Monday, May 20, 2019

Here and Now and Then

Title:  Here and Now and Then
Author:  Mike Chen
Publication Information:  MIRA. 2019. 384 pages.
ISBN:  0778369048 / 978-0778369042

Book Source:  I received this book through NetGalley free of cost in exchange for an honest review.

Opening Sentence:  "No pulse beat beneath the skin."

Favorite Quote:  "Look, it's possible to start over. Completely over. You survive, you adapt. You can find love and be happy and live. You can do that while still honoring your past - even when your past is taken from you. The only thing you can do is run with it and turn it into something good."

What would you do to protect your child? For most parents, the answer requires no thought - anything and everything I possibly could. The question and, for the most part, the answer is universal. It provides the emotional connection to a story about a father and his daughter.

For Kin Stewart, the question becomes all the more complicated because his daughter was never supposed to have been born. Kin has lived for eighteen years in San Francisco. He is happily married and a father to a teenage daughter Miranda. He has health issues, including blackout and memory loss.

What he shares with no one is that he knows the reason why. He is actually from the year 2142. He was sent back in time on a mission and got stranded there. He has been stranded for all this time. His health issues are a time travel illness. Now, a team has arrived from 2142 to "rescue" him. In 2142, he has only been gone for a few weeks, but for him, it's as if a lifetime has passed.

The question is does Kin want to be rescued? He has a wife, a child, and a life now. He also has one in 2142, but he does not remember that life or that family. He wants to choose the one he knows and loves.

Kin, however, is not given a choice. "We're all different people all through our lives, but that's okay, as long as you remember all the people you used to be." Kin is asked to forget, his wife and daughter labeled an aberration that should never have been.

Now, the dilemma is how can Kin adapt to life "back home" in 2142. That life presents its own friendships, relationships, and love. However, how can he simply walk away from a wife and child he has loved and built a life with?  The dilemma deepens when his daughter is threatened. What to do? How to balance the pull of both of his lives and of the wonderful people in both of his lives? Can he save both?

Add to this premise the assumption that all moments in time exist simultaneously. Thus, it is possible to return to any moment in time. The cardinal rule in Kin's work has been to cause no disturbance and alter nothing such that the future remains unaltered. This, of course, is the rule he breaks by building a life in what, for him, are years stranded.

From this premise, Mike Chen builds a story that is part adventure and party emotional family story. Science fiction and family drama make for an interesting mix. I expect what Kin will want to do as a father. However, I completely do not expect where this book goes and how the ending brings it full circle.

"I'm asking you to take a leap of faith. Sometimes when nothing makes sense, it's the only thing you can trust." That's pretty much what I feel about this book. Take a leap of faith and enjoy the ride.


Please share your thoughts and leave a comment. I would love to "talk" to you.

1 comment:

  1. Great review Nada. This one ticked so many boxes for me also, a wonderful read.

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