Version Control

It's been about a month since I finished this novel that circles around the idea of time travel, but it's totally not a story about time travel! I think a month has been enough time to let dense story marinate in my brain. 

I'm not going to dance around it. I found this book boring. 

Well, it had a relatively boring plot. But peppered in between the main story arcs were really interesting and insightful commentaries on society, human interactions, and how advancing technology is shaping these elements of our lives (relationships, dating, education, etc.). These insights were the carrot on the end of the stick that helped me get through this book, as I think they are likely to be incredible accurate in terms of the world we're headed towards. Or already in.

As for the main storyline, well... it's just not for me. This is a book that is more of a slice of life kind of story. A story that follows a girl fresh out of college trying to figure her life out, and in the process of doing so uses a data app to find a man (a scientist) that will eventually become the father to her child. During this time period, we ruminate on the minutiae of  life, often times from the perspective of characters that don't even matter that much to the main story (e.g., the security guard). Version Control takes its sweet time fleshing out its characters, often pouring at lot of attention into parts of the story that I think could have easily been cut. But it's also in those sections that allow the author to add that social commentary that I found the most valuable during my reading.   

Here's the thing. When I read I story, I want conflict. Excitement. Suspense. Drama. And this book... this is really not the story where you're going to get all that. Or certainly won't find it on each of its 500 pages of content. 

If I had my way, this would have been a story about a mother who tragically loses her child, and in a desperate attempt to save her son, she breaks into a secret government facility  and steals her husband's top-secret time machine (er, sorry... Causality Violation Device) to go back in time and right the wrongs that were made. Sure, that might seem like low-hanging fruit. The path of least resistance in making this story, but I can't help it if that's what I'm drawn to. 

But author Dexter Palmer has a different story to tell. (Or maybe a different way of telling it.) It's possible this is one story that I'll find years from now had a much larger impact on me that what I currently believe it does. (I honestly wouldn't be surprised if that were true.) However, for now, I leave Version Control with a relief that it's over, and the gratitude that I've experienced it.