Review | Here and Now and Then

Title: Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen

Date Published: August 27, 2019

Dates Read: June 12-17, 2021

Current Goodreads Rating: 3.76/5

It's hard to do any kind of time travel stories. I personally haven't tried to write anything involving time travel, but I grew up in the Phil of the Future generation and I watched charlieissocoollike's Youtube video on the different kind of time travel paradoxes at least 1,000 times (though that was partially because I thought he was cute and also he had a British accent). I imagine it takes a lot of researching to make sure the parts in the past are accurate and a lot of creativity to come up with what the future looks like (depending on how your mental health is doing after the last....four-ish years my guess is it looks pretty bleak, but that's just me).

I don't remember where I saw this book originally, but the cover stuck in my brain. When I saw it in my local library a few days before I was supposed to drive to Colorado for vacation, I figured it would be a good pool-side read.

Is this the dream of the future? Seems a little scary to me.

Ok, so what happens? Kin Stewart has a pretty good life. He's got a good job as an IT tech working on the constantly developing computers of the 1990s, he's married to the woman he fell in love with at college, and he has a strong, independent daughter he'd risk the entire world for. Also, Kin is a former time traveling secret agent.

After being stranded in the past for 14 years, Kin is suddenly found by the future and brought back to his present date of 2142. While he struggles to adjust back to his - future? present? - time Kin learns that the life of his daughter, left behind in the turn of the century, is in danger. Risking his life, the life of his loved ones in 2142, and the potential exposure of the secret agency that stranded him in the first place, Kin comes face-to-face with the reality of just how hard a father will fight to save his daughter.

Ok, so what did I think? I need a movie of this book like now. The story was fast paced and went in directions I didn't even consider. Many time traveling pieces of media focus on the ripples that are made from the past that effect the future and, while that is a major plot point in this story, it's not the kind of ripples that make devastating changes around the world. The consequences of Kin's life in 1990 only really affected his life in 2142 and the secrecy of the agency he worked for. After reading so many stories where the protagonist saved JFK only to return to find America a war-torn battlefield it was a refreshing change.

You are the best of us Clueless. You truly are the best of us.

All of Kin's relationships are incredibly important, but the dedication he felt towards his daughter was incredibly believable and touching. He was forced to leave her and his wife in the past without much of a reason as to why and, obviously, his daughter Miranda suffers for it. Kin has the rare ability to see how Miranda's life turns out as well as the ability to shape and mold it into something better.

I think Chen also did a great job at keeping Kin's 2142 loved ones important as well. When he was stranded he left behind Penny, his fiance. It would have been easy to compare Penny to the wife he left behind, Heather, but Chen refuses to do that. Sure, there are the occasional differences that Kin notes, but it's not the kind of comparison that is common between strong woman (like pitting all female music artists against each other or comparing Kate Middleton to Megan Markle). Penny is just as important to Kin as Heather and Miranda. This book isn't Penny vs Heather or 2142 vs 1990, but rather a melding together of the person he was in the future and the person he became in the past.

I also personally thought Chen did a great job creating a future that was simultaneously real and also a little bit of a parody to the ridiculousness of our current society. For example, Kin is named after Quinoa as the decade he was born in was obsessed with naming their children after food. Also, Kin later takes Penny on a date to an expensive food festival where the chefs of 2142 try their hand at creating meals like the junk food their ancestors ate in the past, but the taste is never quite the same due to the banning of processed foods. These subtle moments of satire always caught me by surprise, but not because they were out of place. It was more because I had gotten so lost in this world of 2142 that I forgot I was still firmly in 2021. Those moments gave me a chance to come back to Earth before I dove back in. In most instances being pulled out of a story would be bad, but I honestly felt like it helped me catch my breath in between the more intense plot points.

Finally, I thought the story wrapped up beautifully with past, present, and future coming together in one beautiful bow. Honestly I just kept seeing the end of Interstellar while reading the final pages. Personally I thought the epilogue wasn't needed, but it was still enjoyable. All in all, this book left me feeling warm and fuzzy which was a nice change after the kind of depressing ending of The House at Riverton.

Long Story Short:

• I'm a sucker for a good father/daughter storyline

• Let's stop pitting women against each other, 'kay?

• How ridiculous do you think the future will be? Phil of the Future-level or 11.22.63-level?

My Rating: 5/5