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byera's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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
3.5
katykelly's review
5.0
Philosophy, time travels and teenage issues.
This was deeper and more thoughtful than I was expecting. A lot of time travel stories are comedic, or family-based, even romantic.
Here is one based on the ideas of Nietzsche. Which does make sense in context. As usual of course, we will never find out exactly WHY such-and-such a person is granted the ability to live a day over and over again, who or what controls this, why this character is selected, and exactly what the agenda is. You always have to let that go. It's not a Ray Harryhausen celestial chess board.
Spence (James Spencer) wakes up in his car on the anniversary of his mum's death. Hungover, surrounded by unfinished essay notes, and with his car bumped into by another student. Clara Hart is unapologetic. Spence gets on with his Friday, friends forgetting his reason for mourning, a party that evening. A scene of bedroom confusion. An accident. A death. Spence wakes up back in his car, feeling it bumped into.
And so the day goes round and round. With an angry and blinkered Spence trying to work out why he's caught in a Groundhog Day scenario, and what he might have to do to move onto Saturday.
As I said, it becomes more layered than you might expect. With believable character arcs, realistic teenage interactions and conversations, it's a clever use of time travel tropes. We don't see the exact same scenes again and again. Spence interacts with other people and settings differently each day, putting himself in various places to learn more about the whole scope of his Friday. We see the same school and party backdrops in multiple angles, as he speaks to others and learns more about them, realising a lot for himself as he goes along.
I liked not reliving each scene directly again and again, and I liked Spence a lot. He's honest with his realisations, as he looks at himself, as he tries hard to improve the day for other people. It ended on the perfect note.
The issues raised may be upsetting for some readers, but there are already warnings on the cover about this, and the book handles these responsibly and with quite a lot of discussion.
An excellent Carnegie-shortlister. I would applaud were it to win.
For ages 13 and above.
This was deeper and more thoughtful than I was expecting. A lot of time travel stories are comedic, or family-based, even romantic.
Here is one based on the ideas of Nietzsche. Which does make sense in context. As usual of course, we will never find out exactly WHY such-and-such a person is granted the ability to live a day over and over again, who or what controls this, why this character is selected, and exactly what the agenda is. You always have to let that go. It's not a Ray Harryhausen celestial chess board.
Spence (James Spencer) wakes up in his car on the anniversary of his mum's death. Hungover, surrounded by unfinished essay notes, and with his car bumped into by another student. Clara Hart is unapologetic. Spence gets on with his Friday, friends forgetting his reason for mourning, a party that evening. A scene of bedroom confusion. An accident. A death. Spence wakes up back in his car, feeling it bumped into.
And so the day goes round and round. With an angry and blinkered Spence trying to work out why he's caught in a Groundhog Day scenario, and what he might have to do to move onto Saturday.
As I said, it becomes more layered than you might expect. With believable character arcs, realistic teenage interactions and conversations, it's a clever use of time travel tropes. We don't see the exact same scenes again and again. Spence interacts with other people and settings differently each day, putting himself in various places to learn more about the whole scope of his Friday. We see the same school and party backdrops in multiple angles, as he speaks to others and learns more about them, realising a lot for himself as he goes along.
I liked not reliving each scene directly again and again, and I liked Spence a lot. He's honest with his realisations, as he looks at himself, as he tries hard to improve the day for other people. It ended on the perfect note.
The issues raised may be upsetting for some readers, but there are already warnings on the cover about this, and the book handles these responsibly and with quite a lot of discussion.
An excellent Carnegie-shortlister. I would applaud were it to win.
For ages 13 and above.
breadandbutterflies's review
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
librandian's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
solenophage's review
4.0
Spence is quite a frustrating character. His obliviousness and subsequent complicity in the struggles of his female classmates can be infuriating. He really does need repeat after repeat after repeat of the same day to get what is happening right in front of his eyes. He’s a clueless, but generally well-meaning kid who is misogynistic almost by default just by going along with the culture he’s in and the friends he keeps. This is the whole point and his journey to being a less shitty person was done well despite the frustration. But the fact that these flaws of his are very grounded in mundane reality and he starts off so ignorant of them could make this an unappealing read for some.
The ending was both satisfying and unsatisfying. It was one of those where it had to happen — based on the themes and the progression of the story it fit perfectly — but you kind of wish it didn’t. Despite how Spence improves as a person and what he finally does to support the girls in his life, there have to be realistic consequences for who he was and how he used to behave.
The ending was both satisfying and unsatisfying. It was one of those where it had to happen — based on the themes and the progression of the story it fit perfectly — but you kind of wish it didn’t. Despite how Spence improves as a person and what he finally does to support the girls in his life, there have to be realistic consequences for who he was and how he used to behave.
whalesharks's review
mysterious
reflective
slow-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
2.5
stanleys_human's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lillyp428's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
aelong1399's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5