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cotokeet's review
5.0
*cheers* this has been a lost book for me since I was a kid! You know those books where you only remember a few details, and you’ve described them to people over and over again, and googled, and wracked your brain? Apparently all it took was trying to describe it on the Goodreads “What is that book†forum. I didn’t even have to post it, it just helped jog enough details to find it online.
sbenzell's review
1.0
Wow this book is bad. Terrible plot holes, stupid characters. Read it twice as a kid because it was the only book I had access to temporarily. No redeeming qualities at all.
birdian's review
4.0
This book brings up many philosophical questions about fate, determinism, and free will. I read it with a group of 9-10 year old students, who enjoyed discussing the 'what-ifs' this book brought up. The strength of this book was definitely in its ideas, rather than characters. It;s not that the characters were flat, its more that the characters were there to serve the purpose of the philosophical questions of the book.
If I were to read it again, I'd find some complimentary material on fate, perhaps drawing on the ancient Greek beliefs.
If I were to read it again, I'd find some complimentary material on fate, perhaps drawing on the ancient Greek beliefs.
timbrrwolfe's review
4.0
This is another entry in the "reread to see how my view changed on it and to make sure it's on goodreads" list.
I forgot how short it was, honestly. But that's to be expected for a book aimed at kids. I imagine I thought it was much longer as a kid. Honestly I don't 100% remember exactly how I felt about this book when I was younger. I imagine that, as an adult, the visceral horror and empathy towards the death scenes was more intense. It's just much easier to imagine an accident happening like that, and be more affected by it, even knowing in advance it gets rewound out of existence (for the most part).
Conceptually, it's a very interesting book. How the time travel works, how it creates a stable loop, the problems involved with it. Especially for such a short story, it's done in a very interesting way. Though I'm admittedly something of a sucker for time travel/having do-overs. I probably think about it more than is healthy.
I don't think the book really gets all /that/ deep into it. Which makes sense, because it's a book aimed at kids written from the perspective of a kid. It's not gonna get too deep. Though it does brush against the edge of that depth at times, with Gibs wondering if he should be messing with reality as he does.
And as I said, it does hit pretty hard. Maybe because car accidents are something that's so easy to connect with and visualize, especially with kids. As is the desire to be able to go back in time to correct a mistake (or several).
I don't know who I'd recommend this book too, honestly. I wasn't particularly scarred by it as a kid (though it did leave enough of an impression that I remembered years later to reread it), but I can imagine it being scary to kids. It's hard to say. Especially since I'm honestly pretty out of touch with kids in general. Probably it'd be best to only do it if you're prepared to have a conversation about more serious topics with a kid you show it to.
Having said that, it is a cool book, if a bit aged (I don't think I remember spitballs really being a thing when /I/ was a kid, let alone now), so I'm sure there are plenty of kids who'd enjoy it, as I did.
I forgot how short it was, honestly. But that's to be expected for a book aimed at kids. I imagine I thought it was much longer as a kid. Honestly I don't 100% remember exactly how I felt about this book when I was younger. I imagine that, as an adult, the visceral horror and empathy towards the death scenes was more intense. It's just much easier to imagine an accident happening like that, and be more affected by it, even knowing in advance it gets rewound out of existence (for the most part).
Conceptually, it's a very interesting book. How the time travel works, how it creates a stable loop, the problems involved with it. Especially for such a short story, it's done in a very interesting way. Though I'm admittedly something of a sucker for time travel/having do-overs. I probably think about it more than is healthy.
I don't think the book really gets all /that/ deep into it. Which makes sense, because it's a book aimed at kids written from the perspective of a kid. It's not gonna get too deep. Though it does brush against the edge of that depth at times, with Gibs wondering if he should be messing with reality as he does.
And as I said, it does hit pretty hard. Maybe because car accidents are something that's so easy to connect with and visualize, especially with kids. As is the desire to be able to go back in time to correct a mistake (or several).
I don't know who I'd recommend this book too, honestly. I wasn't particularly scarred by it as a kid (though it did leave enough of an impression that I remembered years later to reread it), but I can imagine it being scary to kids. It's hard to say. Especially since I'm honestly pretty out of touch with kids in general. Probably it'd be best to only do it if you're prepared to have a conversation about more serious topics with a kid you show it to.
Having said that, it is a cool book, if a bit aged (I don't think I remember spitballs really being a thing when /I/ was a kid, let alone now), so I'm sure there are plenty of kids who'd enjoy it, as I did.
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