A feel-good, entertaining blend of humor, philosophy, and romance, with a time-slip twist.
A time-traveling man tries to get back to the future and his beloved wife in this novel.
Time is a bit elastic for Danny Maytree, 75, an actor-turned-novelist living in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. As he tells Samantha, his wife of 38 years, “once in a while my mind and the conventional notion of time drift a little out of synch.” It’s 2021, and Danny’s current work in progress concerns an actor who returns to the past to reverse bad career decisions. After several strange, perhaps mescaline-induced experiences (including a conversation with his mysterious rescue mutt, Tali), Danny finds himself young again, in Beverly Hills in 1974. Life imitates art as Danny tries to get his bearings; he writes a screenplay based on his novel while also making career decisions informed by a lifetime of learning. But success is not his chief motivation. Stuck in the past, he hasn’t met Sam yet and is bereft without her. He believes that somehow getting his movie produced will restore him to his wife and his life. Through the course of his time-travel journey, several odd personal encounters and many mystical revelations open Danny’s eyes about the past, forgiveness, and grace. Lenz, whose memoir North of Hollywood (2012) recounted his life as an actor, grounds his novel in showbiz practicalities, such as getting funding. Cinema’s alteration of reality through techniques like montages and jump-cuts makes an effective metaphor for Danny’s experience, and clever, snappy dialogue beefs up the more abstruse mystical elements. Intriguing complications include the question “Have you ever considered the possibility that you sort of cling to Sam? Isn’t that a no-no in your spiritual view of the world?” A life-affirming ending wraps everything up.
A feel-good, entertaining blend of humor, philosophy, and romance, with a time-slip twist. (Time-travel novel, 16+)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-9848442-6-5
Page Count: 383
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A whirlwind journey that opens doors into other worlds but also into the heart of the human experience.
A debut novel about a bookseller who discovers the real power of books—if they’re magic.
When an elderly customer dies at Manhattan’s Kellner Books, Cassie Andrews finds herself in an inexplicable situation. In Mr. John Webber’s possession is a small, leather-bound book in a language Cassie doesn’t recognize. There are a few lines in English: “This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any door is every door.” And then: “Cassie, This book is for you, a gift in thanks for your kindness.” Cassie shows the book to her roommate, Izzy, who’s wary. And yet, when Cassie thinks of a door she once saw on vacation in Venice, that door opens for her. Naturally, there are people who want this powerful book, and soon enough the underworld of rare book collectors is buzzing. Drummond Fox, known as the Librarian, happens upon Cassie using the Book of Doors, thanks to his own Book of Luck. But while Drummond seeks to protect books like Cassie’s, there are others—notably, someone known only as “the woman”—who seek to use them for evil. Drummond is eager to show Cassie the danger she’s in by revealing the full potential of the Book of Doors: “You can open a door to the past….That’s why people will want your book.” What follows is a multilayered exploration of how the book can influence past, present, and future, and how individual choices can have unimaginable rippling effects. Fans of books like Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore will love this world, though by the end Brown has moved from his initial focus on magical books toward a case study of the rules of time travel. One unexpected aspect is the gory depiction of torture at the hands of “the woman” and the books she possesses. These scenes are jarringly at odds with the initial tone of wonderment, but if you stick with it, you’ll reach a conclusion that’s both disorienting and deeply satisfying.
A whirlwind journey that opens doors into other worlds but also into the heart of the human experience.Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780063323988
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
An engaging story framed by a brooding meditation on time and meaning.
In this new novel by Haig (Reasons to Stay Alive, 2016), a man of extraordinarily long life deals with a painfully ordinary question: what is it we live for?
Tom Hazard, though he has gone by many names, has an unusual condition that makes him age exceptionally slowly—he's more than 400 years old in 2017 but looks a mere 40-something. Tragic events taught him early that his seeming agelessness is a lightning rod for witch hunters and the dangerously suspicious in all eras. For protection, he belongs to the Albatross Society, a secret organization led by Hendrich, an ancient, charismatic man who's highly protective of his members and aggressive about locating and admitting other “albas” into the group. After assisting Hendrich in one such quest, Tom starts a new life in London; he's haunted by memories of his previous life there in the early 1600s, when he had to leave his wife and young child to ensure their safety. He's losing hope that Hendrich will help him find his daughter, who he's learned shares his condition. He muddles through his days until he meets a French teacher who claims she recognizes his face. Unraveling that mystery will lead Tom to re-examine his deeply etched pessimism. Meanwhile, readers are treated to memories of his past, including encounters with Shakespeare, Capt. Cook, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Tom sometimes wallows overmuch about the changelessness of the human condition, and one might be forgiven for wondering why so much time has not done more to heal his oldest wounds. But Haig skillfully enlivens Tom’s history with spare, well-chosen detail, making much of the book transporting.
An engaging story framed by a brooding meditation on time and meaning.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-52287-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
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