What’s interesting about this book, is that the chapters alternate between present day (the funeral day and the following days afterward) and the story of Theo and Griffen’s history together. Griffen’s heart is ripped open even further the day of the funeral when Theo’s current boyfriend Jackson shows up and shares his memories of Theo during the service.

At first, I thought this was kind of morbid but then, how many of us think of our loved ones who’ve passed and talk to them in our thoughts, thinking perhaps of what we’d say to them were they still here? Griffen is devastated by this grief and through the narration, Griffen continuously “talks” to Theo in his thoughts as though they were both in the same room together. Told from the first-person point of view of 17-year old Griffen, we learn that the funeral we are seeing is that of his ex-boyfriend and first love Theo. The story opens at the scene of a funeral. If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. When Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Now I don’t want you to think that this book is one huge downer because it’s really not…there’s so much more to it. I knew going in that History Is All You Left Me would be a heartbreaker but I was amazed at the intensity and range of emotions I experienced while reading this exceptional and at times emotionally draining story of love, loss, friendship, grief. If you’re looking for an author who’ll rip your heart out from your chest and make you cry, then Adam Silvera is your man.

History is all you left me plot