Again Again
E. Lockhart
Delacorte Press
Published June 2, 2020
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About Again Again
In this novel full of surprises from the New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Genuine Fraud, E. Lockhart ups the ante with an inventive and romantic story about human connection, forgiveness, self-discovery, and possibility.
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.
My Review
It took me a little bit to get my footing with this book. Basically, as a scene unfolds, there are other possible outcomes that appear in bold (at least, they’re bold in the ARC). So you read a scene as it plays out several different possible ways. Then the text goes back to normal and you read on.
At first, I found it a little confusing. In a way, that made the story reflect Adelaide herself– because she’s definitely confused and kind of going in circles at the beginning of the story.
The more I read, the more I liked the style of storytelling and the characters in the book. I especially liked Adelaide’s relationship with her brother, Toby. It felt so raw and aching and yet like there was so much potential for joy there. The way they spoke about their parents felt so real in terms of sibling relationships.
I feel like AGAIN AGAIN delivered a thing that drew me to E. Lockhart’s writing in the first place (She also wrote WE WERE LIARS, which I LOVED!). It’s like she has this uncanny ability to peel back the outer layers and cut straight to the core of emotions and grief and sort of reinvent the experience of reading a book. I wouldn’t want every book to be told in this way, but I feel like it really worked for this particular book with this particular family. All in all, I am so glad I read it, and would definitely recommend it to others.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Representation
Adelaide’s roommate is a lesbian.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used a couple dozen times or so throughout the book.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Reference to sex and nudity.
Spiritual Content
Some reference to a higher power.
Violent Content
A girl gets bitten on her wrist pretty severely by a Pitbull.
Drug Content
Adelaide and Toby’s parents are pretty permissive about teens drinking alcohol. One character develops an addiction to opiates and then heroin. One scene describes finding out a person has overdosed on heroin.
Note: I received a free copy of AGAIN AGAIN in exchange for my honest review. This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.