Again Again

Again Again both was and wasn’t the young adult love story I expected. Adelaide’s summer can and does go a myriad of different ways, in a number of possible worlds, perhaps thanks to her introduction to multiverse theory. However, it seems that in each world, even the worlds where she might, possibly, fall in love with someone new, she must first contend with a painful breakup. And yet, the heart of this story isn’t the romance(s); it’s Adelaide’s relationship with her opioid-addicted little brother. Lockhart’s thought-experiment of a novel celebrates the perhaps overly analytical mind that carries out hypothetical conversations to their furthest conclusions, that ponders the consequences of second and third chances, that dares to wonder what if? The result is charmingly weird, bittersweet, and philosophical. (12 and up)