No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, every time Harry dies, he always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life lived a dozen times before.
Nothing ever changes - until now.
As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. 'I nearly missed you, Doctor August,' she says. 'I need to send a message.'
This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.
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[The second cataclysm began in my eleventh life, in 1996]***
(Orbit, 28 August 2014, bought from Amazon)
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I read this for 2017 Popsugar Reading Challenge. The category is 'a book that takes place over a character's lifespan'.***
This was second attempt at reading The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. I'm glad I finally read it and don't need to think about it again.
Unfortunately, this book didn't work for me and just left me cold. I wasn't impressed the first time I tried to read it but because I loved the idea behind the book and read so many rave reviews I set it aside to read again.
It seems my first impression was accurate. I really couldn't get on with this book.
I found it long-winded and sluggish, almost verging on boring. The pacing is slow as hell and the book felt twice as long as it actually is. The language is wordy and flat a lot of the time.
I love the idea behind the book. It should have been awesome and the kind of book I couldn't put down but it's poorly executed. Try Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, an awesome book with a similar premise.
Nothing is clearly explained or illustrated in a remotely interesting way so a lot of the information regurgitated across the pages made no bloody sense at all. Don't get me started on Vincent and his 'machine' to make you realise you're God.
I really didn't like the characters. Harry is boring as hell and despite living centuries has the personality of a piece of cardboard. Why such a dullard got to be born again and again and bloody again is beyond me.
Despite the premise nothing very interesting happens.
