Neverworld Wake

Written by Marisha Pessl

Narrated by Phoebe Strole

Five teens are caught in a continuous time loop where they are forced to choose who lives and who dies in this absorbing psychological thriller from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Special Topics in Calamity Physics and Night Film.

"Beautifully creepy." --The New York Times
"You won't be able to stop reading." --Refinery29
"Dark and twisty." --Bustle

Five friends. Only one can survive. Who would you choose?

It's been one year since graduation, and Beatrice Hartley has mixed feelings about joining her friends a weekend reunion. She's right to be worried. After a night out, they narrowly avoid a collision with a car on a deserted road. Or so they believe...

Back at the mansion where they are staying, a mysterious man knocks on the door during a raging storm. He tells them that they must make a choice: one of them will live, and the rest will die. And the decision must be unanimous.

Soon time backbends. Beatrice and her friends are forced to repeat that dreadful day so many times they lose count. With each replay, events twist and fears come alive in horrifying ways.

To escape, they have to vote. But how do you choose who to kill? And then how do you live with yourself? This nightmare, this nothingness . . . this is the Neverworld Wake.

From critically acclaimed, literary sensation, Marisha Pessl, comes a spellbinding story that is "the kind of book you'll tear through and then want to talk about with everyone you know." (Nylon).

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9780525595434

Reviews for Neverworld Wake

[booklove2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another cover that I love. I have read all three of Marisha Pessl's books and they all seem different, however usually focusing on wealthy young women. This one is actually a Young Adult book this time around but honestly, other than the book featuring college kids, I don't really think it really should have been marketed that way. Us older kids can read books featuring younger people. This also seems like it was made to be a film. It's VERY plotty. The book features Beatrice and her group of closest friends with unbreakable bonds from a ritzy school and this thing called the "Neverworld Wake" that I will not dive into. I enjoyed it while reading it, but now thinking about it, I'm wondering why these friends that were so close before the "Neverworld Wake" didn't seem to become closer during their time in the "Neverworld Wake", that at times could seem like a million years and a million re-dos. (I think of Quentin and Eliot in that one episode of The Magicians.) The friends seemed to remain mysterious to each other, and definitely mysterious to the reader, which is a shame. If I pick up and flip through 'Special Topics in Calamity Physics' again, it seems amazing both books are from the same writer. And I am a huge fan of 'Night Film' -- also very different. It's hard to tell as I don't read a ton of YA whether this book can stand enough on its own or if it falls into a YA formula. But it was enjoyable! I just hope Pessl doesn't start aiming her writing at making films (or only YA type books because 'Special Topics' and 'Night Film' are brilliant).

[tuusannuuska-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 stars

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! I don't have the best luck when it comes to YA books, but this was pretty solid.

[tobinelliott · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is the fourth of five highly anticipated books this year, and unfortunately the results just get worse and worse. There was the disappointment with Stephen King's The Outsider due to an ending that fizzled, then Caroline Kepnes' more disappointing Providence that just never delivered on character, story, Lovecraft... Moving to Paul Tremblay's The Cabin At the End of the World, yeah, that one simply cratered it was so terrible. Now, this.

Pessl twists and bends the plot into so many uncomfortable positions just to try and wring a somewhat coherent mystery out of it, that she ends up having her characters make the most ridiculously stupid decisions, that we're supposed to believe were directed by a Machiavellian genius who's a teenager just so the ending would turn out exactly the way we knew it would in the first place.

I have to agree with Edward Lorn here...the fictional book that's referenced occasionally throughout this novel sounds one hell of a lot better than the crap that we instead had foisted upon us.

This book cratered equally as hard as Tremblay's Cabin, just for different reasons.

2018 is going to go down as The Year The Reliable Authors Became Unreliable.

One more release to go. Stephen King, you're my last hope with Elevation. Please don't let me down twice in one year.

[carriewuj · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 YA Intelligent approach to teen friendship and drama in a sci-fi wrapper. There is some time travel and a Groundhog day vibe when college freshman Beatrice Hartley meets back up with her prep school pals: Whitley, Cannon, Kipling, and Martha. Each has their own backstory and borderline stereotype (Rich, pretty girl; good guy, doesn't know how good-looking-he-is; out gay guy; and brainiac girl respectively) Where Bee fits in this she has never been quite sure, especially because the last member of the group, Bee's boyfriend and sensitive artist type Jim is dead. Bee is hoping this reunion will give her some answers and some closure to the devastating event at the end of their senior year. Jim's death was ruled a suicide, but Bee can't believe it. After partying at a concert, the group is heading back to Whitley's stepdad's mansion when they take a curve too fast and run off the road in her posh convertible. This scare sobers them up and they make it home, only to receive a strange visitor later that night. He tells them they are caught in Neverworld - in between life and death and they will repeat 11 hours of that same day over and over again (a wake) until they all come to a consensus vote of which single one of them should get to live. Pretty intense scenario. They squander countless wakes trying to undo this situation (futile) then countless others causing mischief and messing with people and finally unify enough to investigate Jim's death. Turns out they were all keeping secrets from each other about the night Jim died and all of them had a last "moment" exchange with him that helps the puzzle pieces fall into place. As a result they are finally ready to vote and the story returns to the present. Some good surprises and it is easy to go along with the totally bizarre premise. The characters' uniqueness and intelligence make them palatable and since the story comes from Bee's point of view, she is mostly sympathetic. A little too "mature" in subject matter for middle school or young teens, but definitely a good upper high school read.

[lauranthalas-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A YA book that weaves together mystery, fantasy, and science fiction.

In high school, Beatrice and her six best friends were the cool kids until the shocking death of their friend Jim (Bee’s boyfriend). One year later, Bee finds herself back at Wincroft estate where her and her friends spent so much time in their youth. Bee plans on finding out more in regards to Jim’s death, but when the night’s almost done she’s losing hope. Then a strange man knocks on the door changing everyone’s lives forever.

[voracious_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beatrice "Bee" and her five friends shared a privileged high school friendship, entangled in each other's lives until the day her boyfriend, Jim, died due to mysterious and tragic circumstances. Afterwards, Bee lost contact with her friends. Now, a year after graduation, Bee returns to the Wincroft estate to see if she can discover what happened to Jim to find closure and make peace so she can at last move on. However, the night Bee returns, the remaining five are involved in a devastating car accident and are startled by a mysterious man "the Keeper" who informs them that while they are not dead, they are suspended, indefinitely, in the Neverworld.

Needless to say, this is shocking news to these spontaneous and risk-taking young adults, who are in disbelief and unwilling to concede to their situation. Forced to live their last day over and over again until their situation is resolved, Bee and the others finally decide to join forces to discover why Jim died, in hopes of saving themselves.

I really enjoyed this gripping teen novel, which involves time travel, survival in a neverending "Groundhog Day" state, and the concepts of life, death, and the place in between. The setting is creepy, spooky, and also a little sad, as the characters face their mistakes and the fear of the unknown with "The Keeper" constantly looking over their shoulders. A fun and interesting read.

[indygo88 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beatrice's life was shattered when her boyfriend Jim died suddenly and mysteriously during their senior year of high school. Now, a year later and after just completing her first year of college, she is home for the summer. She reunites for an evening with her group of best friends, hoping to find some answers to Jim's death. After a car accident in the early hours of the next morning, a mysterious old man arrives to tell the group of friends that they are "stuck" in time, and that the only way out is to vote unanimously on the person most deserving to live. Predictably, they're unable to reach a unanimous vote and thus they must relive the same day over and over. In the process, they learn a lot about each other and about themselves, on their way to discovering what really happened to Jim.

I love the title and cover art of this book. That's what sucked me in initially, as well as the time travel teaser and the unsolved mystery aspect. As a young adult book, it had a lot to offer by appealing to fans of so-called time travel, the supernatural, and mysterious intrigue. I liked it, although I think it did lack some refinement that a book geared more toward an older reader might expect. If the description reminds you of the movie Groundhog Day, it's because it was similar in many ways. The logistics and reasoning behind the plot didn't always make sense to me, but it was basically an entertaining story and it kept me reading, fairly quickly, because I wanted to know what really happened to Jim. I think I may have been at an advantage because I've not yet read Pessl's earlier novel, Night Film (though I want to). That one seems to be a reader favorite, but it apparently is nothing like this one, so I'm glad I didn't have that to compare this one to.

[cherylgrimm · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl

When a text invitation arrives from one of her forsaken friends on her last day of freshman college, Beatrice “Bumblebee” knows she must go. It’s a healing needed, a closure. Having lost her boyfriend to an as yet unsolved death, she wants to find out what they know, how they can help her find the answers.

She heads out for to Wincroft, a mansion owned by relatives to whom she was about to visit. The old clique is rich, a tad haughty and somewhat eccentric. Beatrice no longer feels the fit.

They all dash off to a concert as soon as she arrives, unexpected as she was, there is a harried anxiousness as they all shuffle out to make the show. Afterwards, a drunk, rainy, jammed down top convertible drive back to Wincroft causes what seems to have been an almost collision. The four settle before the fireplace with Chivas Regal Royal Salute and terry robes. Then there is a knock on the door. Stormy night, drunk teens, mansion, mysterious stranger. Cue the eerie soundtrack.

“The Keeper” introduces himself and informs them that they have all actually died in the collision, but they can vote one survivor. What follows are a series of “All That Jazz” “Groundhog Day” scenes. The classic reactions to death repeated until accepted. Then the “fun” of it, doing things you might not ever do because tomorrow you could do it all over again. But even that gets tedious, if repeated enough.

Martha, the brain of the clique opts to solve the suspicious “suicide” of Beatrice’s lost love and they set into that. Day after day research. She brings forth a cultish time traveling book that she purports is the key, the very core, to where and why they are stuck in their time warp. A book she has studied relentlessly, noted tirelessly, believed wholeheartedly. They follow her
lead until they solve their mysteries. Much is revealed, forgiven, and used to finalize the journey. Only one can survive the collision. It’s up to them to vote whom that should be.

Written in heavy metaphor, I can see this book becoming as discipled as the fictitious one referred to within it. Vivid characters, realistic dialogue, fantastical settings and a surprising revelation of an ending. It’s a keeper.

[tapestry100 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

OK, so I've now been trying to write a review that doesn't give anything away about this book, and I can't. So I'll just give you my general impressions about aspects of the book. I've been sitting on my review of Marisha Pessl's Neverworld Wake for a couple of days now, wondering how I wanted to write this. On the one hand, this is typical Pessl, with a twisting, unpredictable story that doesn't necessarily end up where you think it will. On the other, this is Pessl's first foray into YA, and I think it suffered a little from that. Almost all of her characters come from some life of ridiculous privilege and by halfway thru the book, I had grown very tired of hearing about it, because inevitably it felt like she needed to remind us of their privilege and untouchability. Maybe it was just me, but it felt a little heavy handed on Pessl's part. Add to that, unless I missed it, is there is no real explanation for what is happening to the characters. There's some half-cocked reasoning behind it all, but there is no solid answer to the question, "Why? Why does this happen? Why do these characters need to make this decision?" Maybe it was the fact that this book was far too easy to put down and that it took me almost all month to read it because it wasn't holding my attention all that well and by the end of the month and finishing the book, I wasn't entirely sure I remembered what happened at the beginning, and didn't care enough to go back to reread portions to get caught back up.

I don't know, maybe others will find this enthralling, but for me, I just ended up having more questions than answers by the end. I feel like this should honestly be a 2 star book, but at the end of the day, I kept thinking about it more and more, so I guess that garnered it an extra star? Maybe?

And to be honest, I really wish I'd been reading the book being referenced to in Neverworld Wake far more than NW. Maybe someday, we'll get that book, because that one sounded intriguing as hell.