Friday, November 8, 2013

Book Review: Relativity by Cristin Bishara

If Ruby Wright could have her way, her dad would never have met and married her stepmother Willow, her best friend George would be more than a friend, and her mom would still be alive. Ruby knows wishes can't come true; some things just can't be undone. Then she discovers a tree in the middle of an Ohio cornfield with a wormhole to nine alternative realities.

Suddenly, Ruby can access completely different realities, each containing variations of her life—if things had gone differently at key moments. The windshield wiper missing her mother’s throat…her big brother surviving his ill-fated birth…her father never having met Willow. Her ideal world—one with everything and everyone she wants most—could be within reach. But is there such a thing as a perfect world? What is Ruby willing to give up to find out?


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17286818-relativity

Best Bits: This book reminded me of the film Sliding Doors. It's based around the concept that even small differences in what happens to us can have a great impact on our lives. I really enjoyed how Bishara crafted a believable story about alternate realities. I never thought I would say that, and at the start of the book I wasn't sure how real Ruby's story would feel. I found that she was easy to relate to (what person hasn't had difficulty adjusting to something new), and I really felt for her as she struggled to say goodbye to her mother and brother. I also liked the way that Bishara explained the existence of the alternate realities. While I read science fiction, I don't always feel like I understand the subject matter. In Relativity I actually was pretty confident that I could explain how it worked.

Nit Picks: I think that the toughest part for me was knowing that Ruby is extremely intelligent, but being unable to see the negative impact that she was having on many of the alternate realities. Granted, she's still a teenager...so I'm sure that trying to find a place she thought was perfect sort of outweighs the concept of the consequences for the Ruby that she's displaced. It did provide me with some interesting philosophical questions about what I would do in that situation.

Relativity
By Cristin Bishara
Published by Walker Children's
288 Pages
Received via Netgalley

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