The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells by Andrew Sean Greer

Get lost in the many lives of Greta in The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells, a Science Fiction by Andrew Sean Greer where one woman lives three different lives in three different eras.

It's 1985 and Greta Wells just lived through the death of her twin brother, Felix, due to AIDS, the epidemic of the time.  Depression from her brother's death and breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, Greta finds herself getting treatment from a psychiatrist.  The side effects of the treatment are strange and Greta soon finds herself living in 1918, 1941, and present day of the book, 1985.  In each era, she is living how she would had she been alive during that time.  In each time that Greta travels to, she finds each event paralleling to each other, experiencing losses each time.  As the ending of her treatments come near, Greta must choose which period to stay in.  Does she really want to return to 1985, the only time when her brother is gone for good?

What I liked: Greer immediately grabbed your attention in the beginning of the book.  We are hit with Felix's death from the beginning and you can already feel Greta's pain.  It's clear to see why she would go for such treatment.  She was willing to do anything to help her get through her bother's death.  Greer wonderfully wrote Greta in this novel and you could feel her pain.  Even when she hurt from Nathan's cheating, you couldn't help but to be on Greta's side.

Felix was a very lovable character, I had tears when he died and that was from the beginning.  I'm glad Greer had him still alive in the other periods Greta traveled to, it gave us something to look for knowing that Felix was still alive.  But in the past, Felix couldn't be as free as he was in 1985 and that was brought out during 1918 and 1941.

Greer chose each of the time periods where there was trouble in the world  1918 we witnessed World War I going on.  In 1941, we were about to head to World War II.  1985, the AIDs epidemic was all over.  Ge could've picked different periods to have Greta be apart of, but he chose times that impacted our country.

What I didn't like: There were times when the switch in time got confusing.  I thought I was reading about one travel, but what was going on was from a different era.  Greer needed to make those parts a little clearer to make it a smoother flow in the story. 

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars.  It was an interesting concept and the characters were well written.  Even Nathan, who I disliked most in this book, was written with such detail that he couldn't stay faithful to Greta no matter what decade she was in.  I would recommend this book for any Sci-Fi fan and anyone who is into time travel and likes history.

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