I’d give them another shot if this were my first introduction to their writing.
I expected to love this. After the first ~25%, I wanted to like it. I kept waiting for it to pick up, but it’s a slow read. It took me six weeks to finish as I found myself losing interest after a couple chapters, and there just wasn’t enough there to keep me coming back.
This is not a plot-driven novel, yet the main characters lack the dimension and development you’d expect from a character-driven story. The main character in Chlorine felt three dimensional — equally as relatable as she was insane. It was one of the things that made me love that book so much. Unfortunately, every character in I Love You, Don’t Die felt flat. Even their names felt slapped on, thoughtless: Vicky, Jen, Angela, Kevin. I found the main character, Vicky, completely insufferable. And I like an unlikable main character!
Vicky is an anti-capitalist obsessed with death who works in marketing for an urn company actively profiting off of people’s deaths. Everything she does feels performative. She begins dating a couple despite not actually being interested in the boyfriend, whose character seems to serve the sole purpose of making Vicky & Angela’s relationship a throuple. Her inner monologues are that of someone who gets their political beliefs from leftist instagram accounts. She often expects a level of contentiousness from those around her that she doesn’t think to extend in reverse.
This could have been a character I loved to hate. I expected to get there at some point throughout the story, assuming that the underlying point of the book was to critique the cognitive dissonance we see in so many “woke” young professionals. It just felt either too obvious to be satire or too earnest to be making that critique. There was no clear tone of either critiquing this behavior nor condoning it. I do assume this was meant to be satire, but again, it just fell flat. It’s like the author was just saying “you know how everyone under 35 is a hyper-woke yuppie now?” But never following up with a point or punchline.
Overall, I’m hoping this is just a sophomore slump for Jade Song. I’m glad I read Chlorine before this — I really don’t think I’d give them another shot if this were my first introduction to their writing.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I felt more mixed about this than I expected, not really because I didn't like it but because I don't feel much about it at all.
Vicky spends most of her life thinking about death, kept up at night by the thought of her loved ones dying and finding solace in her job marketing an up-and-coming company that promises to resurrect the death industry. She starts dating a couple who seem to understand and welcome her oddities, but as Vicky knows well, all things must come to an end.
Okay, first CAN WE GET THE HORROR TAG OFF OF THIS BOOK. Good lord, this feels like the tenth book I've read this year that is inexplicably tagged as horror. I liked Jade Song's debut Chlorine because I love a book that commits to its weird, freaky premise to a horrifying extent. It saddens me to say that I Love You Don't Die is...normal. Not that it's really similar to other books, but there isn't really a single premise that the story is going off of and there just isn't enough to the characters and conflicts for them to stand on their own.
Vicky and Jen have a fight towards the beginning of the book and I really thought that was going to be some inciting incident sending Vicky into a spiral of becoming increasingly more fixated on death, but they make up pretty much immediately and I wouldn't say Vicky escalates in any way throughout the entire book. Really, all of the characters feel kind of stagnant. I liked the bits we got from Jen's POV but we don't really get follow-up or character development from her. Poor Kevin feels like such an afterthought that it makes me wonder why the plot involved dating a couple if only one of them was every really going to be a character. The idea of the urn company is kind of interesting, I liked the element of the zhizha, the narration was great, and I like Jade Song's writing but none of that can fix the fact that this story just isn't very interesting.
Kind of disappointing but I went into it expecting the boldness of Chlorine, so if you have read Song's debut or you're looking for something a little more mellow, I would still recommend picking this up!
Thank you to Jade Song and William Morrow for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Vicky spends most of her life thinking about death, kept up at night by the thought of her loved ones dying and finding solace in her job marketing an up-and-coming company that promises to resurrect the death industry. She starts dating a couple who seem to understand and welcome her oddities, but as Vicky knows well, all things must come to an end.
Okay, first CAN WE GET THE HORROR TAG OFF OF THIS BOOK. Good lord, this feels like the tenth book I've read this year that is inexplicably tagged as horror. I liked Jade Song's debut Chlorine because I love a book that commits to its weird, freaky premise to a horrifying extent. It saddens me to say that I Love You Don't Die is...normal. Not that it's really similar to other books, but there isn't really a single premise that the story is going off of and there just isn't enough to the characters and conflicts for them to stand on their own.
Vicky and Jen have a fight towards the beginning of the book and I really thought that was going to be some inciting incident sending Vicky into a spiral of becoming increasingly more fixated on death, but they make up pretty much immediately and I wouldn't say Vicky escalates in any way throughout the entire book. Really, all of the characters feel kind of stagnant. I liked the bits we got from Jen's POV but we don't really get follow-up or character development from her. Poor Kevin feels like such an afterthought that it makes me wonder why the plot involved dating a couple if only one of them was every really going to be a character. The idea of the urn company is kind of interesting, I liked the element of the zhizha, the narration was great, and I like Jade Song's writing but none of that can fix the fact that this story just isn't very interesting.
Kind of disappointing but I went into it expecting the boldness of Chlorine, so if you have read Song's debut or you're looking for something a little more mellow, I would still recommend picking this up!
Thank you to Jade Song and William Morrow for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I Love You Don't Die is a literary fiction novel about a self-destructive young woman who surrounds herself with death to deal with her fears about those she loves. Vicky is a third gen Chinese American woman who works at a death start up, mostly hangs out with her best friend Jen, and looks on dating apps for people she can easily disappear from. Then, she mets a couple on an app who might be good for her, but their own things going on, Vicky finds herself returning to her destructive self.
This is character-driven literary fiction that explores, death, depression, and suicide, so it is very important that readers are aware of that before going in. It is the sort of book that you need to check you are in the right mindset for, especially some of the bits near the end. For a lot of the novel, not very much happens, as instead it focuses on mostly Vicky's perspective and her destructive pessimism, but then occasionally there will be a chapter centred around another of the major characters to offer another perspective and show how Vicky's thinking is not the whole picture. You as the reader can feel trapped in Vicky's bad decisions, but also feel sympathy for some of the ways that she copes with things. In particular, her friendship with Jen forms a real heart of the novel, offering hope in a book that has some bleak moments, and showing how human relationships can be more complex than some people might assume.
If you're looking for a novel that explores contemporary ideas of loneliness, love, and, death through queer characters scrambling for connection and to not destroy anything good that happens, I Love You Don't Die might be one for you. I wasn't quite expecting it to go as dark as it does by the end as a lot of the book has very little happening in it other than a few arguments, but it's not that unusual for literary fiction to have that kind of rhythm.
This is character-driven literary fiction that explores, death, depression, and suicide, so it is very important that readers are aware of that before going in. It is the sort of book that you need to check you are in the right mindset for, especially some of the bits near the end. For a lot of the novel, not very much happens, as instead it focuses on mostly Vicky's perspective and her destructive pessimism, but then occasionally there will be a chapter centred around another of the major characters to offer another perspective and show how Vicky's thinking is not the whole picture. You as the reader can feel trapped in Vicky's bad decisions, but also feel sympathy for some of the ways that she copes with things. In particular, her friendship with Jen forms a real heart of the novel, offering hope in a book that has some bleak moments, and showing how human relationships can be more complex than some people might assume.
If you're looking for a novel that explores contemporary ideas of loneliness, love, and, death through queer characters scrambling for connection and to not destroy anything good that happens, I Love You Don't Die might be one for you. I wasn't quite expecting it to go as dark as it does by the end as a lot of the book has very little happening in it other than a few arguments, but it's not that unusual for literary fiction to have that kind of rhythm.
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