Anyone can imagine what it is like to live like it is their last day on this earth. But few will know this feeling like Ted Burger does in Daniel Ehrenhaft’s novel 10 Things To Do Before I Die. This gripping title cannot be missed, and with a fun sense of over-the-top adventure (a look into the days of YOLO perhaps), any young adult may find this to be literary gold. In reality however (a place this book steers clear of ) the text on the page rarely reads outside the lines. Filled a misconstrued death scare, lack of adult characters, and a predictable plot; Ehrenhaft leaves, if anything, a nice and easy read.

Ted lives his life pretty ordinarily, doing the same thing day to day and not really putting in any extra effort for much. He and his friends spend time at a local diner, which is where this story begins. After being called out on the fact that he does not truly live his life, Ted leaves the diner feeling sick and dizzy. It comes to be learned that a disgruntled frycook from the diner poisoned french fries that Ted had consumed. Hearing this from his friends, Ted sees this as meant to be. Listening from the news that he may only have 24 hours to live, the group decides to create a list of 10 things to do before Ted bites the dust. This then leads the group on an adventure through New York City. Ideally, this a nice little story, and really it does no harm. It is written in short little vignettes, which is near genius and makes the story easy to jump into or put down. Still, that’s the problem, it might be a book to simply put down. As it is understood that this is young adult fiction, Ted’s actions and thoughts are extremely bothersome and ridiculous. He throws away the idea of going to a hospital. Even when put face to face with an intern who runs to get a doctor, Ted (afraid to hear the truth) dashes out of the hospital throwing away a chance to get better. There is a lack for adult figures in this book, which makes the whole story lose credibility. His parents magically are away the entire book, and so are not aware of the predicament concerning their child. The ending is obvious enough that it can be seen when the cover of the book is flipped open.

 If Ehrenhaft set out to write a fun read, then he succeeded. His previous book Tell It To Naomi has been regarded as a great success. He fits into the cookie cutter mark of a young adult writer, and it is clear he knows what he is doing. He is allowed praise for his unique vignette style and likeable characters, but his plot sits on the other end of the spectrum. Those reading this book over the summer are the perfect audience and will appreciate what Ehrenhaft has to offer. If he has hopes to write for a larger audience however, he will have to revisit some basics of his storytelling.