I had mixed feelings about Emma Straub’s novel. At first I found it incredibly depressing. A young woman, Alice, approaches her fortieth birthday amidst the backdrop of her ailing father. She has a boyfriend that she seems to barely tolerate and while expecting him to propose also dreads the encounter. She seems to be a woman who has never grasped at all that life can offer. A woman who has settled for less. Less love. Less adventure. Less success.
At one hundred pages with still no time travel, I almost gave up on the novel. I wanted some action. Finally, on her fortieth birthday she wakes up back in 1996 and is in her teenaged body reliving her sixteenth birthday. Even though she sees her greatest crush at her party, it is the vision of her healthy father that truly moves her. What ensues is a series of time jumps where she seeks to rewrite the past, and hopefully keep her father from getting ill.
My favorite scenes were those with her best friend, Sam, when they were sixteen again. Straub does a wonderful job of building a teen’s world with all of the cultural fads of the day.
Yes, there were moments when I got choked up. Since I recently lost my mother, the bond Alice has with her father moved me to tears.
This Time Tomorrow, a book about familial love.
About Laurie: The author of Forests Secrets and Finding Joy as well as The Pharaoh’s Cry, Portal Rift, Persistence of Memory, Kidnapped Smile, and Dragon Sky of the fantasy series The Artania Chronicles, Laurie Woodward is also a screenwriter who co-authored Dean and JoJo: The Dolphin Legacy. Her poetry has been published in multiple journals and anthologies and she was a collaborator on the popular anti-bullying DVD Resolutions. Bullied as a child, Laurie is an award-winning peace consultant, poet, and blogger who helps teach children how to avoid arguments, stop bullying, and maintain healthy friendships. She writes on the Central Coast of California. More about her work can be found at Author Laurie Woodward — Next Chapteria.net
Laurie Woodward 