A review by libbyhb
The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsey Drager

emotional informative reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Literally the only reason I happened to read The Archive of Alternate Endings was because of an obscure reading challenge prompt (character or author with the name Lindsey or Bobby), and wow am I glad I did! This was just perfectly tailored to my tastes. I loved the way the narratives from each time periods were selected for each chapter to play off of each other, and the constant of Halley's comet and Hansel and Gretel throughout. Within each story there was also an element of unraveling throughout the book, revealing new details without veering into too much exposition. For some reason, I wasn't expecting this book to be so centered on siblings (it feels obvious now), but that topic was covered beautifully using the different narrative threads. I even wrote down a quote from it, which I never remember to do these days, but it was just so perfect: "He watches her work and thinks: Our lives will never again be in such close proximity. It will always be a moving away from each other, from this point on. Which is to say, to love a sibling is to anchor your life to a series of sanctioned departures." Ugh, loved this so much.
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