I just finished the book “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” by Ian Reid, and I very much enjoyed it. It was a page-turner and something I struggle to write about without spoiling the ending. It deals with dark themes, and makes you think about the complexities of life. It starts off with the unnamed main character and her boyfriend, Jake, driving to meet his parents. The main character is seriously considering ending things with Jake, and is the basis for all of her internal conflict within the book. She analyzes their relationship on the trip to the farmhouse, while looking out at the desolate winterscape around her.

She debates whether or not she should actually break up with Jake, analyzing his mannerisms and whether it would be better for her to be on her own. The seemingly simple trip starts to get complicated when they get to Jake’s parents’ farmhouse with an unsettling air. His parents are strange, and so is their house, riddled with an eerie emptiness. Things get even more strange when Jake and the main character end up at a school in the off hours in the middle of a snowstorm. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I finished it in only two days because I could not stop reading it.. It tackles many complex, existential topics through a car ride, a farmhouse, a Dairy Queen and a school. I think Reid masters the eerie, empty feel, the feeling that something is off, a feeling that you can’t quite place, a haunting. Through a short road trip, Reid portrays many complex motifs such as death, relationships, isolation and identity. Unfortunately, revealing much more would spoil it for the reader….