Picture drawn by Maggie Stiefvater, 2009. Header made by S.F. Robertson, 2010.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Relativity by Cristin Bishara

Relativity by Cristin Bishara
"If Ruby Wright could have her way, her dad would never have met and married her stepmother Willow, her best friend George would be more than a friend, and her mom would still be alive. Ruby knows wishes can't come true; some things just can't be undone. Then she discovers a tree in the middle of an Ohio cornfield with a wormhole to nine alternative realities. Suddenly, Ruby can access completely different realities, each containing variations of her life—if things had gone differently at key moments. The windshield wiper missing her mother’s throat…her big brother surviving his ill-fated birth…her father never having met Willow. Her ideal world—one with everything and everyone she wants most—could be within reach. But is there such a thing as a perfect world? What is Ruby willing to give up to find out?"- summary from Amazon

This was a good book. It didn't necessarily jump out at me as being particularly amazing but it was an intriguing concept and Bishara's prose is compelling. I may not have always understood the more science-y aspects of the novel, but I don't think that's necessarily a problem when reading this book.

Ruby is a great main character and she has this wonderful emotional arc throughout the book. Going into each of these worlds and seeing the differences and having to adjust to each one, even for a small amount of time, brings out layers to her characterization and having to deal with her feelings in a brutal fashion. It all leads up to the climax, which Bishara wrote really well and it brings things full circle. It's an emotionally satisfying ending, though I don't want to give too much away.

Overall, a promising debut and I'm looking forward to seeing what Bishara writes next.

FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

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