Everything You Ever Wanted

De: Luiza Sauma

Narrado por: Stephanie Racine

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma, read by Stephanie Racine.

You wake up. You go to work. You don't go outside for 12 hours at a time. You have strategy meetings about how to use hashtags. After work you order expensive drink after expensive drink until you're so blackout drunk you can't remember the circumstances which have led you to waking up in bed with your colleague. The next day you stay in bed until the afternoon, scrolling through your social media feeds and wondering why everyone else seems to be achieving so much. Sometimes you don't get out of bed at all.

Then you hear about Life on Nyx, a programme that allows 100 lucky winners the chance to escape it all, move to another planet and establish a new way of life. One with meaning and purpose. One without Instagram and online dating. There's one caveat: if you go, you can never come back.

But you aren't worried about that.

After all, what on Earth could there possibly be to miss?

©2019 Luiza Sauma (P)2019 Penguin Audio

A good, melancholic listen

I really enjoyed this book! But it should be noted that for a book where the main character visits a new planet, surprisingly little actually happens. It’s very introspective with a lot of time jumps but still engaging and easy to follow. I personally love books when the character’s inner life is the main story in itself.

The only thing that I can identify that makes it a 4/5 rather than a 5/5 for me is the ending. It wasn’t bad, just not executed in a way that made it feel like a satisfying pay-off for the story we had with Iris.

Dragged in many places

What the heck is with the last part of the book! I don't understand. The book dragged in may sections and was repetitive and then it rushed through years on Nix.

Gut-Wrenching and Dark, But Intriguing All the Way Through

I picked up this story from a TikTok recommendation, and I really am glad that I did. It felt like a bit of a leap of faith, since both Audible and Goodreads had very low reviews of this novel. That said, I was hooked from start to finish. It is definitely a feel-bad story—you won’t leave with a brighter outlook on the world—but it does help to put into perspective how running away from problems can backfire so dramatically. One of the other reviewers on here complained about the ending, which, while I can understand it, I disagree. I thought that the ending was fitting for the story, and it really made me think and theorize. Anyway, I highly recommend this book!

REALLY struggled with this review...

This book was by far a 5 star ride...until the end. I honestly really struggle with giving it only three stars, but i felt that the brilliance of the concept, combined with the almost perfect first two-thirds of the book execution, warranted a lower score because the promise of a perfect landing was just so needed. It was a setup that begged for a clean landing, but - alas - i didn't feel it provided one. I'd give it 4 stars, except for the fact that i felt supremely let down by how it ended. Don't get me wrong, I can totally appreciate the way the author wanted to give the reader credit for sticking with the story enough to tack on her idea of an existential conundrum, or whatever it was, but I wasn't buying it. It felt like a cop-out. Obviously i sound like i'm being extremely vague, but i truly HATE spoilers and will not give even a hint at how the whole thing wraps up. I will say that Luiza Sauma is one hell of a wordsmith and Stephanie Racine can verbally keep up with the best of them at narration.

Absolutely bleak, especially for those with ideation

*spoilers below*
I saw a few reviews that said “nothing happens” and I went ahead anyway, and I’m so glad I did.
I feel this is less sci-fi, and more a long, slow suicide that takes place in space.
That’s the whole thing. She wanted to die on earth, went to space instead, and ended up dying when she finally wanted to live.
Every account of people who have survived suicide follows a similar pattern- feeling absolutely sure, and then facing immediate regret and wanting to live more than anything.
I think it reads as an after-life, as well, long before the end.
Wondering how life goes on without us. Sending messages between realms but not being able to receive them, or even knowing if they’re read.

As for people wondering about the ending, she’s definitely dead. I don’t think the author left that up to interpretation at all.
It was very bleak, very real. Captured the horrors of space and the horrors of our own mind. Would definitely read another novel by the author.

Nothing Happens

basically this book is a meditation on what it would be like to leave Earth which is fine except it keeps eluding to something happening and nothing ever happens. disappointed