I received this book for free from eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
In Some Other World, Maybe by Shari Goldhagen Published by St. Martin's Griffin on January 13, 2015
Genres: Adult Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Relationships
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley
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In December 1992, three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam it’s a last ditch effort to connect with something (actually, someone, the girl he’s had a crush on for years) in his sleepy Florida town before he leaves for good. Passionate fan Sharon skips school in Cincinnati so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends—a seemingly silly indiscretion with shocking consequences. And in suburban Chicago, Phoebe and Ollie simply want to have a nice first date and maybe fool around in the dark, if everyone they know could just stop getting in the way.
Over the next two decades, these unforgettable characters criss-cross the globe, becoming entwined by friendship, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy.
A razor-sharp, darkly comic page-turner, In Some Other World, Maybe sheds light on what it means to grow up in modern America.
Friends, I’ve been looking forward to reading Shari Goldhagen’s IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE for a while now. I found so much of it appealing, based on the synopsis: the movie that ties all of the teenagers together, the way all of their lives connect as they age, how all of them are just growing up and living their lives. I don’t usually talk too much about adult books here, but this one is great exception to make. When I was asked to be a part of the blog tour for IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE I jumped at the chance, and that wound up being a really good call, if I may say so myself.
It’s hard to provide a short recap of IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE because there’s a number of characters that we see over a significant period of time doing all kinds of things that affect their relationships with one another and the world around them. So I’ll just give you a rundown of who’s who: Adam is a really smart young guy from Florida who just wants to leave and be out in the world. He loves theater and wants to get into acting. Which he does. He actually becomes quite famous. So yay for Adam. Phoebe is from Chicago and wants to act, too. She has big ambitions to move to Los Angeles and MAKE IT. Her younger brother, Chase, is protective and kind of sweet. Oliver is her first love and high school boyfriend. He has a weird childhood and home life that eventually leads him to strike out on his own and travel around. Sharon is kind of a loner in high school who just wants to become a writer. She eventually moves to New York to pursue her dream. Things get all tangled up between everyone and it’s awesome.
One of the things that drew me to IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE and that Shari Goldhagen really pulled off well was the tying together of all these characters. There’s a lot of different storylines going in a bunch of different but sometimes intersecting directions and even though there’s lots of room for those intersections to feel too convenient, they didn’t. Not always. But I felt really satisfied by the way all of these characters met and sometimes stayed together for a while. You might think that it would be harder to connect with the characters when there’s so many and they’re all criss-crossing each other, but I found the opposite to be true. I was caught up in the web of their lives.
The characters in IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE don’t lead perfect lives. Not by a long shot. Adam struggles with fame and losing himself. Phoebe struggles with her own lack of success and what she actually wants for herself. Oliver can’t seem to find his place, so he runs away to search for it. Chase is steady and successful, but not without troubles. Sharon is trying to keep everything together–her relationship and her dreams of being published–until a tragedy sets her and the rest of these characters on a different path and spins the wheel of their connections once more.
I can’t lie: there were endings for some of these characters that I wish had been different. I wanted better things for some of them. Happier. But one of my FAVORITE things about IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE is that it was so real. There were good things and bad things–some really good and some really shitty–that happened to Adam and Phoebe and Chase and Sharon and Oliver. Like in real life. I appreciated that realism. It made me cry and swoon and laugh and hope. And even if the endings weren’t quite what I’d been looking forward to, they were still full of promise, and that gave me warm fuzzies. HUZZAH FOR WARM FUZZIES. Especially when the characters have to work so hard to get some.
Because the lovely people at St. Martin’s Griffin are EXCEPTIONALLY wonderful, they’re giving away one copy of IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE by Shari Goldhagen to one lucky winner! YAY!
In order to win your very own copy of IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE, you must be 13 years old, live in the US, and respond to my notification that you’ve won within two days. Easy peasy!
I’m very intrigued by Some Other World, Maybe. I’m actually a fan of ensemble books when they’re done well! Based on your review, this is a good one for me to check out – and I definitely will be. Glad you enjoyed it!