2012-07 - Q, by Evan Mandery

07 - Q, by Evan Mandery, Harper Collins, 359 pages, 2011
WHY I PICKED IT:  Saw it at the airport book store
ELAPSED TIME: 3 days
RATING: Not Good

So I must start with an admission: I did not read every page in this book.  The protagonist is an author, and not a very good one... so when Mandery includes chapters from this protagonist's book, I skipped them.

The premise of this story is a good one: A guy is about to marry the love of his life when a future version of himself comes and tells him a story from his future... One that drives him to leave her.  Six months later, a different version of himself (from the new life path), tells him to marry someone else.  A third version tells him to leave her.  A fourth version tells him to write funnier books.  A fifth tells him to go to law school.  A sixth tells him to explore the world.  A seventh to become a Buddhist... and so on and so forth.

But the protagonist isn't a strong character (and as a result, not very engaging), until he starts telling these future versions to stop interfering with his life.  A realization that I made long before him.

In short... I do not recommend this book.  Save your money... and more importantly use your time in a different way.

SPOILER ALERT.  STOP IF YOU ARE GOING TO IGNORE THIS RECOMMENDATION AND READ THE BOOK NONETHELESS

So what would cause a guy to leave the love of his life?  If he married her, and had a son... and they were extremely happy.  They doted on this child who is smart and funny, and well liked.  And they love each other.  But the child gets sick.  And the child ultimately dies.  And their relationship ends because of the strain.

Would you seek to avoid 30 years of sorrow if you knew it was coming after 10 happy years?  Would you give up the 10 happy years to ensure that was the case?  I don't know what I'd do... I like to think that I'd take the happiness, despite the sorrow that was to follow.