I interrupt normal programming to introduce this gem. Normally, I would have a post out at this time of the year about how I travelled in books in 2020 but this, my last book of 2020 and first of 2021 deserves an accolade. It did in fact get one, voted the best fiction in 2020 by goodreads. Avid readers who have experienced different writing styles, varying length of pages and ideologies sat down, read and 72,828 people took their time to vote it in for the award. Numbers do not lie, and that’s the premise on which I dared look for this book and much as I am late to the voting, I am and you will agree with the 72,828.
It is everything you want to read and just the right dose before diminishing marginal returns
mashkiz
There are so many things to love about this book. The cover, the simple writing style, the length of pages, science fiction here and there, the theme, the characters, the arrangement of chapters, the titles of the chapters, it is somehow a self-help book; it is a bit of everything and it being categorized as the best fiction is putting it in a neat box. I had trouble placing it in one genre, it is everything you want to read and just the right dose before diminishing marginal returns.
Writing this review reminds me of that incident in the Bible when Jesus asks John to baptize him and John is quite reluctant because he feels he is not worthy enough and in any case, it should be Jesus baptizing him. I fear putting my version of the book incase it turns out not to be your cup of tea and you end up dismissing the entire book. I hope you can tell how much I really want you to read this book. If it takes you a whole year to finish, let it be so. I am confident that would not be the case and I would very much like feedback if you happen to think it was a waste of your time.
Every life contains millions of decisions. Some big, some small. But every time one decision is taken over another, the outcomes differ. An irreversible variation occurs which in turn leads to further variations. This is what Nora Seed experiences in the book. She is hopeless in life, pondering what could have been if she did something different but where she stands, death is her only option. She commits suicide, only to find herself in a library that gives her the possibility to experience all the versions of her life that could have been.
Phrases like the good old days, take me back, wishful thinking, building castles in the air; always wishing for the past or imagining a better future. Nora realizes that the present has as much potential as the past did or the future will have. Life is not for understanding, it is just for living. Sometimes the universe does conspire to help us achieve our goals and sometimes life simply gave you a whole new perspective by waiting around long enough for you to see it.
While going through the parallel universe, she realizes that there is little that is unique or special about our problems. Maybe it not the lack of achieving that makes us upset but the expectation to achieve. You can have everything and feel nothing. It is not what you look at that matters, it is what you see, perception is everything!
If you are not convinced this is the one book you should read, my goal is still achieved as I have managed to sneak several quotes from the book. I’ll leave you with this other one that should have been in the book but happened to be in another. Unless we change how we view ourselves, what we are and what we are not, we cannot change. Don’t find yourself, never know who you are because that’s what keeps you striving and discovering.
Having come this far, I’ll dare recommend a song to listen to: it only takes one night- Zepeda Gonzalez Victoria. For some reason, it came to my head the moment I finished the book.
Dimples Migraines and Aahs 