THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIME TRAVEL by Kate Mascarenhas

⭐️⭐️⭐️

3.5 stars

Part mystery and part faux science fiction (limited to the time travel notion — there are no aliens, other planets, etc.), the Psychology of Time Travel is a fascinating read that had me thinking about the logistics of time travel and its effect on people. I found myself contemplating elements of traveling through time that I had never ever considered before.

I came to the story with certain expectations about time travel, having seen it in lots of TV shows, movies and books, but it is slightly different here. In all other instances that I am familiar with, the individual can only be in one time period at a time.  But Mascarenhas puts a new spin on time travel in that multiple versions of oneself can exist in the same time period. Younger versions are called green selves and older versions are called silver selves and many versions of each can exist in the same time period with the “original” self. In other words, there could be a twenty year old and a forty year old both existing in the same time as the actual thirty year old, if that makes sense. In fact, they can all hang out together.

The Psychology of Time Travel is highly original with a unique premise that I found compelling and entertaining.  But the flow of the story was problematic for me — it jumped around too much and I found myself going back to see the year of the previous chapter(s). Note that each of the 62 chapters is titled with a year. While most of the book takes place in 2017, 2018 and 2019, nearly 20% is scattered across various times spanning 32 years (1967, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1982, 1983, 1994, 1999).  In addition, there are too many characters to keep track of. It was difficult to tell, upon first encountering one, whether the person is a primary, secondary or tertiary character.  I did not feel like I got to know anyone in depth so I was not as invested in the storyline as I would’ve liked to be. What kept me reading was curiosity to see how it would progress and end.  

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.