The Here and Now

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley. And what a pleasure it was.

Time travel is difficult to get right. It is often chock full of plot holes and fabrications, making the whole story seem completely implausible. But in this case, it's done very well. The science isn't the focus and that's what makes it work.

Prenna James, the main protagonist, is an interesting character with depth and dimension. Her inner conflict paints a girl who desperately wants to follow the rules and avoid trouble, and yet she longs to be free of the constraints of her community. The beautiful thing about this character is that she remains consistent as she grows. She never struck me as timid, even though she didn't want to upset the balance of things within her community of immigrants. She was smart but never underhanded. She was courageous but never reckless. She behaved as a cautious teenager would; taking some risks but never stupidly. What she did made sense.

Ethan, the primary side character, was likable, sweet, endearing. I loved the way he behaved like a typical teenaged boy. Even so, he was intelligent but not beyond his years. Sometimes the young adults in time-travel fiction are drawn as unrealistic geniuses. Not so in this case. Although he spoke of "forever" in terms of Prenna and their future, it was clear that forever is a relative, even hopeful term rather than a solid commitment.

What is stellar in this novel is the writing style. Brashares has a way with imagery, giving voice to emotions in a way that is both beautiful and relatable:

No one talks about what really binds us together. The gap between what we say and what we fell is so big and dark that sometimes I thnk I'll fall into it and keep falling.

The plot was somewhat typical of time travel; there are always those places where things get circular. Someone has something in their possession, but they find it in another's possession, which is possible because it hasn't happened yet. These sorts of paradoxes are inevitable. Brashares avoids them for the most part in favor of character development. The most interesting thing here is the unknown. She leaves us wondering whether the future really has been changed.

And yet this not knowing isn't unsatisfying. The ending of the book is the best kind of conclusion. It is rare that an author can leave things up to the reader's imagination without leaving loose ends. Brashares does this exceptionally well. It is a fitting ending that reflects the overall writing style, and perhaps this is why it feels so appropriate.

A bit of romance, a bit of mystery, a bit of philosophy and science and rich characters. What's not to love about this book? It was wonderful.



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