When You Finish Saving the World

Visceral and Raw... and Such a Unique Experience

Review by: The Audiobook ReviewI saw this one pop up on my Audible searches a few times over the past few days, and each time I saw it, I wasn't sure if it was going to be my type of thing. Today though and intent of expanding my horizons as well as genres I listen to, I grabbed a copy and started in.

The format is unique, at least as far as I know, in that each chapter of this stunning audio drama is told as the character talking about their lives into a recorder. The first set we hear are from Nathan (Jesse Eisenberg) who is recording his thoughts and (lack of) feelings as part of psychology appointments.

He talks of his inability to connect with his newborn son, Ziggy, and how his wife is seemingly more and more distant each day. He has a distinct inability to see or understand emotions from either himself or others, simply working mostly on logic. While not specifically mentioning it, I assume he's been written as being on the autism spectrum which I commend.

The chapters that come next are from his son, Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard), now 15 and living in 2032. Eisenberg does a fantastic job inventing real-sounding slang as you could imagine it would evolve. Ziggy is forced to attend weekly appointments to talk about what led to him punching a friend. Rules and life in 2032 are different from now, but believably so as an extension from our own time. So much so, one side character was referred to as them/they/their instead of the binary him/her and it wasn't until deep into Ziggy's chapters I even noticed they weren't referred to with gendered pronouns. Wolfhard delivered the lines so effortlessly and naturally, I couldn't help but feel I was listening in to a real monologue from the near future.

Finally, we hear from Rachael (Kaitlyn Dever) as a college-age student before she knew Nathan or had a son. Even prior to the tragedy spoken of by Nathan and Ziggy. Her chapters are being spoken into a tape recorder to send to her boyfriend in the military and stationed overseas. Here we get to learn more about her, even sympathise with her situation... as the earlier chapters painted her as someone aloof and unlikeable.

Eisenberg, Wolfhard, and Dever have delivered an absolutely must-listen performance. It feels so real, I couldn't help but continually think I was listening in on real, private conversations. Do yourself a favour and grab a copy today.