Proof of Forever

by Lexa Hillyer

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: The first fifth of the book bored me to bits. There was little to tell the four main characters apart and on the whole, I still can't tell the point of such a lengthy introduction. Then came the photo booth and the return to their past, two summers ago. That's when things finally started to take off. Their awkward phases were entertaining, especially tinged with the thoughts of their more mature 17-year-old selves.

The narration was alright, though I didn't appreciate the screeching parts. Yes, they were supposed to represent the tone of speech of the characters but it's really annoying to have that come through earphones.

On a sidetone, I was a little torn about the genre classification. Due to the time travel aspect, it wasn't purely contemporary fiction. There was no explanation behind the occurrence of events though, so in the end I settled on magical realism — something out of the ordinary happened without any reconciliation and the characters came to accept these as part of their natural circumstances.