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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Jodi Picoult books always eat. This one was very different from her others. I was unsure about it at first, but the second half had me obsessed.
I loved the unusual construction of this book! And I appreciated the dense science and history. The love story - meh, but necessary.
I know this book has gotten very mixed reviews because people feel dissatisfied with the ending. As we are reading this for book club, I think the ending is perfect for promoting a lively discussion! I really enjoyed this one, particularly because as a kid I was fascinated with ancient Egypt. I can see where some people might feel all the Egyptian history drags the story down, but I loved it.
In true Jodi Picoult fashion this book is very readable. Too readable? I wish there was some more subtlety but she hammers in the theme and repeats and repeats the points she is trying to make. It’s great if you want something deep and meaningful but don’t want to think too hard.
The nerd in me lived the Ancient Egyptian and physics content.
It is a story of duality. Life and death. Multiverse. What if’s.
The nerd in me lived the Ancient Egyptian and physics content.
It is a story of duality. Life and death. Multiverse. What if’s.
** I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **
4.5 stars! I really enjoyed the plot lines of this book and about how you can change the whole trajectory of your life based on one decision at a time. There is quite a lot of referencing and "info dumps" with quantum physics and Egyptology. The Egyptology info interested me, but the physics stuff...not so much. Dawn's profession as a death doula was very interesting to me. That's definitely not something you see in books as a normal profession, and I like how it still related to her earlier love of Egyptology and the Book of Two Ways.
If you liked Jodi Picoult's other books, odds are you'll probably enjoy this one as well.
4.5 stars! I really enjoyed the plot lines of this book and about how you can change the whole trajectory of your life based on one decision at a time. There is quite a lot of referencing and "info dumps" with quantum physics and Egyptology. The Egyptology info interested me, but the physics stuff...not so much. Dawn's profession as a death doula was very interesting to me. That's definitely not something you see in books as a normal profession, and I like how it still related to her earlier love of Egyptology and the Book of Two Ways.
If you liked Jodi Picoult's other books, odds are you'll probably enjoy this one as well.
adventurous
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Jodi is one of my favorite authors and she did it again with this book. LOVED it. Highly recommend.
Got through it but it wasn’t a favourite of mine. Too much filler on the Egypt stuff turned me off amd dragged this book out for me.
This book broke my heart. And then instead of putting it back together it put it in a blender and now I am sitting with SO many conflicting feelings and a weirdly sharpened knowledge of Egyptology. There were copious historical references but somehow they worked and I found myself enjoying learning snippets about archeology and Egyptian excavations. Back to the story — SO many emotions all resulting in a weird sense of disdain for our protagonist Dawn. The storyline jumps around a little bit from 15 years ago when she was a PhD student to now when she is raising a teenager with a new career path as a death doula (something I didn’t know existed before this story). After a near fatal crash she is given the chance to answer some of the what ifs she has about her life and she seizes the opportunity. We explore past loves and how things may have changed had life worked differently with the infinite possibilities based on decisions we make (or don’t). Lots of lines caused me to pause and reflect, and that was lovely, but towards the end I was cynical of our heroine and her intentions and ability to hurt as many people and be as selfish as she was (which took away an entire star in my opinion). Don’t let the history and complicated terms scare you — they actually ended up being super interesting and will probably be my takeaways from the story. What a wild start to the year!