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A review by ryanpfw
If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch
4.0
I’m of a couple of minds about “If I See You Again Tomorrow.”
Parts of it worked exceedingly well, better than I could have hoped. Parts didn’t meet expectations because the story pivoted from how it was sold. I pulled a lot of good from it, but some parts just didn’t settle well in the end. Let’s get into it.
This is the story of Clark, a 17 year old boy who after a night out at a concert finds himself reliving the same day over 300 times, without explanation. Couch does a good job at world building here. Clark rallies, panics, becomes dejected, and eventually just settles into the routine. It’s not quite Groundhog Day, but it’s close. He never tries to kill himself or injure anyone, but eventually he gives in to the loneliness that any action he takes vanishes within a few hours. He is dispensable.
On his 310th day, he encounters Beau, an off the wall fearless kid who is going on about his day. A lot of my issues with this story center around Beau. We don’t get a good sense of his character, as he’s literally played as other worldly, and obnoxious to boot. Clark realizes too late that Beau is also reliving the same day and sets about teaming up with him, but Beau insufferably refuses to speak to Clark, or provide him with any information whatsoever, dramatically disappearing from the plot for massive chunks of time.
Clark, inspired to make the world a better place by Ms. Hazel, his therapist, focuses on Beau’s friends - Otto, Dee and Emery and helps them improve their lives in ways big and small. At the same time, he becomes a better human, forges stronger relationships with his parents, sister and best friend. At the same time, he is connected to a woman who once was trapped in a time loop herself and is able to impart some knowledge to Clark. She and her friend were trapped together, as all trapped are trapped in pairs, due to a mistake that the universe is leaving the door open for them to correct. Clark and Beau are trapped together because something in their meeting at the concert failed, and he has until the 365th day to get it right before disaster strikes.
Clark’s relationships with those around him are the high point of the book, his growth as a human specifically. The plot hinges on he and Beau being soulmates, destined to be together and repair their relationship, and that’s just unfortunate because we don’t receive Beau’s perspective in the storyline, when we do see him he’s insufferable and his pigheaded refusal to even have a conversation with Clark for the sake of extending the plot is really difficult to slog through. He has plot based reasons for trying to go out on his own path, but “because it would be too hard” is his excuse for sprinting away from Clark down the street before Clark can ask a question or give him information. (The idea that Clark’s mother’s browser lock prevented him from finding a plot device was the one freebie you get away with, but Clark literally couldn’t find Beau at his own house over weeks because Beau was going out of his way to avoid being found, for the sake of plot. That’s infuriating.)
There’s a plot line about the happily ever plot device and how it’s not realistic, and part of me wishes the growth Clark went through in this story was enough, that Beau was right and Clark was just excited to meet someone new and different and wasn’t his soulmate, which is somewhat crazy given how little they know each other. Clark didn’t need Beau to be true to his family and his friends and his life, and at the very least they could have had a new beginning, and not a declaration of eternal love after how weak Bo’s character was to that point.
All in all, I thought this was going to be the story of a boy trying to start a relationship with a daily reset and the other partner being unaware, and it was eventually not really about Bo at all. That misdirection is okay. This isn’t like the time “Man of the Year” promised a slapstick comedy and delivered a badly edgy suspense thriller. I’ll take it. Beau just dragged it down, as did the fact that the healing with his parents was undone by the final day. I’m sure he can go have those conversations again, but not being able to cram everything into one day was understandable, but was a bit odd as written.
The world building and the so many things done well makes this four easy stars. Beau loses it a star. I should be grateful we got as little of him as we did.
Parts of it worked exceedingly well, better than I could have hoped. Parts didn’t meet expectations because the story pivoted from how it was sold. I pulled a lot of good from it, but some parts just didn’t settle well in the end. Let’s get into it.
This is the story of Clark, a 17 year old boy who after a night out at a concert finds himself reliving the same day over 300 times, without explanation. Couch does a good job at world building here. Clark rallies, panics, becomes dejected, and eventually just settles into the routine. It’s not quite Groundhog Day, but it’s close. He never tries to kill himself or injure anyone, but eventually he gives in to the loneliness that any action he takes vanishes within a few hours. He is dispensable.
On his 310th day, he encounters Beau, an off the wall fearless kid who is going on about his day. A lot of my issues with this story center around Beau. We don’t get a good sense of his character, as he’s literally played as other worldly, and obnoxious to boot. Clark realizes too late that Beau is also reliving the same day and sets about teaming up with him, but Beau insufferably refuses to speak to Clark, or provide him with any information whatsoever, dramatically disappearing from the plot for massive chunks of time.
Clark, inspired to make the world a better place by Ms. Hazel, his therapist, focuses on Beau’s friends - Otto, Dee and Emery and helps them improve their lives in ways big and small. At the same time, he becomes a better human, forges stronger relationships with his parents, sister and best friend. At the same time, he is connected to a woman who once was trapped in a time loop herself and is able to impart some knowledge to Clark. She and her friend were trapped together, as all trapped are trapped in pairs, due to a mistake that the universe is leaving the door open for them to correct. Clark and Beau are trapped together because something in their meeting at the concert failed, and he has until the 365th day to get it right before disaster strikes.
Clark’s relationships with those around him are the high point of the book, his growth as a human specifically. The plot hinges on he and Beau being soulmates, destined to be together and repair their relationship, and that’s just unfortunate because we don’t receive Beau’s perspective in the storyline, when we do see him he’s insufferable and his pigheaded refusal to even have a conversation with Clark for the sake of extending the plot is really difficult to slog through. He has plot based reasons for trying to go out on his own path, but “because it would be too hard” is his excuse for sprinting away from Clark down the street before Clark can ask a question or give him information. (The idea that Clark’s mother’s browser lock prevented him from finding a plot device was the one freebie you get away with, but Clark literally couldn’t find Beau at his own house over weeks because Beau was going out of his way to avoid being found, for the sake of plot. That’s infuriating.)
There’s a plot line about the happily ever plot device and how it’s not realistic, and part of me wishes the growth Clark went through in this story was enough, that Beau was right and Clark was just excited to meet someone new and different and wasn’t his soulmate, which is somewhat crazy given how little they know each other. Clark didn’t need Beau to be true to his family and his friends and his life, and at the very least they could have had a new beginning, and not a declaration of eternal love after how weak Bo’s character was to that point.
All in all, I thought this was going to be the story of a boy trying to start a relationship with a daily reset and the other partner being unaware, and it was eventually not really about Bo at all. That misdirection is okay. This isn’t like the time “Man of the Year” promised a slapstick comedy and delivered a badly edgy suspense thriller. I’ll take it. Beau just dragged it down, as did the fact that the healing with his parents was undone by the final day. I’m sure he can go have those conversations again, but not being able to cram everything into one day was understandable, but was a bit odd as written.
The world building and the so many things done well makes this four easy stars. Beau loses it a star. I should be grateful we got as little of him as we did.