Reviews

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

drjoannehill's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Bought for me last birthday - I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, because the cover looks like a romantic comedy bestseller sort of thing and the title is verging on ungrammatical which is something I dislike. Not something I would usually pick up without knowing about it first. In reality, I found the first 20% quite difficult or not really me - it was slow going and the main character Tom (by his own admission as this is written in first person as a memoir) is a self-centred, failing, unliked person. However, it then picked up as the main part of the story kicked in - which boils down to time travel that sets off a major change to the timeline and Tom finds himself in a different present day. Cue lots of philosophical discussion, quantum physics, and an adventure. It's not a romance at all but speculative fiction / sci fi. 

Name checking The Time Machine and drawing from a bit of the story, and also drawing from a bit of Back to the Future 2 ... For regular time travel fans I can't say if this is a decent read or not. But I found it entertaining and I read about half of the 390 pages in one day. There's some parts that could do with more detail to be convincing, but I'll leave those to other readers to find rather than picking holes in it. Close enough to 4 stars to get the 4.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Car accident, and War

hb1998's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

suvata's review

4.0

Before:
The only problem with requesting ARC's is that I feel obligated to read them ahead of everything else. I'm a sucker for a time-travel book so this one was too tempting to resist.

After:
This is a great book. It reminded me a bit of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in that it is humorous and written in a conversational style. In this story Tom Barren's genius father invents time travel. Tom finds himself in 2016 after traveling back to 1956 and screwing everything up. Now he is stuck in a future that really isn't the future it was supposed to be. Sounds a little confusing as time travel generally does but it's all pretty clear while you're reading the book. This is a wonderful light-hearted look at a popular sci-fi trope.

hannahemparman's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

daxie's review

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I didn't care for the main male character very much. He gave me the ick.

ell_jay_em7's review

2.0

I just didn't enjoy this though I can't say it's bad. The writing is pretty good. The book is a bit literary and there is wry humor but overall it's kind of a bummer. I will say the plot was totally unexpected for me. I read half and then stopped because I wasn't into it.

myriadreads's review

4.0

I was in love with this book for about 75% of the ride, but it definitely fell apart a bit at the end. Still, I have to praise its ambitious structure, surprises and twists, and a character who grew and changed throughout the story. Another plus, the ending felt good and the author put in the work necessary to give closure to the reader, which I always appreciate. I need to let this one sit in my brain for a couple of days, then I'll write more.

sunrays118's review

2.0

I don’t know what to say.

That was. I don’t know.

If you’re considering reading, know there are some 130+ chapters and every so often there are summaries of the past 20 or so chapters. Know this is one of the strangest books I’ve ever come across.

chaniaclare's review

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

Found the narrator very self involved and obnoxious, and the supposed character development was very shallow. It got more unbelievable and unconvincing towards the end (though surprisingly not the bits about time travel)

franchely's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0