An interesting premise, especially when coupled with the strange rules surrounding this time travel experience, which acted as a bit of a carrot for me.

Some of the stories worked for me and some didn’t, and the carrot was not as meaningful as I’d have liked, so I’m very divided on what to ultimately rate this. The most compelling stories are rooted in the specificity of a certain situations. Yet, much like The Midnight Library, it is far too prescriptive for my tastes for them to resonate in the ways the text clearly hopes. The stories would have more impact if we are not told about every thought and emotion of the people experiencing their time travel stories, but rather evaluate the story means for ourselves. It feels overly solipsistic and much too adjacent to self-help writing to package the plot in this way.

But I think I’m also an outlier in that respect. After all, The Midnight Library enjoy great success, as does this, apparently. So I think it’s an issue of just not getting on with a particular style and not liking prescription. And, probably, I shouldn’t fault an author for conveying notions I disagree with, as that is a slippery slope (so long as it’s not problematic). I landed on 3 stars because it does seem to do what it has set out to, has a compelling premise, and certainly succeeds in being About something, which I find to be maybe the most pivotal thing about any book.