Featured New Release Of The Week: The Speed Of Light by Elissa Grossell Dickey

This week we’re looking at a strong debut novel touching on many cultural touchstones both in its overall story and in its telling of that story. This week we’re looking at The Speed Of Light by Elissa Grossell Dickey.

As always, the Goodreads review:

No Day But Today. This is one of those books that touches on so much that it can at times appear a bit schizoid… and yet it all works. So very well. It has the pop culture references – including the one I used as the title of this review, but also very heavily Star Wars. It has the romance. It has the life-altering diagnosis and its aftermath. It has the immediacy of a school shooting. It has the dual-timeline nature of someone reflecting on the last year of her life during a particularly traumatic moment. Arguably the singular real flaw here is the predictability of the more dual-timeline nature than the more sporadic nature the description seems to imply. But perhaps that was an editorial decision to play it a bit safer in a debut, as a more sporadic approach can be at least as treacherous when not done well – and it is far easier to do horribly than a straight dual-timeline approach. The specific time tags on the present day timeline serve to give a great sense of immediacy and urgency, though at times the shift to the previous timeline is a bit abrupt and jarring. Still, ultimately an excellent debut novel, one that makes this reader look forward to the author’s next work. Very much recommended.

#BookReview: The Woman I Was Before by Kerry Fisher

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes… Yes, I’m blatantly stealing from RENT, because this book – featuring (roughly) a year in the life of three women who randomly move in to the same block on the same weekend – brought out those vibes for me. It also harkens to fellow Amazon publishing colleague Emily Bleeker’s 2020 book What It Seems in that this is another look at how “reality” according to social media… rarely turns out to be actual reality. (Ha! Another RENT reference :D) Another strong look at the various damages secrets can wreak, though its portrayal of childless people was at times a bit extreme. Ultimately a well written story of several interweaving lives, and very much recommended.

This review of The Woman I Was Before by Kerry Fisher was originally written on October 9, 2020.