Again Again

by E. Lockhart

This twisty novel from the New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud asks: What if there were infinite universes and infinite ways to fall in love?

If you could live your life again, what would you do differently?

After a near-fatal family catastrophe and an unexpected romantic upheaval, Adelaide Buchwald finds herself catapulted into a summer of wild possibility, during which she will fall in and out of love a thousand times--while finally confronting the secrets she keeps, her ideas about love, and the weird grandiosity of the human mind.

A raw, funny story that will surprise you over and over, Again Again gives us an indelible heroine grappling with the terrible and wonderful problem of loving other people.

"Inventive, philosophical and romantic." --GAYLE FORMAN, #1 New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay

Don't miss, Family of Liars, the eagerly anticipated prequel to the New York Times Bestselling phenomenon, We Were Liars. Available in May 2022!

• ISBN10: 038574479X
• ISBN13: 9780385744799
• Publish Date: 2 June 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Delacorte Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780385744799

Reviews

[Bianca]

She was talky. She painted her fingernails green and wore floral-print dresses and enormous cardigan sweaters. 

But you can be talky and paint your fingernails and still be very sad.

A bittersweet read on self-discovery and learning to unhinge our happiness from other people. The title is a reference to the scenes happening again and again, showing how the same situations could turn out differently in alternate universes. Really interesting style.

[empressbrooke]

My rating is hovering somewhere around a 2.5, but I'm rounding up to 3. There was something genuinely annoying about the main character referring to her ex and her best friend as "Mikey Double L" and "Stacy S" even though there were no other Mikeys (ugh) or Stacys to mix them up with, as well as the strange drops into verse-like sections. I can't decide if I appreciated the multi-universe approach to seeing all the different ways the main character's life might have gone during this summer or if it left me feeling unfulfilled. It was interesting, at the very least.

[Sam@WLABB]

Adelaide and her family were still coming to terms with her brother's addiction. As her family supported him through multiple stints at rehab, Adelaide wanted to be the good daughter, the easy child. She found comfort in assuming these roles, but the longer she played them, the more she lost touch with herself. Now dumped by her boyfriend and on academic probation, she finds herself adrift, but not lost, in a sea of possibilities.

The hook of this book is supposed to be the idea of the multiverse. That the entirety of our world is the sum of a group of universes. Heady stuff, but don't worry, because it's not that complicated in AGAIN AGAIN. In the book, we follow Adelaide over the course of a summer. We watch her fall in and out of love, confront her fears, reconnect with her brother, and complete her design project. As the story plays out, there are points, where multiple possibilities are explored, and we get to see how each choice she makes affects the outcome. I read these little branch points, and found it interesting, but when I saw how it all came together at the end, I was a bit awed. I tip my hat to you, Ms. Lockhart.

I loved seeing the different potential outcomes. It was fascinating to imagine how big an impact small decisions could make. Each thread had Adelaide making different choices for her love life, but in all of them, she was a sister desperately trying to restore her relationship with her younger brother. It was the moments she shared with her brother, that hit me the hardest. Those scenes were touching and heart wrenching, and I think they impacted me more, because I lost a cousin, who had lived with my family, to addiction, and was therefore, I understood her pain and fear. It was also fantastic seeing her grow in each possible universe. Different choices yielded different outcomes, yet each augmented Adelaide's understanding of herself, her brother, her parents, love, and life.

When I finished this book, I wiped my tears, and just sat back, so I could quietly appreciate the beauty of the story. It was a little bit sad and bittersweet, but it was also imbued with hope. It reminded me that life is full of endless possibilities, and that I do wield some power over it via the choices I make.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

What if we got do-overs when we didn't love how we handled something? Wouldn't that be fabulous? It would. We don't, but Adelaide might. Here's the thing: I have no idea which of Adelaide's attempts on living are the "real" ones. I suspect we aren't supposed to know. I won't lie, it frustrated me a bit as a very logic-driven, concrete thinker. But I can absolutely appreciate that there's something thought-provoking in the not knowing, something that challenges us to almost choose-her-adventure, if you will.

Adelaide, when we meet her, isn't particularly likable. Oh, we feel bad for her because she's just been dumped and is kind of a mess of a person, sure. She's going through a lot of family stuff (which unwinds as the story does, so I won't say much more about that), and it's certainly not easy. But sometimes, as we all do, Adelaide brings on some of her hardships. But during the course of the story, she begins to actually see that she is sometimes her own worst enemy, and somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophet.

So while none of Adelaide's do-overs may even be "real", Adelaide's ability to grow and move forward is very real. That even if she is forced to live with the very first set of events, she has learned so much from them that she will be able to have much better futures, no matter the past. And that is something we can all stand to remember.

Bottom Line: Truly lovely and thought provoking, Adelaide's growth and trajectory made her story worth reading, no matter what version of her life she ends up in.