Running away from her failed marriage and the tragedy that caused it, Laurel leaves her job in academic mycology to work as a dishwasher at the isolated McMurdo Research Station in Antarctica.Looming over the station is
a beautiful anomaly called the Arc which appeared recently out of nowhere and seems to defy physics. When Laurel’s ex-husband coincidentally also arrives at the station with his own theories about the Arc, the two work together in the hopes that the anomaly will allow them to go back and face their greatest mistake.
(Generally, my reviews are spoiler-free, but it’s pretty hard to talk about this book without spoiling a little, so be forewarned.)
This book started out really strong and then lost me as it went on. I loved the first section about Laurel’s life on the station, making friends and finding her place with the Arc as just a strange backdrop. I love stories set on research stations because the isolation and ambition in academia can lead to lots of interesting relationships, drama, and conflicts, but it kind of goes out the window when Eli shows up and they make their plan to use the Arc to get to the other universe. In both worlds, Laurel just kind of abandons her friends at McMurdo and they kind of become important later but it feels like that good setup was wasted.
Once they get to the other universe, the book just becomes a slog. There are interesting concepts involved with how life works when time moves in the opposite direction, but to me it just didn’t really make sense even though it was over-explained. Certain linear processes like language and digestion still occur in the way they do in our universe, but birth and technological development happen backwards. I also saw another review mention that towards the end the book is jumping between timelines for no reason and it’s confusing. It is! I like multiple timelines and I’m pretty good at following them, but there are multiple timelines going backwards and at least one or two flashback-type timelines from the first universe going forwards so it’s just a mess. There really wasn’t a reason to break up the early 2000s and 1999 universe two timelines—nothing would ave changed if they were told chronologically (backwards).
Considering the book is over 500 pages I guess it’s a pretty fast read, but I was just kind of tired of it by the end. It’s clear way before the end that Eli and Laurel aren’t going to accomplish their goal, but you’re still stuck with another 100 pages of not much. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters, and I don’t really know why this is being marketed as “a love story” assuming they’re referring to the relationship between Eli and Laurel (you could maybe make a better case for Laurel and Silas but that’s a very different type of love story). Even outside of their divorce, Eli and Laurel just don’t seem to get along or like each other that much. They don’t have chemistry, so it’s like being stuck on a long road trip with arguing parents and you just kind of get fed up.
Sidenote: I should also note that Kenji Nakamura’s character was giving “Magical Asian” more than I feel comfortable with. It wasn’t egregious but I definitely noticed it.
The writing is solid and it’s definitely an interesting concept, but it gets kind of needlessly confusing and in a book as conceptually challenging as this you really need strong characters and relationships to motivate you through. I haven’t read anything by Chloe Benjamin before so it’s possible that fans of hers will enjoy this, and if you like those kind of kitschy literary sci-fi books (“What if you could time travel and make one change in your life?” Those kinds of books) but you want something a little denser it’s probably worth a shot. I would just say that if you’re halfway through and you’re not into it, the second half probably isn’t going to change your mind.
Thank you to Chloe Benjamin and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!
Happy reading!
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