We Are The End Paperback – 19 Oct. 2017

At times poignant, at times absurd, We are the End never ceases to be a simultaneously funny and touching break-up novel. At its heart, it is an exploration of life, love, and loss. A unique voice ringing clear—unlike anything in the cacophony of the Millennial literary café—Gonzalo C. García's prose is always sharp and beautifully constructed, yet never loses sight of humour (often of a shade much darker than espresso) and, perhaps more importantly, empathy.This is an important book. I buy it for my friends every chance I get. And they have now started doing the same thing. So should you.

Loved every moment of this book from its surreal moments, to its grittily realistic yet comic ironies so creative and weirdly ambassadorial of our time - the age of bewilderment. Excitingly fresh geekery and tech, basted in youthful bitter but touchingly enlightening wisdom and comedy - all intertwined within a Kafka-esque landscape of numbness, sex and obsession.It's beautiful, it's unique, it's dark, it's international.Never read or come across anything like it in any walk of life but I was distinctly there the whole way through.

I really enjoyed this book. The feelings and thoughts of the main character are very relatable and current, to the point where I was fully involved in the book and story. It didn't need to 'go anywhere', it just was. I really recommend this book if you are looking for a new style of writing; at times felt like the literary version of an indie movie, if such a thing exists.

Not really enough magical children and stuff about Pinochet for me - as a Gringo, that's what I expect from a Chilean writer ;) I jest. I loved this book. I'm probably twice the age of its target audience but I still loved it, and found plenty I could relate to and identify with. I might not know a lot about all the gaming stuff - it was all Space Invaders and Breakout back in my day - but that didn't matter, I could see where Tomas was coming from. I loved travelling with him on his meandering journey through the wet Santiago streets of rejection, unrequited love and unrealistic expectation. And I laughed a lot - particularly enjoying the put-down of a certain UK rock drummer turned singer, and the highly appropriate placing of the word 'entrepreneurs' in inverted commas. If this is The End, there's plenty of fun to be had getting there.

Depression shouldn't be a rich vein for comedy, but this blackly comic debut had me laughing (and wincing) throughout. Following the misadventures of Tomas, a freshly dumped video games writer, throughout Santiago in Chile, this is a funny and thoughtful novel about twenty-something ennui. And while my hands were occasionally twitching with the urge to slap or shake or throttle Tomas, there's a lot of heart in this book too. Recommended.

One of those novels that manages to write a tragic character in a hilarious way. It's hard to see Tomas ever escaping his self-defeating thought processes. Little that happens to him is of great consequence to the wider world. Which probably makes it more tragic in his mind. Had this novel fallen into the stereotypes of what is often expected of South American realism (magic and/or a coming-of-age story against a political backdrop) it might have given Tomas more meaning in his life, but it wouldn't have been as refreshing a novel for the reader.

It starts off well enough, at times it's funny and relatable. About half way through, however, it loses its wit, becomes shomewhat repetitive and fails to surprise. You get the impression that the book could go on forever and you would learn nothing new about the characters.