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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
She really captured the 20-something feeling of "lostness".
In 1992, a blockbuster movie called "Eons & Empires" fills theaters with teenagers. This book chronicles the lives of 3 different groups of teenagers in various cities (Chicago, somewhere in Florida, and Cincinnati). Over the next 20 years, the teenagers encounter each other and form various types of relationships, and their lives intersect in a number of different ways. That is the premise of this book, which I didn't think that I would like, but it had me staying up late worrying what one character or another was going to do. The characters are vivid and memorable and I got quite attached to them. My only complaint about this book was that there were almost too many characters and it was sometimes difficult trying to remember the lesser characters and their trajectories.
This was such a good book! There are three main characters who's lives should interact, but rarely do. There's not a lot of action, but the writing is very compelling. I finished the book in one sitting.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First off, I like the fact that the stories in this book seem to be so relatable. You know how some book, although advertising how simplistic it is, you can just tell that the off chances that what had happened in the book to happened in real life is close to none, well unless your life is a make-believe movie. Everything about this book seems like it could have happened to any number of people that you passed through everyday, and that is exactly what made me fell so in love with the book. Even the characters, with all their flaws and wrong undoing, are very relatable. You would hate some of the incredibly stupid things they did, but you can’t really condemned them for it, because it could easily been you who did those incredibly stupid things, and you can relate to that and that what makes me keep on going with this book, even with the premonition that I’m not going to like the book’s ending.
I have to say that some of the evens that occurred in the book are somewhat predictable, but I can’t get over the fact at how small the world in which the characters are living. I mean, what are the chances that you would meet up with a guy that used to date you ex-boyfriend’s sister? I mean, CMIIW, but the United States of America should be so freaking humongous, right? So, what are the off chances that these people seem to be connected somehow? I know this is a work of fiction, and in a fictional world anything could happen, but really? That small? I’m beginning to not like the book as much as I did the first time. It annoys me to no end that everything seems to be working out to conveniently for some of the characters. And then, there’s this issue of me blurting out questions like, “where is this going?” or “is this story going somewhere?” or “seriously though, who is the main character in this book?” or “ no, seriously, what is going on with this book?” or “can somebody help me understand this book?”
Having said that, I’m not saying that the stories are illogical, it’s just that halfway through the book you start to question where is the plot going? In the beginning you’d think that the story would revolves with Adam, and yes at some point it was revolving around him, alternately with Phoebe also; then you asked yourself, what were to happened to Sharon? You thought she was one of the main characters in the book, but it seems that she became an add-on to someone else’s story. And then, somewhere in the book you got confused with Oliver’s storyline as the author starts addressing Oliver’s storyline with “you”, as if it’s your own storyline. Wait, does that make Oliver one of the main character as well?
I like to think that the main plot of the story is how in some other world, the same events could unfurl to different ways because it is the alternate universe of where you are right now, but obviously seeing that this is not science fiction of any sorts, the idea that there could have been an alternate universe in which things could have turned out differently is something impossible, therefore what is the point of the story though? Apart from how disappointed I was with the fact that I can’t seem to take something out of this book, I have to say the author did an amazing job in creating her characters. Every single one of them left a huge mark on me, as I was reading their stories, how some ended up happily and some didn’t. It was an incredible journey reading through the characters’ adventures, however confusing it was for me at some parts.
I have to say that some of the evens that occurred in the book are somewhat predictable, but I can’t get over the fact at how small the world in which the characters are living. I mean, what are the chances that you would meet up with a guy that used to date you ex-boyfriend’s sister? I mean, CMIIW, but the United States of America should be so freaking humongous, right? So, what are the off chances that these people seem to be connected somehow? I know this is a work of fiction, and in a fictional world anything could happen, but really? That small? I’m beginning to not like the book as much as I did the first time. It annoys me to no end that everything seems to be working out to conveniently for some of the characters. And then, there’s this issue of me blurting out questions like, “where is this going?” or “is this story going somewhere?” or “seriously though, who is the main character in this book?” or “ no, seriously, what is going on with this book?” or “can somebody help me understand this book?”
Having said that, I’m not saying that the stories are illogical, it’s just that halfway through the book you start to question where is the plot going? In the beginning you’d think that the story would revolves with Adam, and yes at some point it was revolving around him, alternately with Phoebe also; then you asked yourself, what were to happened to Sharon? You thought she was one of the main characters in the book, but it seems that she became an add-on to someone else’s story. And then, somewhere in the book you got confused with Oliver’s storyline as the author starts addressing Oliver’s storyline with “you”, as if it’s your own storyline. Wait, does that make Oliver one of the main character as well?
I like to think that the main plot of the story is how in some other world, the same events could unfurl to different ways because it is the alternate universe of where you are right now, but obviously seeing that this is not science fiction of any sorts, the idea that there could have been an alternate universe in which things could have turned out differently is something impossible, therefore what is the point of the story though? Apart from how disappointed I was with the fact that I can’t seem to take something out of this book, I have to say the author did an amazing job in creating her characters. Every single one of them left a huge mark on me, as I was reading their stories, how some ended up happily and some didn’t. It was an incredible journey reading through the characters’ adventures, however confusing it was for me at some parts.
I listened to this book on audio. At first, listening to the stories of teens in their 90's, I wasn't sure what to make of it. But following these characters over the next two decades really invested me in their stories. Adam, Phoebe, Oliver, Sharon, and Chase began to feel like friends from highschool. Though the story was not without flaws (yes, let's stereotypically make Vancouver a cold, barren wasteland - has the author even been here?), I did come to like the characters, and will miss hearing their stories.
I kept expecting more from this book—there were several set-ups that just came to dead ends.
Also, the second-person narration for Ollie drove me NUTS. Totally unnecessary.
Also, the second-person narration for Ollie drove me NUTS. Totally unnecessary.
Decent writing, but I got a little lost on the point of it all? I got a little judgy about some of the characters' more questionable choices, and I wished one story line in particular would have worked out differently, but it held my interest throughout. I didn't think the framework of the comic/movie they all had gone to see was necessary to the story. I guess it was some kind of a point about all of these lives that were only loosely - and yet somehow deeply connected to each other, who all experienced the same pop-culture moment at the same time...were we supposed to think that had a profound effect on any of them? I don't really think it served the purpose if that was the intent. I kind of wish, from the title, that this had done a more Sliding Doors type of thing, where we got different versions of the same scenarios where things actually worked out differently, or sometimes the same way, instead of just "In another world, he might have done this....but he didn't." I didn't love that device, and I didn't think it was very consistently used. Also the change of narrative to second person for just the one character was incredibly distracting. His story already seemed disconnected and unnecessary for much of the book, and changing the tense just for him made him seem even less like his story belonged. So yeah, had some issues/complaints, but in general I liked it.
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book was interesting, but it took a while to get into. It was very promising at times especially in the beginning, but after the characters were set-up there was a lot of time skipped and short excepts from the characters lives at that time. It was hard to gauge how much time had passed between chapters and how old the characters were unless specified. I like reading about how the main characters crossed paths, but I feel like many of the characters were holding back. I wanted more from this book and think it was capable of giving more. I found some of the characters to be highly annoying and the ending didn't really for anything for me. I did like that the outcomes of the characters were not what was to be expected as in many books, but something about the book just didn't work for me.