Time Travel discussion
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Defining Moments
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Defining Moments: 09/01/2018-10/31/2018
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Well, I do see that it's only 99 cents right now, so, I'll pick it up if anyone else is going to be reading it. What say all of you??
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I have it and voted for it. I'm in.
I will have to check in on this discussion later - I read it years ago and I remember at the time I had wished I had someone to read it with.
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Yes, definitely come back!
I got the book on kindle - will start reading this week!
The dialog doesn't ring true for me, but beginning the story with a plane crash held my attention.
I finished but I'm not surre what to say about it - the time travel element was interesting (the way it happened each time) but I remain unconvinced about the story. I liked it, and the writing was good. I think I would have liked less about the sky diving - it was (for me - JMO) the weakest part of the book.Also - (view spoiler)
I'm going to paste it parts of my review, removing some less necessary bits... it captures it better than my memory does:I loved this book in many ways, but the love is tempered by some things that really bothered me. Let's start with the good...
This one kept me up late at night, and this morning it was the first thing I reached for. Yesterday I resented a hairstylist for interrupting my reading so we could begin my haircut. Then I was disappointed she didn't ask me about the book, because I wanted to talk about it. :-P
The journal elements dragged occasionally, because they were essentially just descriptions of a life, not particularly strong as stories in themselves, but intriguing enough to keep a reader interested. Because of the time travel aspect, it is a little harder to commit to some sections of story, since what might change, what might stay the same?
Ellie is selfish. One thing I kept thinking of was how she only tried to help herself. Not to say she was incapable of loving and caring about others, but she never really tries to help anyone else. If you went back in time with the intention of changing things, wouldn't you also try to do more than just help yourself?
Now, some specifics that bothered me. First, all of the characters say "Ya." A lot. This of course results in them sounding either Swedish or like 80's valley girls, and it is really pretty annoying.
I pay attention to editing, and while this one was not rife with typos in terms of spelling, there was definitely some loose editing with quotation marks (missing ones, weirdly nested ones, etc. ).
So, while I found this book fascinating, I think one more editing swipe and a few well-placed lines to make Ellie more empathetic or endearing could have made it significantly better.
Gertie wrote: "I'm going to paste it parts of my review, removing some less necessary bits... it captures it better than my memory does:I loved this book in many ways, but the love is tempered by some things th..."
I read your review & thought it was very good. The book didn't hold my attention as much as all that, and yes, it bothered me that she was very self centered. But the thing I just couldn't get past was that she (view spoiler)
Yup, that was the pivotal moment I think when I realized she was selfish. Wouldn't you have done your best to try to recreate a moment so that you could have (view spoiler)That's the thing about time travel though - for me I feel like if the timeline has been experienced once, it's "real", and to mess with it, for example to cause someone to no longer exist, is a bit too like killing for my comfort. Others are able to consider time travel in a more theoretical or philosophical way, with infinite possible timelines, so might not be bothered so much by these types of decisions.
Gertie wrote: "Yup, that was the pivotal moment I think when I realized she was selfish. Wouldn't you have done your best to try to recreate a moment so that you could have [spoilers removed]That's the thing ab..."
Yes, that's exactly how I felt about it. I wonder if any other readers will feel the same?
Mod
Entertaining. Discussable. But not all that smart. And way too much profanity, sex, and substance abuse. Not enough changes, no cleverness, no thoughts of consequences, no thoughts of other people. (view spoiler) I don't regret reading it, but I can't bring myself to recommend it, either. Sorry.
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I would consider something else by the author, as I assume she'd likely hone her craft.
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Nancy wrote: "This isn’t looking good going by all the posts so far."I wouldn't say it's a bad book - and it made me think, so it was worth the read.
Yeah I found it frustrating but definitely glad I read it.
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It's a fast read - and frankly, I skipped some of the last part about the sky diving and flipped a few pages here and there. The writing is mostly fluid & good, and I think I read the whole thing in an evening.
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Cheryl wrote: "Here's my review: Entertaining. Discussable. But not all that smart. And way too much profanity, sex, and substance abuse. Not enough changes, no cleverness, no thoughts of consequences, no thou..."
I agree. Not enough introspection, lessons learned, thoughts of other people and consequences. She seemed selfish and immature most of time. There was too much focus on her "romantic" relationships for my taste, and the skydiving. I never found the dialog realistic. It was engaging somehow though and I didn't think of abandoning it... This could be rewritten to be thought-provoking and deep.
Defining Moments
Scientist Ellie Ward has discovered a window to the past. In fact, she discovered it at her childhood home when she was nine and she’s been using it to extract herself from bad situations ever since. Each time it's returned her to the 'defining moment' in her past - the point in time where a bad decision set her on the path to tragedy. The problem is, Ellie never knows what her defining moments were and so she never has any idea how much of her life she's going to have to repeat to avoid her latest ordeal. When Ellie’s research takes her to a remote area of northern Canada, she faces yet another crisis when her small plane crashes in the bush. Seriously injured and stranded more than 2000 miles from her portal to the past, this time Ellie has no way to ‘rewind the clock’.