優質閱讀文化

“This time tomorrow” was written by the New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub and the book was published in 2022.  This novel is planning to be put on screen.  I look forward to this movie tie-in release.

This book is a moving time-travel novel depicting about the most treasured love between father and daughter.  It is a story about the protagonist, Alice Stern, just before her birthday of 40, woke up and was suddenly back to 16 years old again.  In her 40-year-old, her father, Leonard Stern was ailing in hospital for several years.  Alice frequent visits him and does not want her father to die. Every time when she traveled back to 16 years old and her father was healthy and in his prime time, she intended to do something that she thought that would not let her father die at last.  For her father’s health, she looks for something in the past that could save her father in the present. 

Travelling back and forth through time, Alice made different choices, but different life might not fit her.  She requested her father not to drink cola and to quit smoking.  Something had changed in her life, but it did not help his father’s health at last.  This novel is full of fun and I am fascinated that Leonard is a sci-fi writer who writes time travel novels.  I was surprised that Leonard is also a time traveler and excessive traveling back and forth cause him aging rapidly.  On the other hand, the friendship between Alice and her best friend, Samantha is also precious and commendable.  Although Alice felt sad about her father’s death, she still had hopes for the future with the support of her best friend.  

This novel is a thought-provoking novel!  Two quotes from the book attract my attention - “Any story could be a comedy or a tragedy, depending on where you ended it” and “That was the magic, how the same story could be told an infinite number of ways.”  What would you do if you had chances to get back in time to be with your parents when they were young and healthy?  I sometimes dreamt of my parents and they were usually younger and energetic in my dreams.  In the past, we dined out together, watched sit-coms in the afternoon and traveled abroad.  Please do take care of your parents more if you have chances.  If you have done so, you will not regret doing so when you get older.