You’ve Reached Sam is a book that will impact some people hugely, and even if you don’t find yourself a blubbery mess once it’s over then you will at least recognise how valuable this is to get people thinking about death and how we deal with it.
Julie is our main character and we learn that she has become something of a recluse since the death of her boyfriend, Sam. It frustrated me that for a character who plays such a pivotal role we know so little about him, but it was clear that he’d left his mark on the world somehow.
For reasons we never have explained, Julie finds herself able to talk to Sam on her mobile. There appear to be strict rules to follow, but these conversations allow Julie to say the things to Sam that she never had the opportunity to in life.
Only she can’t tell anyone what she’s doing or it will break their connection.
Slowly, and with the help of her friends, Julie learns to live again. By the end, things are settling back to a new reality but Julie is showing signs of accepting what has happened, learning to value the time she had with Sam and recognising the influence he has had on her life.
I personally found Julie quite irritating at times. Many of Sam’s friends and family were grieving but they rarely factored into her thought process. This is, probably, quite realistic – but it was nice to see there was no hard and fast approach to how someone should be seen to grieve. However, the steps she took allowed her to move gradually closer to accepting her new reality.