I did not want to put this one down!

Ash, a senior on his school's football team takes a hit that's a little too hard and before he knows it the world starts to change. He's been hit into a different dimension. At first it's barely any different from the world he knows. He's still himself. His friends are still his friends and still exactly how he knows them to be.

But that doesn't last for long. The changes begin to roll in as he shifts dimensions again and again and before Ash knows it - the world is completely changed and so is he. Unfortunately, it's up to him to set things right again. It turns out that being the "center of the universe" sucks and no one deserves it.

Some reviewers don't like that the one to set the universe "right" is a middle class white kid named after a guy who was named after a slaveholder from Gone with the Wind. But I don't think this quite fits the white savior trope. The book goes to great lengths to show that Ash is no hero and he's not creating change in the world so much as he is just experiencing possible realities. He does learn from the experiences of his friends of color as well as about LGBTQ identities, but only does so when they affect him personally. Still, I don't see this as an inherent problem. That's where most of us white people start. And at the end, Ash is still partially who he was in those alternate universes, which I think alters the way he would identify in the end. He also learns that he will never completely understand other people's experiences. He makes mistakes and is challenged on them and forced to take responsibility and do better. I see this less as "white male saves the world" and more as "white male beings to understand the world" and I think that's really important to show for teenagers who haven't had the diversity of friendships and experiences that this character does. Teenagers tend to have a small locus of experience and that can make them (it certainly made me) a bit self-absorbed.

I do think this book takes on a ton of issues and it doesn't exactly hit a 100% solid point on any of them. But I think that's okay too. The world is very complicated. The book becomes not about making everything perfect, but about being willing to learn more and use hat knowledge to lift others up.

The end really hit me. It explores if capability is culpability and it was really heart wrenching. I won't go into more detail than that here. I think this is definitely a book most everyone should read, especially those whose experience is only a small, small corner of the world.