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A review by one_womanarmy
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
adventurous
dark
fast-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
4.0
Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is a born again, born again, born again fellow - travelling always back to hai beginning no matter how often or in what manner he dies. North takes the classic time travel trope to dark and unique dimensions in First Fifteen Lives by exacting from Harry religious fervor, dreams of quantum world domination, poverty, wealth, academic fame, at least five marriages, 114 birthday parties, and most difficult, a range of quite graphic tortures by the CIA and close companions alike.
Unique, captivating, and filled with equal measures charm and oddity, I found this an excellently written book, compelling by the page and endearing as a first person travel. That said, this novel needs several serious physical and psychological trigger warnings.
Harry commits suicide repeatedly. As a child. As an adult. Harry is institutionalized and abandoned as an insane child, captured, and confined in long periods as an adult. The detailed, drawn out, and graphic torture scenes were so vivid and so accurately narrated in imparting their emotional trauma that I had nightmares many evenings. Harry's extreme, bitter loneliness as he relives life again and again was also a very keenly felt kind of emotional distress as a reader, North's analogy for the human condition turned up to painful high flame.
A stunning achievement, but not for the faint of heart.
Unique, captivating, and filled with equal measures charm and oddity, I found this an excellently written book, compelling by the page and endearing as a first person travel. That said, this novel needs several serious physical and psychological trigger warnings.
Harry commits suicide repeatedly. As a child. As an adult. Harry is institutionalized and abandoned as an insane child, captured, and confined in long periods as an adult. The detailed, drawn out, and graphic torture scenes were so vivid and so accurately narrated in imparting their emotional trauma that I had nightmares many evenings. Harry's extreme, bitter loneliness as he relives life again and again was also a very keenly felt kind of emotional distress as a reader, North's analogy for the human condition turned up to painful high flame.
A stunning achievement, but not for the faint of heart.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Toxic friendship, and Suicide