Book Review: Obvious Child and Celebrate Divergent Movie

Obvious Child by Warren Cantrell

Source: Netgalley and Publisher

Genre: Adult Fiction, Sci-Fi

Purchase: Amazon,

Summary: Sam Grant doesn’t want to be famous, but he doesn’t have much of a say in the matter.

On the verge of graduating from college with his master’s in History, Sam and the rest of the world bear witness to the invention of time travel. Revealed via a YouTube broadcast, the brothers responsible for inventing time travel find their remarkable device coopted by the U.S. government. In a magnanimous gesture, the U.S. government holds a worldwide competition to decide who will be the first time traveler in history. This turns Sam’s world upside down after a half-baked joke application he sends in gets him accepted as a contestant for consideration.

Thrust into a political and media blender set to puree, Sam and his fellow contestants vie for the affections of a worldwide audience who will vote on the eventual winner. As the successive rounds of the contest pass by, and Sam tries everything from indifference to wild irreverence to get himself voted out of the competition, he finds that all his actions only serve to make him more popular.

As the contest goes on, Sam and the time travel project become more of a referendum on our society’s fascination with celebrity disasters, and what they will do to make sure the entertainment doesn’t stop anytime soon. Unable to get out of the contest via logical means, Sam learns to embrace the perks sudden celebrity provides, yet also suffers some of its typical consequences.

Stuck between two worlds—one he can’t handle, and another he can’t control—Sam finds himself considering a third option, one that has him confronting a time traveling reality that terrifies him to his very core.

Review

The Good: You have a novel where a character gets bungled up in a situation through missteps of his own making. Sam is a good guy who gets an education only to be thrust into the limelight after filling out an application while he isn't sober. All kinds of insanity ensues as he tries to get out of being picked to be the first time traveller but his antics only ups his chances in the competition. If you're looking for a fun coming of age story with a character who hurts himself more than helps while just trying to be normal along with a dose of time travel this is for you. Also the cover rocks hard.

The Bad: When I got this I expected more sci-fi and took the chance though I'm more a young adult fan than adult fiction. While this is a good book the fact that it was more contemporary than scif-fi was a turn off for me. Also I was reminded why I hate reality television. It is a good book but those aspects turned me off and they are kind of a big part of the book. I liked Sam though and even if I thought some of his ideas of getting out were dumb on it's face, you have to get that this poor man is in way over his head.

My Verdict: If you are a fan of adult fiction I recommend this in a heartbeat. The story at the end of the day is really good though I'm not a huge fan of the genre it mainly entails. Despite this I would read more from this author because while he is outside my fave genres: YA, Fantasy, and Paranormal, he wrote a really good book. Also it shows the awful side of that dam reality television craze. Get a sample chapter and if you like it, I recommend you dive right in despite your preferred genres. Recommend you take a look. Plus I have an interview with the author on Monday (got an offer from representative after I requested a copy from Netgalley) and Warren is one cool guy to interview.

Rating: 3 Stars

Celebrate the small things

I saw the Divergent movie yesterday. It was really good but not the greatness that movies like The Hunger Games and Catching Fire have exhibited. I would recommend you go see it but if you're expecting the next Hunger Games, it's not. Really good movie though and they did make some cool changes that meshed well with the dystopic world. The actors who played Tris's parents knocked their roles out the park when things got crazy and Kate Winslet nailed it. The actress playing Beatrice (Tris) also did a really good job though my issue with the movie really was at the beginning when I thought it was pushed way too hard that she didn't 'belong' where she was. Telling at it's worst. It felt like Hooked on Phonics for really stupid people for the first seven or so minutes or so. Got better after that but still was annoying. Not even those who didn't read the book needed to be told that badly. Still glad I saw it though. Enjoy your weekend everybody.

Please Note: Before I go there are three things I need to say.

1. Apologies for my online absence yesterday. I had really planned my day to get to the library before I went to the movies. Unfortunately I was sidetracked by my mother who wanted me to do some things in the house before I left (she was staying home yesterday to take a break from work). But she waited until I was practically about to finish up a few things then shower to leave. Really mom? Then nearly two hours later I finally proceeded to get ready just to be delayed again by issues with the cable company technician being late and I had to contact the company and rearrange everything because dear mom has no idea of the number or how to explain well...yeah. So I had to wait yet again until after 2pm (I was supposed to leave for the library before 1pm and also take a special bus by 2:30pm to get to the movies in one trip and at a lower rate. Our route only gets one of these buses and it doesn't wait long). Then as I'm about to leave my mother says she doesn't want to be left alone with the cable guy. Sigh, needless to say the library dream died. But at least my mother felt bad enough to offer to take me to the movies. So at least I saved bus fare. And time because by then I would have had to take two buses and pay an extra $40. So....at least I saved some money while almost losing my mind.

2. My post yesterday got two responses. One (a regular reader) thought my parody of Moonless called Boneless was mean. While I took the opinion in stride I will say this. On this blog I post my honest thoughts. Moonless got a positive review from me but even then I admitted not always liking the main character and a few issues I had. Boneless takes those issues mixed with my weirdness to create a funny story. It is intended to be funny, anyone who is offended....well you're just offended. The other response/reader enjoyed my weirdness and she comes off as a fun gal I'd love to see comment more often.

3. On Monday I will be posting an interview with Warren Cantrell, yes same author of Obvious Child that I just reviewed. He gave some very good answers and I think you will be both informed and entertained. Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by.