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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
Cold Fusion 2000 by Karl Drinkwater
4.0
‘Watching numbers crunch and evolve was almost as mesmerising as the Windows 98 disk defragmenter.’
After a prologue which includes a summary of significant events in Alex Kavanagh’s life between 1992 and June 2000 when this story opens, we meet Alex. He is a 32 year old man, fascinated by science and poetry. He teaches science part - time at a local college, has occasionally experienced fugue states, and still lives at home. Alex wonders about how his life might be if he’d made different choices. In 1993 he started a PhD focussed on ancient physics, and started a relationship with an undergraduate named Lucy. Lucy dropped him in 1994, and he dropped out of university without completing his PhD.
‘Breaking the balance is a big thing. Restoring it is just as big.’
Living at home with his mother, his younger sister Kelly and her friend Natalie is challenging. None of them are interested in science, and there’s not much else in Alex’s world. But when Alex breaks up with his current girlfriend Anne, he accepts that he needs to change. Easier thought than achieved, especially if you are introverted, neurotic and obsessive.
Alex seems to spend most of his time focussing on either papers he is trying to have published in the field of physics, or thinking about the past. And when Lucy, his first love, turns up in Manchester – and seems interested in him – Alex can hardly believe it. Will he have a second chance? And what is Lucy’s story?
‘Note to the reader:
Some stories are not as straightforward as they might first seem, and small details can be telling.’
It took me a little while to become caught up in Alex’s story, and I didn’t pick up on all of the small details until right at the end. Now, of course, the things I missed seem obvious. It’s not so much a coming of age story (yes, some people come of age much later than others) as a reminder that we each influence the world we want. And sometimes, answers (and love itself) come from unlikely places. Once I became caught up in Alex’s story (and made sense of certain small details) I really enjoyed the story – and wondered what would happen next. How much does the past impact on the present? Can Alex achieve and maintain balance?
To say more would be to spoil the read.
Note: I was offered, and accepted, a copy of this book for review
purposes. I am pleased that I did.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
After a prologue which includes a summary of significant events in Alex Kavanagh’s life between 1992 and June 2000 when this story opens, we meet Alex. He is a 32 year old man, fascinated by science and poetry. He teaches science part - time at a local college, has occasionally experienced fugue states, and still lives at home. Alex wonders about how his life might be if he’d made different choices. In 1993 he started a PhD focussed on ancient physics, and started a relationship with an undergraduate named Lucy. Lucy dropped him in 1994, and he dropped out of university without completing his PhD.
‘Breaking the balance is a big thing. Restoring it is just as big.’
Living at home with his mother, his younger sister Kelly and her friend Natalie is challenging. None of them are interested in science, and there’s not much else in Alex’s world. But when Alex breaks up with his current girlfriend Anne, he accepts that he needs to change. Easier thought than achieved, especially if you are introverted, neurotic and obsessive.
Alex seems to spend most of his time focussing on either papers he is trying to have published in the field of physics, or thinking about the past. And when Lucy, his first love, turns up in Manchester – and seems interested in him – Alex can hardly believe it. Will he have a second chance? And what is Lucy’s story?
‘Note to the reader:
Some stories are not as straightforward as they might first seem, and small details can be telling.’
It took me a little while to become caught up in Alex’s story, and I didn’t pick up on all of the small details until right at the end. Now, of course, the things I missed seem obvious. It’s not so much a coming of age story (yes, some people come of age much later than others) as a reminder that we each influence the world we want. And sometimes, answers (and love itself) come from unlikely places. Once I became caught up in Alex’s story (and made sense of certain small details) I really enjoyed the story – and wondered what would happen next. How much does the past impact on the present? Can Alex achieve and maintain balance?
To say more would be to spoil the read.
Note: I was offered, and accepted, a copy of this book for review
purposes. I am pleased that I did.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith