Again Again is actually quite different to anything Lockhart has written before. I was a big fan of her earlier fun "chick-lit" stuff and never really got on board with her dabbles in the mystery/thriller genre, but while this one is definitely more suited to my tastes, I would say it is not much like her recent thrillers OR her older fluffy books. It's a book about love and loving, but it is not, in my opinion, a romance.
At the start of the book, we meet Adelaide as she struggles in the aftermath of a devastating break-up, as she tries to juggle her feelings about her brother and his opioid addiction, as she falls in love, maybe, possibly, with someone new. Alongside the main plot, we also see Adelaide's story play out in different universes, in snippets of what might have happened, what could have happened, what never did, if she had made other choices. I was unsure about this at first, but I really grew to love it as the story progressed.
There is something about the multiverse theory, especially when applied to love and relationships that might have happened or never did happen, that makes me quite inexplicably sad. I think Lockhart taps into that here. There's a lot going on here for such a short book (304 pages and that's including many pages of texts); a lot of food for thought.
The author sensitively portrays grief-- though not the kind that follows a death, as we most often see in YA --and the effects of addiction on the families of the addict. Emotions are complex in this book, just as they are in real life, and Adelaide battles with complicated feelings of love, fear and anger following her brother's relapse. Which emotion wins out? Well, that depends on what universe you live in.
In the end, Again Again shows there's good and bad, happiness and sorrow, wins and losses in every universe. For every chance you didn't take, there's another one you did. It's about accepting the good with the bad. I thought it was all quite beautiful.
At the start of the book, we meet Adelaide as she struggles in the aftermath of a devastating break-up, as she tries to juggle her feelings about her brother and his opioid addiction, as she falls in love, maybe, possibly, with someone new. Alongside the main plot, we also see Adelaide's story play out in different universes, in snippets of what might have happened, what could have happened, what never did, if she had made other choices. I was unsure about this at first, but I really grew to love it as the story progressed.
There is something about the multiverse theory, especially when applied to love and relationships that might have happened or never did happen, that makes me quite inexplicably sad. I think Lockhart taps into that here. There's a lot going on here for such a short book (304 pages and that's including many pages of texts); a lot of food for thought.
The author sensitively portrays grief-- though not the kind that follows a death, as we most often see in YA --and the effects of addiction on the families of the addict. Emotions are complex in this book, just as they are in real life, and Adelaide battles with complicated feelings of love, fear and anger following her brother's relapse. Which emotion wins out? Well, that depends on what universe you live in.
In the end, Again Again shows there's good and bad, happiness and sorrow, wins and losses in every universe. For every chance you didn't take, there's another one you did. It's about accepting the good with the bad. I thought it was all quite beautiful.