Thoughts on : All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

Posted by on February 21, 2018 2:37 am in 3 stars reads | 1 comment

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
Genre : Speculative fiction
Stand alone

About the Book  :

You know the future that people in the 1950s imagined we’d have? Well, it happened. In Tom Barren’s 2016, humanity thrives in a techno-utopian paradise of flying cars, moving sidewalks, and moon bases, where avocados never go bad and punk rock never existed . . . because it wasn’t necessary.

Except Tom just can’t seem to find his place in this dazzling, idealistic world, and that’s before his life gets turned upside down. Utterly blindsided by an accident of fate, Tom makes a rash decision that drastically changes not only his own life but the very fabric of the universe itself. In a time-travel mishap, Tom finds himself stranded in our 2016, what we think of as the real world. For Tom, our normal reality seems like a dystopian wasteland.

But when he discovers wonderfully unexpected versions of his family, his career, and—maybe, just maybe—his soul mate, Tom has a decision to make. Does he fix the flow of history, bringing his utopian universe back into existence, or does he try to forge a new life in our messy, unpredictable reality? Tom’s search for the answer takes him across countries, continents, and timelines in a quest to figure out, finally, who he really is and what his future—our future—is supposed to be.

My Thoughts :

All Our Wrong Todays intrigued me first for its original take on time travel/parallel universes. The idea that “our world” appeared to be a dystopian construction to the main character sounded hilarious, and the bright cover seemed to promise a book that wouldn’t take itself too seriously.

And mostly, my expectations were met : Tom tells his story with an enjoyable sense of humor and just a hint of self-deprecation. The juxtaposition of “our” 2016 to his works perfectly as a mirror for our society, and the science aspect is interesting too. It was an easy read and good entertainment.

Despite all of its strengths though, the book didn’t quite work for me. Tom’s clever narration got old after a while, and the book was surprisingly repetitive (no, I don’t need a summary of what previously happened 50 pages in!) I did appreciate how the book looked at decisions & consequences, and the impact of time travel/parallel universes on Tom was probably my favorite part; but the ending was not what I was expecting at all and it was just a bit too crazy for my tastes.

All in all, All our Wrong Todays was a bit of a mixed bag for me. It had some interesting ideas that it failed to deliver in an exciting format, and I wish it had been told in a slightly less obnoxious way. It was fine, but it sadly won’t be the first book that comes to mind if someone asks me for a recommandation about time travel fiction.

I do still love the cover though!

1 Comment

  1. I’m not a huge dystopian person so I’ll probably pass on this one.

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