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docpacey's review against another edition
2.0
This novella reads as an interesting idea for a short story that never got edited down to size. It suffers from never really getting anywhere. Utterly forgettable characters don't help either.
spiderfelt's review against another edition
4.0
Not every original idea is fantastic, and yet it seems hyperbolic to claim that this book is fantastically original. I was hooked by the novel concept and the shifting perspectives between the parallel storylines. However, I was disappointed by the end which seemed unresolved. What happens to the characters? Where does the story go next?
chelseamartinez's review against another edition
4.0
This is a short, sweet book with two authors. I read it even though I am still in the middle of Adrian's much longer *The Children's Hospital*, which I was enjoying, except for the heaviness of the hardcover. He writes about physicians in a distinctive way; in particular the surgeon-turned-chaplain was to me a great character. I also appreciate that the anti-corporatist angle doesn't completely take over the book.
brittaini's review against another edition
3.0
Read this for the Tournament of Books and it's already fading fast. Some interesting concepts about what it means to live forever, what it means to be left behind by your partner, etc. Cryogenics pops up. The ending didn't stick for me. I was reading it on a tablet and just flipped through it.
shogins's review against another edition
4.0
This is a book about death, cryogenics, and the gap between our desires and the desires of our loved ones. It alternates between the story of Jane, a doctor, and Jim, her dead chaplain husband trying to get through a cryogenic afterworld. It’s about needing to forget the past in order to move onto the future but also needing to remember the past for the future to have meaning. It’s also remarkably funny, moving, and human.
sbaunsgard's review against another edition
3.0
About a man who is in a cryogenic afterlife, the woman who is grieving him, and their marriage. This book made me sad which means it is successful on some level. It lives in the intersection of The Year of Magical Thinking and Genesis by Bernard Beckett. Although there's one spot in it where the book is like 'Fooled you!', and I totally didn't appreciate it. Worth reading, as long as you're not depressed.
opentopersuasion's review against another edition
5.0
The premise of this book was amazing. Strange and unique and perfectly suited to my taste. The execution of that premise was beautiful and tragic, two people remembering their relationship, their life as a couple, one now and one in the future, and both of them grieving, and neither of them wanting to accept death in their lives.
It was so good. Hats off to you, gentlemen. Loved it.
It was so good. Hats off to you, gentlemen. Loved it.
showlola's review against another edition
4.0
The first two thirds felt a bit like an overlong George Saunders short story, but the book takes a hard turn in Cycle Two that surprised me and ultimately won me over. This one was a surprise that I would have overlooked if I had given up after 100 pages.
nighthawk's review against another edition
3.0
Ah. I really was with Adrian and Horowitz through the first half of the book and pretty let down by the second. My hope kept dwindling page after page as there was no connection to the conceit of the first half -- through the confusing, unfounded second reality for Jane in Cycle 2 and the total abandonment of the Jim in the future.
I know this began as a digital novel, and it does reek a little of the carelessness with which we tend to allow things to be published digitally. I've noticed a trend in novels and essay collections that really ache for better editing, for someone to push (really very good) writers further than the spot where they, tired in the moment, perhaps, closed their laptops and decided their work was done. It's not! This book has more in it that isn't yet written -- this book is still in draft. A really good draft, but a draft nonetheless.
I know this began as a digital novel, and it does reek a little of the carelessness with which we tend to allow things to be published digitally. I've noticed a trend in novels and essay collections that really ache for better editing, for someone to push (really very good) writers further than the spot where they, tired in the moment, perhaps, closed their laptops and decided their work was done. It's not! This book has more in it that isn't yet written -- this book is still in draft. A really good draft, but a draft nonetheless.