By PAIGE FOSTER
Staff Writer
The scientists are, for once, unanimous. People are looting shops. Restaurants have shut down. The end of the world is coming. This is where Tommy Wallach’s novel, We All Looked Up, begins. An asteroid is hurtling towards Earth, and scientists estimate that it will land on April 1st, two months from its discovery. Wallach’s best-selling fiction novel follows the journey of six teenagers as they live out their remaining time on planet Earth.
When writing a review of We All Looked Up, there is hardly a lack of content to discuss. I could start with the writing style, which is simplistically casual but indulgent all at once. I could start with the characters, who have moments of genuine humanity, but occasionally vacillate to the exaggerated caricatures of their stereotypes. I could start with how Wallach balances the heavy subject matter in the novel, including drug use and sex, and poor family relations. I could even start with a rating out of five stars (I’d give it a three), but that would not adequately communicate the most important aspects of the book as a whole.
The ending of the world is a commonly proposed hypothetical, and thus most people have an answer to what they would do in such a situation. Some might want to go skydiving, others would want to reconcile with an estranged loved one, still, others would quit their high-stress job or find God or maybe all of the above. And while people have these fanciful ideas of what they would do if the world was ending, very few pause to consider the fact that it is ending already. We act as though time is an infinite resource. As morbid as it may sound, the most important thing Tommy Wallach does in We All Looked Up is to remind people of their mortality. He helps his readers to understand that their own fears – of rejection, humiliation, or failure – may prevent them from resolving conflicts or from accomplishing anything of real value in their lives.
Thus Wallach’s book is not good because the writing is sound (which it is), or because the characters are likable (which not all of them are), or because it is enjoyable to read (which is only 80% true). Rather, it is good because it reminds people that their pesky fears are both illusory and insignificant in the face of the impending natural reality that is death. It poses the obvious question: What would you do if the world was ending? But it also raises a more important one: The world is ending, what are you going to do?