Mir hat das Buch unglaublich gut gefallen. Ich fand es in keinem Punkt langweilig. Tatsächlich hat mich das Buch sehr beschäftigt, weil ich unbedingt wissen wollte, was nun alles passiert war und warum Hayden sich dazu entschieden hat, es zu tun. Immer wieder tauchten neue Fragen auf. Die Spannung hielt daher bis zum Ende an. Von mir gibt es eine klare Empfehlung!

Ich habe von diesem Buch erwartet, dass es mich emotional auseinander nimmt und dann ggf. wieder zusammenpflickt. Beides ist nicht passiert. Die Charaktere halte ich für relativ oberflächlich, möchtegern originell und teilweise unsympathisch, wodurch es mir so oder so schwer viel, mitzufühlen. Bis die Spannung mich wirklich gepackt hat, war das Buch schon fast am Ende angelangt, welches dann allerdings auch sehr schnell ging, geradezu gehetzt. Es hat mich ein wenig gestört, dass eine lovestory eingebaut wurde, weil ich das thematisch nicht erwartet hätte und auch nicht der Meinung bin, dass die Geschichte das gebraucht hätte. Der Schreibstil hat mir nicht besonders gefallen und zwischendurch gab es kleinere Dinge, die mich aufgeregt haben, so musste an manchen Stellen mein Feministenherz bluten. Am Ende (in den letzten zwei Kapiteln) durfte ich dann doch noch ein bisschen weinen, deshalb 1,5/5☆

That ending ruined everything, it could have been a lot more, a lot deeper. Review to come. ----------------------------------------------------------- Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff is about a boy named Sam. His best and only, friend Hayden has just committed suicide, and all he has left, as a suicide note, is a playlist, with 27 songs on it. As he tries to decipher the playlist he learns more and more about Hayden's life and the people in it. He realises that even though Hayden was his only friend Hayden had a life he didn't share, and when he opens up to these people, he starts to discover more and more about why Hayden killed himself. He meets Astrid along his journey, who seems a bit wild at first, but as you get to know her better you realise she is more than she seems. ^ That's the synopsis of the book. The book isn't like what it says. *Spoilers ahead - or you can call them spoilers - The playlist didn't really make any difference and could have been removed from the book entirely. This book could have been a friend coping with the grief of his best friend committing suicide. The book has been compared to 13 reasons why as Hayden leaves a playlist behind for Sam to understand - for me it was like oh yay each song will have a memory or piece of the puzzle which will break the mystery - but no the book wasn't that deep. Somehow I feel the concept of suicide is being romanticised and not dealt with. The characters were very unrealistic for me to absorb, for example, if I talk about Hayden, he lived a pretty decent life. According to what we know his parents preached "Hayden, what are your grades? Why are you not doing better? If you don't get into college, we will not continue to support you" as they slipped a hundred dollar bill into his hand. Forget that - they knew he is dyslexic and yet they were talking like that? I am like uh-what? People at school thought Hayden was weird because of his big brother picked on him, but his best friend was always there for him and agreed wholeheartedly that Ryan was Super Dick. Hayden never wanted to meet anyone new, yet he had two secret friends that he never told his BFF about because.... why? That secret was taken to the grave, along with many, many others. Speaking of, here's the beef I'm trying to get to: WHY THE FUCK DID HAYDEN KILL HIMSELF? Because I will tell you - The author wanted to kill him and now everyone in the book thinks it's their fault. But whenever they talk about how it's their fault everyone around them says "No no, sweetheart, it totally wasn't your fault" until we get to Ryan. The characters were under developed and bleh! The part I really liked and I thought maybe it is going somewhere- ARCHMAGE_GED, unusual chat who wanted to help Sam through his grief, who plays songs on repeat, who just magically show up in the night to say Hi hello, bye bello? And most importantly - After these conversations start, there is this little wizard figurine that Sam bought to remind him of Hayden is sitting on Sam's bed and then he is gone. THIS IS NEVER EVER EXPLAINED except in the very last chapter on the second to last page where he flippantly states "My school psychologist says I was probably just not sleeping enough." UMM WHAT? The only part I liked was just thrown under the bus for no god damn reason - or maybe the author had plans of explaining but was just like oh yeah I got bored though. Lastly, the attacks around town on the bully trifecta. Hayden literally thinks he's going crazy or has dual personality or something - which by the way could have been cool - or maybe where Eric was actually Hayden's boyfriend and he was bullied because he was gay? I think my interpretation as to how the book could have ended were much better than the book itself! The ending was just ending- the feeling, the grief - NOTHING. NO. FIN. Also I didn't like Astrid as much- she was annoying me. Didn't like the book much, loved the cover - I am giving it 2.5 stars out of 5 because the plot could have been so so so much better - I wish whoever wrote the synopsis should have written the book instead!