Review: The Book of Tomorrow: A Novel

The Book of Tomorrow: A Novel by Cecelia Ahern

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I finally finished a book by [a:Cecilia Ahern|5781141|Cecilia Ahern|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]! And it was good!

I've tried to read Ahern's books before. I tried both [b:Thanks for the Memories|2410506|Thanks For The Memories|Cecelia Ahern|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328019535s/2410506.jpg|2417683] and [b:Love Rosie|147865|Love, Rosie|Cecelia Ahern|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1306050450s/147865.jpg|3423015], but I couldn't finish them. For some reason, I bogged down in the middle of the book, and it simply could not hold my interest. Still, I could tell that Ahern was a very good writer, and I kept giving her books a chance because I knew that one of them would work for me eventually.

This one was it.

It's the story of Tamara Goodwin, a very self centered sixteen-year-old. She's a brat, and she knows it. As the first person narrator of the book, she's looking back on her recent life and able to condemn the choices she makes, so we know right off that she shouldn't be a jerk by the end of the book. Something is going to happen in the meantime that will allow her to see herself for the first time.

As the novel opens, Tamara's father kills himself after losing his fortune in bad investments. Suddenly poor, Tamara and her mother move in with Tamara's Uncle Arthur and Aunt Roseleen. Shortly after their arrival, Tamara begins to see that something is desperately wrong. Her mother goes catatonic, speaking in simple phrases and unable to leave her bedroom. Roseleen says that it's just grief, but Tamara thinks she needs help. The house is increasingly tense, and then Tamara finds a book at the local mobile library that changes everything. It's a journal, except that someone is writing in it. That someone seems to be Tamara from one day ahead. Suddenly able to know the consequences of her actions, Tamara finds herself adapting and changing her future . . . and herself.

This was a truly magical novel and everything I'd hoped it would be.

Considering the age of the narrator, I'd think this book should be shelved in YA, but most bookstores shelf it with Ahern's other fiction for adults. It's possible that they consider it too literary for teens, which is a shame. I think this book is an excellent introduction to the world of good fiction, a way to bridge the gap from books like [b:Hush Hush|6339664|Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, #1)|Becca Fitzpatrick|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311064637s/6339664.jpg|6525609] to fiction written for adults. I recommend it highly.



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