I'll start by saying that this book was one wild ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Black Crouch has firmly secured his place on the list of authors I must read more from. For those not familiar with his work, he's the author of the Wayward Pines series. I have yet to read any of the books in this series, but that will be changing shortly.
I began reading Dark Matter without any idea of the premise. All I knew is that I'd seen quite a few of my friends and read it and it's consistently received 4+ star ratings. It's not hard to see why. Dark Matter is the more serious side of one of my favorite Family Guy episodes.
Jason Desson is living a relatively simple life with his wife Daniela and son Charlie. It's not a glamorous life but it is his. One day, the life he's come to love is abruptly taken from him by a masked assailant. Before long, Jason finds himself in some sort of lab in an abandoned building on the outskirts of Chicago.
Jason does not know what's going on and desperately wants to get back home to his family. To the life that makes sense for him.
Instead he's been taken to a place where he is believed to be the atomic physicist responsible for having advanced in having Broken the Code. Those are my simplest words because I can't even begin to explain how Jason superposed one reality onto another, can then made another valid reality, of which is also a part of an infinate reality yada, yada, yada. Nor can I really say with any certainty that any of this book makes sense. I just know it was one fun ride.
Since Jason narrates most of Dark Matter, we're able to see an emotional side of things rather than the rational like there must be some sort of code that can be used to get back to your particular present and simply choose which quantum state you'd like to choose next. For all you literal geek-a-zoids, I'm sure you would have come to that conclusion from the beginning and deemed this book too outlandish and may be sitting on your "started but did not finish shelf". Let's forget that there could ever be a coordinates that would lead you back home and agree to enjoy the story.
Blake Crouch feeds your emotional heartstrings by using the age old fear that there was possibly some huge life altering event that changed the course of our lives forever. Take Tom Hanks in Cast Away. As they are kissing in the driveway, both agreed that if he had never gotten on the plane, things would be different. She wouldn't have had to move on to some other man who possibly loves her more than Hanks ever could... or Wilson wouldn't be the local college guys first... you know.
Basically, Jason simply wants his life back, or at least the life he chose with his wife as an astro physics professor. Where Daniela isn't some famous artist. He wants this life because it's his. Our whole day is full of decisions. Like deciding I'd eat a taco for breakfast instead of a nice healthy egg. Or choosing to write this review for a book I absolutely thought was a thrill to ride. I'm choosing to ignore the short sentences and desperation that almost made Jason annoying and am simply going to sing this books praises.
One thing I couldn't help but love about this book is how much Jason loved his family. He was so in love with his wife and son that he felt the choice to keep them and not break the code for the multiverse theory was worth it. Sure, he may have had regrets, but even when faced with that world of prestige, he chose his family.
Ultimately, if there is some way to meet all the other me's that make me, me, I'd probably never do it. Living this life and appreciating it, never taking the now for granted is what I'd rather choose to do. Plus, if I found a skinnier version of myself I'd definitely have to stuff a doughnut down her throat but not after taking some pics to post on my Facebook to say that yes, I was thin once...
Copy provided by Crown via Netgalley
No comments:
Post a Comment