Recursion (January 2021) Buddy Read Discussion ~ Raviteja & Mina

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Welcome to the Recursion Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on January 1st and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each day we will be reading by chapters or page numbers. Page numbers are an approximation based on the hardcover or paperback that is the default on Goodreads. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 01/01
January 01: Part 1 15%
January 02: Part 1 30%

Week of 01/03
January 03: Part 2 47%
January 04: Part 3 57%
January 05: Part 4 71%
January 06: Part 5 86%
January 07: Part 5 + Epilogue


PARTICIPANTS
~ Raviteja
~ Mina

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I go into books not knowing what they are about so that's the same case with Recursion and I was surprised it had a detective as the MC. And then I got shocked and hooked by FMS on page 3.

Oh, how I love alcoholic characters.. not. I hope he won't be a drunk for that long because I just don't like it.

Things just got interesting, although not surprising considering we found out about FMS

Next chapter is: Helena October 31, 2008-March 14, 2009

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

So, I'm having a theory-ish for the FMS because yesterday when I looked up the book I accidentally saw that it's shelved as time travel. I don't know or have thoughts on the time travel, but what if FMS is a nus-product of time travel, and what they remember is another life they actually lived 🤔🤔 Now I'm wondering how exactly does that work.

Is the now consciousness traveling through time and taking over the then body and living things the now body hasn't? That would explain the now bodies having FMS, but wouldn't that change the now memories entirely so that they don't have the memories or experiences they had before time traveling? I guess then Helena's machine or whatever it ends up being has something to do with what's happening.

This is confusing 😂 and I love it

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Part 2 Helena Day 598

(view spoiler)[ Okay, my brain is starting to hurt a bit. So Helena can't get the first timeline memories until the moment where this dude hit reset on his life.. and that'll probably give FMS to all the people that were working in that lab at the time, right?

My question is about those memories he gets while in that bar or whatever it is, while he waits for the train to get home. What happened there? Since his nose bled I'm assuming it wasn't he who did a reset but someone else and he was affected because it he had part in those memories. I guess that Ann not jumping would be the catalyst for other memories to go away too. So someone saved her or something? (hide spoiler)]

I planned on reading a few more chapters so that tomorrow I could skip reading it, or reading less, but I got distracted with the "trying to figure what the hell is going on" and recommending the book to my brother-in-law 😂 So I stopped at Helena's July 5, 2009, Day 613.

[Raviteja]

mina wrote: "So, I'm having a theory-ish for the FMS because yesterday when I looked up the book I accidentally saw that it's shelved as time travel. I don't know or have thoughts on the time travel, but what i..."

I was originally thinking FMS to be a conspiracy where someone's memories are used/injected into another person giving them a false sense of reality, and a life which they haven't lived. I am not sure how time travel comes into this. But I cant wait to read and find out!

[Raviteja]

25% done - page 93 - Barry, November 6, 2018.

I cannot ignore how the procedure Barry is going through is eerily similar to the Slade's NDE experiment with Paul in the sensory deprevation chamber. So, between the old experiment and now, they have found some success, or they dont have much, and Barry is being a guinea pig. Not sure which one is true. Should find more on reading further.

[Raviteja]

mina wrote: "Part 2 Helena Day 598

Okay, my brain is starting to hurt a bit. So Helena can't get the first timeline memories until the moment where this dude hit reset on his life.. and that'll probably give ..."

The concept very much reminds me of the movie 'Arrival'

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I don't remember if I watched that, probably not.

[Raviteja]

hehe, You should watch it, its a good one.

Oh, I've finished part 3 as well. This whole book now is giving me "Fringe" vibes. I've loved that TV series.

(view spoiler)[
1) I've waited for Barry and Helena to meet and it finally happened. Though I am still not sure of what circumstances they actually met in the original/first timeline, that was clearly not given.

2) I think the writing has a major flaw here.. In case of Big Bend building, at one point it says that the building "magically appeared" and later, Barry remembers taking Meghan there for lunch. Both of them contradict each other.

3) I personally think there is no need to add another layer of complexity to the plot, the person leading Gwen's team, but without it, the story becomes too small. I am still interested to know how the whole story unfolds.. The next time I am picking the book to start part 4, I am going to finish this in one shot. (hide spoiler)]

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Omg Fringe! :O I remember that, and I remember liking it too, but I haven't finished watching it, so I'll have to rewatch and finish it ...sometime 😅

I know I said I'll catch up today to the Part 3. But I'm gonna leave it for tomorrow. I know how easy it is to get sucked into the story, so I'm gonna skip today and catch up tomorrow.

[Raviteja]

mina wrote: "Omg Fringe! :O I remember that, and I remember liking it too, but I haven't finished watching it, so I'll have to rewatch and finish it ...sometime 😅

I know I said I'll catch up today to the Part ..."

Fringe has 4 good seasons and an okayish final season. If you've watched till season 4, it is good enough. I watched the series twice, once by myself and once with my wife after we got married.

Cool. Tell me when you plan to start part 4, and we can wrap it up. :D

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

I have no idea where I stopped with watching, that's the reason I want to watch it from the start.

Maybe I'll start start part 4 tomorrow after I catch up with part 2 and part 3. I have no idea, but I think I probably will read that one too because what I've read so far was interesting, and I assume it's going to get better, and I'm gonna fly through it. like we already know I'm capable of doing 😂

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Just ended part 2.. things are getting more and more interesting. If time is still changing that means that Slade made the chair again. I'm curious how Barry and Helena are going to stop him.

Part 3.. wow, so many going back to the past moments. I'm wondering what Slade meant when he said Helena hasn't traveled like he has.

I said I'll catch up and read part 4 too, but I'm not feeling much like reading today, so I finished part 3 and stopped. But since tomorrow is part 5, and with that the last day of reading, I'm just going to finish it all tomorrow.

I know you said you read Dark Matter, but have you read anything else by Crouch?
I read Wayward Pines the first book, and I remember liking it, but I'll have to reread it so that I can read the other two books in the trilogy. Either way, I think Crouch is going to be my easy sci-fi author because he has some mind blowing ideas and tells amazing stories, and the books even with a complex idea are written in a easy and fast to read way.

[Raviteja]

haha, I too am currently at the beginning to part 4.. so you can read my spoiler. It covers what I thought till part 3.

I will start part 4 sometime and finish it today.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Oh, yes the spoiler I forgot to read that.

1. It wasn't? I thought it was, and now I'm trying to remember. Didn't she approach him after they busted Slade's operation, and asked about the chair and he told her about the other agency or whatever it is that came and took it, and is probably trying to reverse engineer it to make it functional.

2. It all is confusing. First I wanted to say, well the building appeared and then the memories came because the memories come after the specific time the timeline is changed... BUT 🤔 you are right.. If the architect had been sent in the past and made his building as he obviously did, then the building would've been there because it was built then or maybe before Barry's time of going back.. and everyone then would get the memories of it NOT existing.

Maybe Crouch got confused with it all 😂 I don't know.

3. Maybe not but I don't know.. I guess we'll see how things play out by the end.

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

The rest of the thoughts.
I'm currently on part 5, and man if they don't fix the memory dump everyone is experiencing when the timelines align everyone is going to die from shock or just their brain is going to collapse from so many different memories/realities.

And here we thought that the agency plot doesn't bring much to the table 😂 But even though things are connected obviously, I feel like I'm reading a different story than the one I started. How about you?

I finished it. And even thought it was a brain scrambler 😂 I enjoyed it a lot.

[Raviteja]

Work kept me busy through out the day, so I think this will happen tomorrow. Once I finish, I will come back and check all your posts :)

[Raviteja]

mina wrote: "Just ended part 2.. things are getting more and more interesting. If time is still changing that means that Slade made the chair again. I'm curious how Barry and Helena are going to stop him.

Part..."

Oh, I think by the time we read the fifth part, we know what slade meant :)

I have only read Dark Matter by the author before this.. I know about Wayward pines but it didnt get my attention enough to add it to my TBR.

[Raviteja]

mina wrote: "Oh, yes the spoiler I forgot to read that.

1. It wasn't? I thought it was, and now I'm trying to remember. Didn't she approach him after they busted Slade's operation, and asked about the chair a..."

1) That was not the original timeline.. In the original timeline, she says they met, spent 4 months after which she travelled back again to warn him from busting slade's hotel. This is discussed more in part 5.

2) haha, may be after so much of writing about FMS, he might have had it at that moment.

[Raviteja]

mina wrote: "The rest of the thoughts.
I'm currently on part 5, and man if they don't fix the memory dump everyone is experiencing when the timelines align everyone is going to die from shock or just their brai..."

Part 4 somewhat felt like a drag to me.. DARPA taking over, then government trying to use the chair felt like fillers written to extend the plot till it hits the final 'its all fucked up' moment. It felt completely diconnected to me. By the time, we are mid-way around part 5, the world turns fully dystopian and then we arrive at solving the original problem, which is fixing FMS.

Overall, I too enjoyed it. Yet another BR done :D

[mina, Group/Buddy Reads Procrastinator]

Yeah, the DARPA part extended the plot and on one hand it was interesting all the fucking everything up, but it got a bit too much and boring... and as we agree it didn't fit very well with the first part of the book.