better a shed than a library

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Approaching her 40th birthday, Alice is devoted to her father, who raised her alone after he mother left.  Alice finds watching her father waste away in the hospital to be unbearable.  So when she discovers a portal that allows her to relive the day of her 16th birthday, she is determined figure out how to change his life so that he doesn't get sick.  What she discovers as she lives though many iterations of the day is that perhaps quality is a lot more important than quantity.

Fans of The Midnight Library will appreciate this more realistic (in terms of human emotions, not in terms of time travel) exploration of choices and consequences and what it means to be happy.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

master of her craft

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Once again, Jodi Picoult has written a thoroughly compelling story that tackles a hot-button controversial social topic.  This time it's abortion, and told through multiple perspectives on both sides of the issue.  In contrast to many of her other books, I wasn't able to develop any sympathy or much empathy for those on the "other side" of my personal beliefs, despite the very well-developed characters.

Picoult also makes the very interesting choice to tell this story backward, beginning mere moments before the end of a hostage situation and rolling time back hour by hour to the morning of that day.  This technique both works and doesn't work for her.  The tension definitely rises as you find out more and more of what happened, but at the same time, because lives were left hanging in the balance at the end of the day, I reached a point where I just wanted to know who lived and who didn't, and stopped caring about all the backstories.

While not everything in this book worked for me, Jodi Picoult is a master of her craft, and has gifted readers again with a deftly told story.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.