You and Me at the End of the World flips a cliched premise on its head
By Sabrina Reed
Going into You and Me at the End of the World by Brianna Bourne feels very much like that classic Avril Lavigne song, “Skater Boi.”
This young adult contemporary novel doesn’t completely fit the essence of the lyrics considering it’s not a kiss-off narrative, it’s a love story. However, Hannah Ashton is a girl; Leo Sterling is a boy. Could Bourne make it anymore obvious? He’s an ‘80s glam rock punk, and she does ballet, what more could Bourne say?
Apparently, a lot more. Bourne breaks open the bad boy-meets-good girl trope that was so prevalent in 2000s young adult literature and puts it under a microscope in You and Me at the End of the World. She dissects it. Challenges its structure and infuses it with life. Resuscitating the trope without tripping into all of its baggage.
Bourne does so by trapping these two cliche-ridden romantic leads in an emptied Houston, Texas. What happens when you take the world from a couple of stereotypes and force them to interact without the outside factors of the identities they’ve cultivated? In Bourne’s YA, the kind of magic that pushes the two to be better to and for themselves as well as good for each other.
You and Me at the End of the World is an electric love story with a twist
We start with the uptight good girl adjusting to unforeseen circumstances. The fact that these circumstances happen to be being left entirely alone in a suddenly empty city already sets You and Me at the End of the World apart. So, when she meets her slacker bad boy counterpart, the question of how Bourne will switch this premise up is already planted.
Yes, the book still works through Hannah needing to loosen up and Leo needing to get it together, which is exactly what a reader would expect from these archetypes. But, having them do it with the backdrop of being the last two people in Houston, possibly, in the state, maybe in the whole country, the continent, or even the planet, takes this exploration to the next level.
Houston is their playground. Rules, limits, they’re gone and yet Hannah is clinging to structure to keep moving through her days. Her routine is what she had aside from her best friend Astrid, her fellow ballerina mom, and her corporate but still very much a rocker dad.
In contrast, Leo is bursting at the seams, keeping things loud and constantly moving so he doesn’t have time to slow down and think. If he were to do that then it’d mean dealing with his best friend and bandmate Asher being gone. Or that things with his mom, sister, and younger brother were so dysfunctional and messed up and now there’s no way to fix it.
Putting the two together is a lesson in not judging a book by its cover. One coupled with an intense attraction the both of them try to ignore because in the “real world” they’d never be together. However, in this world, where it’s only the two of them, all they have is each other.
As Hannah and Leo get to know one another, they begin to see the layers beneath who they thought the other was. It’s not that they were initially incorrect. Hannah has curated her life into a perfect copy of her mother, smoothing away her own desires, and stuffing any talent that’s not ballet into a box to be forgotten.
Leo did live life by the seat of his pants, coasting through his existence with the sort of flakiness that labeled him frivolous. He’s thought of as charming, fun to be around, but not someone serious or capable of a long term romance.
However, Bourne piece by piece reveals them to be more. She achieves this through a dual perspective that conjures up the idea of a duet, a back and forth that works quite perfectly for this dancer and musician. And, throughout this narrative, Bourne never loses the thread of sci-fi fantasy weirdness You and Me at the End of the World also embodies.
The lives these kids’ lived are gone. They still have to confront that, it’s not magically erased or forgotten by each other’s presence. But, it’s made bearable. They talk about it; they help one another cope.
They do so without having to contort themselves into each other’s personalities. Rather, Bourne has the two of them grow. To think on the parts of themselves they held back or grew tired of and wished to change and actually make those changes.
Is You and Me at the End of the World worth reading?
In essence, You and Me at the End of the World is a coming-of-age story produced by a freaky sci-fi fantasy situation that blooms into a romance. It’s genre-hopping done incredibly well.
At times, Hannah and Leo’s attraction can get a bit “We get it, y’all, you have the hots for each other” and, considering this book spans a few days, instalove is part of the equation. But, overall, it works, even the surprise twist at the end that changes the story.
It all works because Bourne’s attention is not only on the romance but also on how love can change you for the better and also make you want to treat yourself better as well.
Gearbreakers: This book will ruin your life. dark. Next