Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Read advance reader review of Tell Me How This Ends Well by David Samuel Levinson

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

Tell Me How This Ends Well by David Samuel Levinson

Tell Me How This Ends Well

by David Samuel Levinson

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Published:
  • Apr 2017, 416 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this book

Reviews


Page 1 of 3
There are currently 15 member reviews
for Tell Me How This Ends Well
Order Reviews by:
  • Jill F. (Blackwood, NJ)
    Loved it!
    I don't what it says about me that I loved this book as much as I did. On the face of it, dystopian society, murder, terrorism, persecution. Having fun yet?
    Haven't we all had that one person in our lives at one time who made us think "justifiable homicide?"
    Julian Jacobson is the poster child for justifiable homicide. "Thou shall not kill" be damned!
    Dark, disturbing, quirky, fun - this book has it all.
  • Maggie R. (Canoga Park, CA)
    The title gives you a clue . . Hang in there
    The real question is, tell me how this book is so funny, sad and scary all at the same time. Anyone who has found a place in his heart for "The Family Fang", the "Sisters Brothers", and "The Middlesteins" will want to sit down and hear the story of the Jacobsons. Nuff said.
  • Joane W. (Berlin, MD)
    Tell me how this ends well
    I loved this book. It is a many faceted story: black humor, anti semitism and a wonderfully dysfunctional family. I did not find it very futuristic except for an unerring prophecy of Israel. I would like to say more but it would be more enjoyable to read it yourself.
  • Lee M. (Creve Coeur, MO)
    Passover
    Its 2022 and a family gathers for Passover. And the hilarity begins. All the serious, earth shattering, jaw-dropping troubles that can happen to each individual does happen and somehow Mr. Levinson makes it all funny, enjoyable and OH 'something like that happened in our family.' And we recognize some of our great crazy relatives. I smiled or laughed all the way through.
  • Sally H. (Geneva, OH)
    Tell Me How This Ends Well
    This book is disturbing, hilarious, satisfying (Julian got what he deserved), ridiculous and in many ways all too real (though I fervently hope that the book's raging return of anti-Semitism never becomes real). I rated it a 4 rather than a 5 because it seemed to get bogged down in unnecessary detail a few times, but overall I found it well worth my time. I plan to recommend it to my book club.
  • Susan S. (Lafayette, CA)
    Tell Me How This Ends Well
    This book uses a literary device that I love of letting us see the family history and the events immediately before, during, and after the central event from the point of view of each of the three adult children and one other family member. Each person knows different things and has different feelings about the gathering and each other, and I kept re-setting my understanding of events and people as I progressed through the book. The book is sometimes very funny, especially in the first section, but of course also is intentionally unsettling as we are continually made aware of what is happening in the world and in the country (particularly since none of that seems far-fetched).

    I thought it dragged a little in the middle, but the last sixty pages or so make up for that. I loved the last part of the book, about which I do not want to say anything more specific in order to avoid spoilers. I will just say that there is a real payoff at the end.
  • Esther L. (Newtown, PA)
    Tell Me How This Ends Well
    The year is 2022 and the dysfunctional family portrayed in the novel is planning to kill their bullying father to protect their dying mother. I really didn't connect with story until reading the mother's story near the end. It reminds me that I was happy growing up as an only child!

    The author writes of the demise of the state of Israel after a 3 day war and the rise of virulent anti-Semitism that the world's Jewish people are facing. It was disturbing to read because anit-Semitism is on the rise in America today.
  • Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3

More Information

Read-Alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

At times, our own light goes out, and is rekindled by a spark from another person.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.