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Ned Summers is a teenager in the small Oregon town of Middle Falls in the 1950s. His life gets knocked off course when he goes on one date with Mary Malone, a girl he barely knows, who gets murdered later that night. The police chief tries to pin the murder on Ned. He fails, barely, due to the intervention of Ned's loving father. But Ned is so shaken by the experience that he becomes a hermit in the woods for the rest of his life. (My single favorite moment in the entire book is when hikers put up a sign near his cabin reading THIS WAY TO THE HAIRY MAN.) When Ned dies at the age of 66, he wakes up in his teenage body, the day before his fateful date with Mary Malone...
Ned tried repeatedly to save Mary's life, but is hampered by having no idea who really killed her, and by the police chief's consistent-across-lifetimes attempts pin the murder on him. After several lifetimes' failed attempts, he begins to wonder if it's possible to save her, and whether he should even keep trying.
This Middle Falls time travel book tied with the first one for my least favorite so far in the series; it's ambitious in some ways but suffers from a not-very-distinctive protagonist, not enough attention paid to side characters, a theme poorly integrated with the plot, and a climax in which the Universal Life Center angel Semolina (yes really) descends and just tells Ned what lesson he needs to learn in order to stop repeating his life. (Not the only book where that happens, either!)
( Read more... )
On the plus side, this book did remind me of the things I usually enjoy about this series, and it put me in the mood for a good one. I might try the one with a con man protagonist as a big part of the issue with this one was that the hero was boring. I don't think I've ever encountered a boring con man character.
Ned tried repeatedly to save Mary's life, but is hampered by having no idea who really killed her, and by the police chief's consistent-across-lifetimes attempts pin the murder on him. After several lifetimes' failed attempts, he begins to wonder if it's possible to save her, and whether he should even keep trying.
This Middle Falls time travel book tied with the first one for my least favorite so far in the series; it's ambitious in some ways but suffers from a not-very-distinctive protagonist, not enough attention paid to side characters, a theme poorly integrated with the plot, and a climax in which the Universal Life Center angel Semolina (yes really) descends and just tells Ned what lesson he needs to learn in order to stop repeating his life. (Not the only book where that happens, either!)
( Read more... )
On the plus side, this book did remind me of the things I usually enjoy about this series, and it put me in the mood for a good one. I might try the one with a con man protagonist as a big part of the issue with this one was that the hero was boring. I don't think I've ever encountered a boring con man character.
