Seconds

Picked up the new title by Bryan Lee O'Malley (author of Scott Pilgrim).

I must feign naivete, as I did not even realize this book was being released.

Has anyone read or is reading the book? Thoughts?

So far, I am finding this a very mature book compared to the Scott Pilgrim title.

Really looking forward to picking this up, annoyingly it doesn't seem to be available in the UK until next week though.

I read through it the other night and I definitely enjoyed it. Compared to Scott Pilgrim though, I think the plot of Seconds is a little too familiar for my tastes. It's what you've seen in every movie where the lead character has a chance to change a moment in their life, which inevitably causes something else to change and their life gets worse.

Oh boy...it sounds like I'm back in my writing classes in college, haha.

But seriously, it's a great question and I'm not really sure. My problem is more the premise itself because as I said, it's very familiar. It's very obvious from the start that Katie's life isn't all that bad and her "fixing it" isn't necessary, so it's inevitable that she's only going to make it worse for herself. Maybe start her off in a bad place where she loses her job or has a bad review come out, something along those lines and take it from there. Give the reader a reason to root for her to change a mistake in her life.

Another idea that just came to me is perhaps every time she eats one of the mushrooms and goes back to fix a mistake she loses a memory from her past. Then at the end--and sorry, this is a downer--she discovers that she loses her memory of cooking school and has to start all the way over from the beginning again. 

Thoughts?

> I like the idea. It reminds me indirectly of Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind.

The issue I had with the book was the mushroom taking. As someone who knows many people, with enormous potentials and gifts, somewhat ruin their lives with distractions. So, I agree with the idea of her losing more and more of herself every time she indulges in these pursuits. To effectively show that distractions are just one big vicious circle.

It can be very hard at that time of life. All of us, at one time or another, have the training wheels come off, and see that one particular thing is "the end of all things". Perhaps, that might even be a thing girls go through before they become women. The melodrama of all things dissipating into the recesses of memory, developing perspective and coming to a realization that all things are not the end of the world. Where, boys perhaps, are taught to bury or just get on with things without further thought?

Some people get to that point later than others, and some never make it there at all.

haha...so in conclusion...I agree with you. I like the approach.