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In this book, Danny Maytree is a talented, yet highly conflicted, actor. After he meets the love of his life, Samantha, on a blind date, life changes drastically for him. Everything he does is for the benefit of his and Samantha's relationship. As the novel progresses, Danny reveals how much fun he used to have as a young man training in acting in New York, and eventually as a young actor working in Hollywood. His memories and his life's events bend and merge together. He also emerges in the mid-seventies as a young Danny who possesses an older Danny's memories. In a confusing series of events, the protagonist begins to question whether or not Samantha was ever real.
This book is deeply psychological. At first, its chapters read like someone's autobiography. However, as the book progresses, the setting and the characters involved change in an eye blink. These sudden shifts are interesting takes on how time shapes, reshapes, and perhaps even manipulates memory. The novel's structure supports this conceit, making for a riveting rollercoaster read. The romantic elements will appeal to anyone in need of a good love story. Philosophically, the book offers its audience many ideas about memory and perception to contemplate. It also prompts one to pause and reflect on the choices an individual makes and how those choices, in turn, shape one's life, memories, and future self. This is an interesting take on second chances, the life one imagines, the life one creates, and the life one ends up living.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review