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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
The first two thirds of this book were solidly written and very funny, you can completely hear Webb’s humour coming through. I was completely invested in the characters and interested to see how the plot developed.
It took a small twist I was not expecting but could have got on board with had the end been written right but then things just went nuts!! It’s was like the author though ‘this is too much romance I need to add some action so let’s throw a karate chop, a car chase and the M15 in there, that should even things out’
I wouldn’t say I normally pickup books with time travel in then but this is actually the third one I have read this year and I do actually enjoy it as an element - even if I can’t always get my head around it. It was well written in this book up until the last two pages and then was just ridiculous!
At one point in the book Webb describes what a reader needs from a book to be able to get on board, it’s a perfect description which means he knows what we, as readers, need and yet, in my opinion, completely disregarded it.
Overall really enjoyed the first 2/3 of the book but felt let down by the ending, it wasn’t a bad ending it just didn’t match the start.
emotional
funny
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First, the blurb doesnt do this book any favours as it reveals the twist occurring athird of the way through.
The book is in three sections: descent into hell, purgatory and cleansing of sins, and paradise. The first two were well written, funny in parts and enjoyable, but I found part three too far fetched. The characters could have been more nuanced.
Overall I enjoyed the book as a light read, but I expect his next book to be much better.
The book is in three sections: descent into hell, purgatory and cleansing of sins, and paradise. The first two were well written, funny in parts and enjoyable, but I found part three too far fetched. The characters could have been more nuanced.
Overall I enjoyed the book as a light read, but I expect his next book to be much better.
I really enjoyed the three different parts. I thought the final part was unexpected but enjoyable. I liked the characters by and large and did root for them throughout. Also found myself laughing out loud at parts, which I loved!
It pains me to only give this book a 2 star review.
The book was split into 3 parts, part 1 and 2 were wonderful to read, it was interesting to see the format and the characters as they experienced the story.
Part 1: Kate being depressed and suicidal following the death of her husband who she loves with all of her heart. Before deciding to kill herself she has one last sleep....
Part 2: Kate awakens back in her 18 year old body, on the day she first meets Luke. She then attempts to repeat all of the same actions but with one difference, this time she will save his life.
An excellent story seeing mess ups lead to an appropriate and perfect conclusion.
Part 3: This is where it all goes wrong. Kate wakes up present day, she got the tumour removed from luke as a student. BUT LIKE IS STILL DEAD? It changed nothing.
THEN a good few chapters were spent on a high speed car chase and fight in a theatre with spies and cabbies and Russian heavies. Totally different from the main thread and frankly had no place in the story.
THEN!!! It turns out whilst her husband Luke did die, there's another Luke in America. The same luke but different who is a doctor with a new family and remembers the incident in part 2. Nobody else remembers is in the present only him.
AND WHY IS KATE WHO LOVES HIM NOT WITH HIM.
IT MAKES NO SENSE.
She tries to save his life, does it, her husband is still dead but a new version of her husband is alive with a family in America.... Like what the hell???
I expected the book to go 1 of 2 ways
1. She will save luke and they'll live happily ever after as he's alive.
2. She'll realise she can't save him, go back to find out he's dead still and move on rather than be suicidal.
NOPE. LET'S MAKE THE DEAD HUSBAND STILL ALIVE BUT DEAD BUT ALIVE BUT IT'S OKAY BECAUSE YOU HAVE A NEW BOYFRIEND.
The start and middle of this book were excellent and absolute 5 star. The ending has destroyed it for me. Destroyed an enjoyment or want to reread or even remember the book.
The book was split into 3 parts, part 1 and 2 were wonderful to read, it was interesting to see the format and the characters as they experienced the story.
Part 1: Kate being depressed and suicidal following the death of her husband who she loves with all of her heart. Before deciding to kill herself she has one last sleep....
Part 2: Kate awakens back in her 18 year old body, on the day she first meets Luke. She then attempts to repeat all of the same actions but with one difference, this time she will save his life.
An excellent story seeing mess ups lead to an appropriate and perfect conclusion.
Part 3: This is where it all goes wrong. Kate wakes up present day, she got the tumour removed from luke as a student. BUT LIKE IS STILL DEAD? It changed nothing.
THEN a good few chapters were spent on a high speed car chase and fight in a theatre with spies and cabbies and Russian heavies. Totally different from the main thread and frankly had no place in the story.
THEN!!! It turns out whilst her husband Luke did die, there's another Luke in America. The same luke but different who is a doctor with a new family and remembers the incident in part 2. Nobody else remembers is in the present only him.
AND WHY IS KATE WHO LOVES HIM NOT WITH HIM.
IT MAKES NO SENSE.
She tries to save his life, does it, her husband is still dead but a new version of her husband is alive with a family in America.... Like what the hell???
I expected the book to go 1 of 2 ways
1. She will save luke and they'll live happily ever after as he's alive.
2. She'll realise she can't save him, go back to find out he's dead still and move on rather than be suicidal.
NOPE. LET'S MAKE THE DEAD HUSBAND STILL ALIVE BUT DEAD BUT ALIVE BUT IT'S OKAY BECAUSE YOU HAVE A NEW BOYFRIEND.
The start and middle of this book were excellent and absolute 5 star. The ending has destroyed it for me. Destroyed an enjoyment or want to reread or even remember the book.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5* rounded up.
The plot of this novel (bereaved wife goes back in time and meets her future husband 'for the first time' again, except that in her mind she is in her 40s and he is 18) should have been off-putting to me. I don't read time travel novels (not that this was exactly time travel) or paranormal stories or any type of speculative fiction. Nevertheless, I loved this novel. Perhaps it was because I also met my now husband very early on in our time at university. As I said, the time shift elements weren't taken too seriously (and the logic of them doesn't hold up to scrutiny anyway), but there was a lot of humour throughout, and also parts that made me think. I especially liked the paragraph where the bereaved heroine Kate realizes that being widowed changes the way you age: you and your partner meet when you are young and age together, and
'there's a part of you that sees yourself through their eyes - a part of you that is still eighteen. And when they die [...] you start to see what other people see instead.'
I loved the section where Kate meets all her university friends again on the first day of term, but in different circumstances from the first time around, and panics about changing the course of history. Toby was lovely and that whole strand was very pleasing to me. The final section was more or less a mad romp and went on too long for me, and the very ending was confusing, even in the context of it not actually necessarily having been time travel, but I'm still going to round up to 5 stars. I would read this again.
The plot of this novel (bereaved wife goes back in time and meets her future husband 'for the first time' again, except that in her mind she is in her 40s and he is 18) should have been off-putting to me. I don't read time travel novels (not that this was exactly time travel) or paranormal stories or any type of speculative fiction. Nevertheless, I loved this novel. Perhaps it was because I also met my now husband very early on in our time at university. As I said, the time shift elements weren't taken too seriously (and the logic of them doesn't hold up to scrutiny anyway), but there was a lot of humour throughout, and also parts that made me think. I especially liked the paragraph where the bereaved heroine Kate realizes that being widowed changes the way you age: you and your partner meet when you are young and age together, and
'there's a part of you that sees yourself through their eyes - a part of you that is still eighteen. And when they die [...] you start to see what other people see instead.'
I loved the section where Kate meets all her university friends again on the first day of term, but in different circumstances from the first time around, and panics about changing the course of history. Toby was lovely and that whole strand was very pleasing to me. The final section was more or less a mad romp and went on too long for me, and the very ending was confusing, even in the context of it not actually necessarily having been time travel, but I'm still going to round up to 5 stars. I would read this again.
As the book starts we meet Kate, whose husband Luke has just died of a brain tumour. They’d been together since University (28 years) and Kate is not handling it well. When she finds out the tumour had been in his head for a long, long time and they both missed the symptoms, she understandably feels immense guilt. She is pushing away her friends and family, drinking heavily and has about planned her suicide.
But then she wakes up in the wrong room in her 18 year old body! She has returned to 1992, the first day of her life at York University and the day she meets Luke. She decides she has to somehow convince him he has a brain tumour and to get checked out and thus save his life. But Luke is not her husband, the man she lost. He is still an annoying 19 year old English student. She has no idea how long she will be back in 1992 but she is determined for them to fall in love again to try and save his life. She just needs to do everything exactly the same as last time!
The Sunday Times describe Come Again as
“a genre-defying time-travel tale – part adventure, part love story, part comedy, part dissertation on bereavement…a breathtakingly insightful evocation of grief.”
It was certainly like nothing else I have ever read before and I loved it. Broken into 3 different sections, I loved how we go from Kate’s grief, to a nostalgic trip back to the early 90s, to being chased through the streets of London by Russian mobsters!
Kate as a character is great. I completely felt her despair at being expected to carry on after loosing Luke but just wanting it to end. As a teenager she was a karate champion and exceptionally bright. As an adult, she works with computers and still has a sharp mind. I like her dark humour and narration. And I adored it when she woke up as a student in 1992, because that is when I was starting Uni too and I could recognise so many of her observations! When reading about that time, it makes you realise how much has changed – most noticeably the lack of internet, Facebook and mobile phones!
It also made me think. If I was to go back to that time (with my 47 year old brain inside my 18 year old head) would I do things differently? I’m certainly a very different person to how I was then – would I make the same decisions? I met my husband at Uni (we met on the first day much like Kate and Luke) and I wouldn’t change that but there are some things I would do differently. I’d do it so much better if I had another chance!
A darkly humorous read, I loved each and every bit of this book! Romantic, sad, exciting, ambitious! I really look forward to see what Webb writes next!
But then she wakes up in the wrong room in her 18 year old body! She has returned to 1992, the first day of her life at York University and the day she meets Luke. She decides she has to somehow convince him he has a brain tumour and to get checked out and thus save his life. But Luke is not her husband, the man she lost. He is still an annoying 19 year old English student. She has no idea how long she will be back in 1992 but she is determined for them to fall in love again to try and save his life. She just needs to do everything exactly the same as last time!
The Sunday Times describe Come Again as
“a genre-defying time-travel tale – part adventure, part love story, part comedy, part dissertation on bereavement…a breathtakingly insightful evocation of grief.”
It was certainly like nothing else I have ever read before and I loved it. Broken into 3 different sections, I loved how we go from Kate’s grief, to a nostalgic trip back to the early 90s, to being chased through the streets of London by Russian mobsters!
Kate as a character is great. I completely felt her despair at being expected to carry on after loosing Luke but just wanting it to end. As a teenager she was a karate champion and exceptionally bright. As an adult, she works with computers and still has a sharp mind. I like her dark humour and narration. And I adored it when she woke up as a student in 1992, because that is when I was starting Uni too and I could recognise so many of her observations! When reading about that time, it makes you realise how much has changed – most noticeably the lack of internet, Facebook and mobile phones!
It also made me think. If I was to go back to that time (with my 47 year old brain inside my 18 year old head) would I do things differently? I’m certainly a very different person to how I was then – would I make the same decisions? I met my husband at Uni (we met on the first day much like Kate and Luke) and I wouldn’t change that but there are some things I would do differently. I’d do it so much better if I had another chance!
A darkly humorous read, I loved each and every bit of this book! Romantic, sad, exciting, ambitious! I really look forward to see what Webb writes next!
The trope of a time-travel story where the protagonist goes back in time to fix something and comes back and things have changed in unexpected ways, is as old as Back to the Future at least. But this is not that. It's what I thought it was going to be. The book does start off that way, which is not to say it's cliched, the grief element is a nice twist and is fairly well handled I thought. But there's other stuff here that doesn't really work.
Ok let's break it down. The book is in 3 parts.
Part 1 - present day, pre time-travel
We're all familiar with this. It's the bit where we set up what the hero's life is like, what's wrong with it and what they want to fix by going back in time. It sets up what's going to change. In BttF we see Marty's homelife, his relationship with his girlfirend and his ambitions to be a musician. So in Come Again this section feels long - once we've established that Kate is grieving her dead husband and can't move on it's obvious why she would want to go back. It feels - at this point - like we don't need to set up what her work life is like and the memory stick maguffin.
Part 2 - back to 1992
This section works fairly well. It's worth pointing out that whilst it plays a little with the trope of look-how-things-were-different-in-the-past, there's not a huge amount of that. BttF has lots of fun with that idea. Also the trope of stuff we know from the present day story that the past-time characters but the hero and readers do. Again BttF plays with this more. Or maybe it just feels like it does.
I'm bringing this up not because I wanted more of this, but because without it then this section becomes more about the overall story and the characters' journeys. And ultimately a lot of that is stuff that doesn't go anywhere (see below).
Part 3 - back to the present
Non-spoilery bit. We come back and almost immediately we're dropped into a comedy thriller based on the maguffin memory-stick. It's quite well written and I enjoyed some of the action. But what the hell does it have to do with the story up until now? Yes the memory stick was set up in Part 1 but how does it relate to anything in Part 2?
Spoilery bit:
believe me when I say I'm not the guy that usually cares about this stuff, but the ending, the way the time-travel has created two timelines but they are sort of merged, makes no sense. I think perhaps it's a way of not negating what Kate achieves in part 2 by saving Luke. It's also a way of bringing him back into the story, because otherwise the 1992 section is an overly complicated way of saying she came to terms with her feelings of guilt over Luke. Because before that final twist where she opens the box and sees his book, it looks like it's all going to end up having been a dream. And whilst that wouldn't have been great, in some ways it would have made more sense of the story as a whole.
To conclude:
I wanted to like this. I like the author. I liked his memoir. I liked parts of this, but overall it was a bit of a mess. The book-tuber Daniel Greene said in a video on theme I watched recently that when a book feels disappointing or a mess it's often because the theme is unclear. I think what happened here is that there is a clear theme in this book - about accepting grief, getting over guilt and allowing yourself to move on - but that a lot of the book simply doesn't relate to that theme. If the thriller-y parts with the memory stick, or some of the 1992 shenanighans had fed more into that I think it would have felt more cohesive.
Ok let's break it down. The book is in 3 parts.
Part 1 - present day, pre time-travel
We're all familiar with this. It's the bit where we set up what the hero's life is like, what's wrong with it and what they want to fix by going back in time. It sets up what's going to change. In BttF we see Marty's homelife, his relationship with his girlfirend and his ambitions to be a musician. So in Come Again this section feels long - once we've established that Kate is grieving her dead husband and can't move on it's obvious why she would want to go back. It feels - at this point - like we don't need to set up what her work life is like and the memory stick maguffin.
Part 2 - back to 1992
This section works fairly well. It's worth pointing out that whilst it plays a little with the trope of look-how-things-were-different-in-the-past, there's not a huge amount of that. BttF has lots of fun with that idea. Also the trope of stuff we know from the present day story that the past-time characters but the hero and readers do. Again BttF plays with this more. Or maybe it just feels like it does.
I'm bringing this up not because I wanted more of this, but because without it then this section becomes more about the overall story and the characters' journeys. And ultimately a lot of that is stuff that doesn't go anywhere (see below).
Part 3 - back to the present
Non-spoilery bit. We come back and almost immediately we're dropped into a comedy thriller based on the maguffin memory-stick. It's quite well written and I enjoyed some of the action. But what the hell does it have to do with the story up until now? Yes the memory stick was set up in Part 1 but how does it relate to anything in Part 2?
Spoilery bit:
To conclude:
I wanted to like this. I like the author. I liked his memoir. I liked parts of this, but overall it was a bit of a mess. The book-tuber Daniel Greene said in a video on theme I watched recently that when a book feels disappointing or a mess it's often because the theme is unclear. I think what happened here is that there is a clear theme in this book - about accepting grief, getting over guilt and allowing yourself to move on - but that a lot of the book simply doesn't relate to that theme. If the thriller-y parts with the memory stick, or some of the 1992 shenanighans had fed more into that I think it would have felt more cohesive.
This audiobook was pretty wonderful, the combination of Robert Webb's superb comic writing, and Olivia Colman's impeccable narration. After all, how can you go wrong with an Oscar-winning actress?
I've been a big fan of Robert Webb for a while; he is a British actor, comedian, and he recently published a beautiful memoir, How Not to be a Boy. His work with Colman goes back years, as they were both actors together on shows such as Peep Show, and That Mitchell and Webb Show/Sound. Colman's obvious admiration for Webb's work comes through in this audiobook, and she lovingly tells this wonderful story of heartbreak, loss, time-travel, and hacking.
Recently widowed Kate Marsden is in a bad way. Her husband Luke has suddenly died from cancer, and Kate is beating herself up for not noticing it sooner. On the night she intends to commit suicide, she seemingly travels back to her college days, and attempts to change history by prematurely saving Luke's life. As she assesses her old/new college friends from the perspective of an older woman in a young woman's body, she reassess her opinions of them, and relationships alter.
Present-day Kate has other issues to contend with, such as her high-risk hacking job for an awful boss, and said boss's relationships with incredibly dodgy characters.
Come Again contains two major sections. The first being Kate's present day life, dealing with her grief, career, parents, and everything else. The second is her time-traveling exploits to her college days. The latter is a lot more enjoyable than the former, and I can't help but wish Webb had spent more time on this than the former. Although the novel is enjoyable as a whole, and the aforementioned sections definitely link together, there was a chase section of the novel that went on a tad too long for my liking.
Nevertheless, it is always a pleasure to listen to the gorgeous voice of Olivia Colman. She creates superb characters with her voice, and she always exudes a sense of warmth, even in Webb's most heartless creations. And she delivers the more explicit lines like a trooper. Her sense of comic timing has been honed through many years of performing comedic roles.
For a debut novel, this is very impressive. There are clear Nick Hornby influences, but this work is truly Webb's own. Come Again is a novel about grief, heartache, friendship, and that it is never too late to "Come again".
I've been a big fan of Robert Webb for a while; he is a British actor, comedian, and he recently published a beautiful memoir, How Not to be a Boy. His work with Colman goes back years, as they were both actors together on shows such as Peep Show, and That Mitchell and Webb Show/Sound. Colman's obvious admiration for Webb's work comes through in this audiobook, and she lovingly tells this wonderful story of heartbreak, loss, time-travel, and hacking.
Recently widowed Kate Marsden is in a bad way. Her husband Luke has suddenly died from cancer, and Kate is beating herself up for not noticing it sooner. On the night she intends to commit suicide, she seemingly travels back to her college days, and attempts to change history by prematurely saving Luke's life. As she assesses her old/new college friends from the perspective of an older woman in a young woman's body, she reassess her opinions of them, and relationships alter.
Present-day Kate has other issues to contend with, such as her high-risk hacking job for an awful boss, and said boss's relationships with incredibly dodgy characters.
Come Again contains two major sections. The first being Kate's present day life, dealing with her grief, career, parents, and everything else. The second is her time-traveling exploits to her college days. The latter is a lot more enjoyable than the former, and I can't help but wish Webb had spent more time on this than the former. Although the novel is enjoyable as a whole, and the aforementioned sections definitely link together, there was a chase section of the novel that went on a tad too long for my liking.
Nevertheless, it is always a pleasure to listen to the gorgeous voice of Olivia Colman. She creates superb characters with her voice, and she always exudes a sense of warmth, even in Webb's most heartless creations. And she delivers the more explicit lines like a trooper. Her sense of comic timing has been honed through many years of performing comedic roles.
For a debut novel, this is very impressive. There are clear Nick Hornby influences, but this work is truly Webb's own. Come Again is a novel about grief, heartache, friendship, and that it is never too late to "Come again".
https://thecaffeinatedreader.com/2020/04/23/come-again-earc-review/
This was a funny and endearing read, really unexpected in the best ways. The magical time travel and the raw grief were done harmoniously and it made for this sort of book that could make you laugh and want to cry but while still remaining light-hearted enough to be a fun read. Great work from Webb, I'll enjoy looking for another book by him!
Thank you to NetGalley and Canongate for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion
This was a funny and endearing read, really unexpected in the best ways. The magical time travel and the raw grief were done harmoniously and it made for this sort of book that could make you laugh and want to cry but while still remaining light-hearted enough to be a fun read. Great work from Webb, I'll enjoy looking for another book by him!
Thank you to NetGalley and Canongate for this eARC in exchange for my honest opinion