Lost in a Good Book

Published: 24 March 2015 (print)/24 March 2015 (audio)
Publisher: Amazon Lake Union Publishing/Brilliance Audio
Pages: 229/7 hrs and 06 mins
Narrator: Jeff Cummings
Format: Audiobook
Genre: Fiction
★   ★   ★ – 3 Stars

Back on my time loop stories and this is a curious one. So many time loops are single days, usually the worst days of a character’s life but Pollack has brought the story of Brad, and makes him relive the first forty years of his life, resetting the night before his fortieth birthday.

I liked the story, it wasn’t the best time loop story I’d read but at the same time it was captivating, even if it was a rough read. Brad is a terrible person, through cycle after cycle he becomes amazingly an even worse person. Of course there has to be a lesson learnt otherwise I think we’d all reach into the book and strangle Brad on our own. His language and humour is crude, and Pollack drives his character and personality really well in that as understanding as we are, you certainly suffer no sympathy for him.

The fact Brad goes through over “forty, fifty, sixty or seventy five” versions of his forty years, he never learns his lesson. One would think having forty years to work with you’d reflect a bit more, single day loops learn their lessons faster but as Brad ends up hundreds of years old he’s not trying his hardest to escape.

I was fascinated by how long it takes Brad to learn his lesson, and even then I was surprised by the conclusion. I expected Pollack to change more than he did, and even then he made the right choice. Brad changes but at the same time he doesn’t, which given the emotional and crushing journey he’s been on, it might have been the only way.

Pollack drops hints towards the end of the novel about how Brad came to be in his cycle. An inherently cruel time loop given forty years is an incredibly long time. I was curious at how he’d cycle through so many loops with such a long time span but he does a decent job introducing us to a new loop at interesting moments or towards the end and have the story backfill from there.

There are a few inconsistencies but they are forgivable, and as deserving as Brad is for his situation, you do feel sorry for him after a while but never too much. He is someone who feels his problems are the fault of everyone else, and while he knows he plays a part in his own misfortune, I never felt he was grateful for what he had. Especially when he had so many loops to improve the life he had he chooses so many different paths instead it makes you wonder what his commitment is to the family he leaves behind. Brad’s focus is so much on improving his life rather than himself.

There is an unsubtle author self-insert which was interesting, but Pollack included it well narratively speaking. It provides an external perspective on how the world sees Brad after thousands of years. Especially given the capacity for the human brain and the undue stress he places it under. I was glad Pollack address the brain’s capacity to keep memories straight and every version clear given the overlap. That was an interesting approach and one you can’t address in single day loops.

Overall it was an interesting read and a fascinating premise. I can’t say I wasn’t expecting more from having such an extensive loop, but at the same time I was intrigued by the chance to redo your life and how many choices would stay and which would change. Sometimes even with hundreds of chances to redo your life you can’t fully change the character of a person.

You can purchase Repeat via the following

 Booktopia | Amazon | Amazon Aust | Audible