This book starts slow, and there is way too much day-to-day mundane
activity that is difficult to hold the interest -however, the ending is
well worth sticking through it. I want to know what world George lives
in, where people are so open and talk so easily about their feelings to
each other, even family members, because that is not my experience, and
it made the book feel less realistic because of it. But once things start
happening in George’s life, the pace picks up, and things get really
interesting. It’s not really about the events, though, but more in how
George reacts to it, sometimes in denial, sometimes going to hide in the
other realities. The end was a terrific series of emotions and events
that was written like a pro. However, I don’t see how the very last
pages could work. If the device only allows people to travel back by 25
years, how will that help George start over? Unless Shiloh lied or gave
him a different model at the end.
Spoiler review:
The first half of the book didn’t do much for me either way. It was
interesting enough that it kept me reading, but not enough that I was
bound to recommend it to anybody. George’s life is as normal as they
come. He’s too busy to do anything meaningful, hasn’t the energy to put
into his job to get recognition, he barely connects with his wife, and
his kids are at the age where they want their independence. It’s
presented in a way that makes us feel sorry for George, that his life
isn’t that interesting. But it makes for a difficult read, just because
there’s not much going on.
Even when he meets Shiloh on the
train, the interest level doesn’t go up. Shiloh’s monologues are long
and interesting, but completely unrealistic, and even though George
comments on this time and again, it’s hard to get into this kind of
story, because of that. But I really liked Shiloh, from his funny
physics-based T-shirt slogans to his rock music (most of which end up
being the chapter titles), and his philosophy of life. He explains that
the secret to life, the universe and everything is love, and makes a
great case for it. Every topic he discusses looks like a passionate wiki
article as he describes life, star formation, music, emotions, war,
evolution, and of course love. The comments on war and evolution,
especially talking about how fewer people have died in war since World
War II than ever before, even though it seems like things are worse,
were echoed in Sapiens, another book I just finished reading. I loved
his comments on family, just being there for them even if George doesn’t
understand his kids anymore. It’s that understanding that allows him to
survive the turmoil that follows in the second half of the book.
George’s life comes under attack three times, in sequence, and each is a
blow to his morale and his ability to define himself as a good parent.
He asks the hard questions, like is he spending enough time trying to
connect with his wife and son and daughter, what does he want out of
work, and what does he enjoy most about his life -what would he relive
again and again if he could get the chance.
Because Shiloh gives
him an Apple Watch with a special feature: the ability to visit
alternate realities, and affect their outcomes. It won’t change anything
in his current reality, and he can only experience ten single-day
visits. Of course his first tries are to go back to the days he
remembers as most glorious, like a picnic with his new wife and the day
he hit a hole-in-one, or to save his daughter from the accident, but
ultimately those are unfulfilling. He then gets obsessed with a boy he
didn’t save when he was younger and nearly got caught in a gang war. It
takes him three tries to save the young boy’s life, and he is happy, and
wonders if Shiloh is grooming him for this kind of future, which of
course is true.
Shiloh explains later that he is from an
alternate reality, and he was given the voluntary task of taking over
his other self’s life to bring about a better future -not just here, but
for the multiverse itself, which people across it found was losing life,
probably through lack of compassion. I find it a little too easy that he
tells George that he doesn’t have to mentor anybody the way that he’s
mentoring George, essentially giving George a free ride. But still, it’s
not that hard to accept.
The first hardship that occurs is the
car accident where his daughter Amanda loses an eye. It’s disheartening
to go through that experience, and George uses one of his time travel
experiences to go back and prevent the accident -but it only affects the
other timeline. George is beyond himself, but his wife uses every
advantage, because she knows about love and compassion, and she knows
how Amanda thinks. Amanda gets over the experience, once she’s out of
the hospital, because of Elena’s support.
His young teenaged son
Alex, on the other hand, feels neglected because of Amanda’s attention,
and the way George is pushing him to be the way he was as a young man.
Alex doesn’t like baseball anymore, and prefers hanging out with his
solitary friend rather than the baseball gang. When George pushes him to
go to a party, he ends up running away and getting drunk on whiskey, and
ends up in the hospital with alcohol poisoning. Again, George is beyond
himself, and doesn’t know how to handle the situation, but Elena does.
She takes Alex to therapy and tells George to go listen to the boy. It
turns out he’s quite the musician, and likes to draw graphic novels. I
guess this kind of trauma can bring out the communication in everybody,
but it feels unreal the way everybody opens up to each other, getting to
their true feelings in a single conversation. Who needs therapists!
The worst of the three traumas, though, happens last. Elena ends up
with aggressive cancer, and is told she has only months to live. This,
of course, hits the family hard, and once again George tries to get
through it the way he always has in life -looking for a solution. But
that won’t be enough, and it’s up to Elena to bring him back to reality,
and to prepare him for the future without her. The entire sequence was
heart-wrenching, and made the entire journey worthwhile. The author put
a lot of emotion into it, which was really appreciated.
In the
meantime, George also finds the courage (through lack of sleep) to fight
back against layoffs, and gets a new job, which will bring him more
satisfaction. They also have great friends, who’ve shared a lot of
experiences with the family over the years. In the end, George gets to
see Alex play music at his mom’s funeral and grow into a budding artist,
and gets to see Amanda graduate college with a major cancer
breakthrough. The story in the end is fulfilling.
My biggest
question, which I believe is the largest plot hole in the entire book,
is how George plans on reconnecting with his wife if he can only travel
back by twenty five years, and he’s now over ninety -she died more than
half his lifetime ago! This could have been fixed by Shiloh telling
George that he lied, that the device can actually go back further, or
that he had a second device with an upgrade. But I reread those last
pages several times, looking for something that could explain it, but
came up empty.
The emotional punch given by the ending, as well
as Shiloh’s long impassioned speeches, made this work worthwhile, and
worth recommending. It is unfortunately slow to start, and the people
are too emotionally open, talking about their feelings way too easily
than is realistic, but I was able to enjoy even those moments, and maybe
even learn from them, nonetheless. It was as obvious to me as to Shiloh
that George was ready to move on.
