Review: Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
7:10 PM
Maybe in Another Life
By Taylor Jenkins Reid
At the age of twenty-nine, Hannah Martin still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. She has lived in six different cities and held countless meaningless jobs since graduating college. On the heels of leaving yet another city, Hannah moves back to her hometown of Los Angeles and takes up residence in her best friend Gabby’s guestroom. Shortly after getting back to town, Hannah goes out to a bar one night with Gabby and meets up with her high school boyfriend, Ethan.
Just after midnight, Gabby asks Hannah if she’s ready to go. A moment later, Ethan offers to give her a ride later if she wants to stay. Hannah hesitates. What happens if she leaves with Gabby? What happens if she leaves with Ethan?
In concurrent storylines, Hannah lives out the effects of each decision. Quickly, these parallel universes develop into radically different stories with large-scale consequences for Hannah, as well as the people around her. As the two alternate realities run their course, Maybe in Another Life raises questions about fate and true love: Is anything meant to be? How much in our life is determined by chance? And perhaps, most compellingly: Is there such a thing as a soul mate?
Hannah believes there is. And, in both worlds, she believes she’s found him.
When I pick up a Taylor Jenkins Reid book, I'm prepared to stay up all night to finish it. Her writing is so beautiful and descriptive that you really feel for the characters and whatever they happen to be going through. Maybe in Another Life is especially engrossing because we get two alternating story lines. This book is about how our choices, big or small, can change our entire life and where we will end up."It's entirely possible that every time we make a decision, there is a version of us out there somewhere who made a different choice. An infinite number of versions of ourselves are living out the consequences of every single possibility of our lives."
Hannah is returning to her hometown of Los Angeles after living in New York for nine months. She is a woman consumed by wanderlust, in search of a place she can call home. She hasn't held a steady job and doesn't bother buying furniture anymore since she's never in one place for long. Once Hannah arrives home, her best friend, Gabby throws a Welcome Home party at a bar where several of their friends from high school show up. That includes Ethan, Hannah's first love, and she has to make a decision to either go home with Gabby or Ethan. From this point, we get to see both decisions play out in parallel universes. It's so interesting how this seemingly small decision has significantly different results. There were also some similarities too.Hannah's friendship with Gabby is the definition of friendship goals. They stand behind one another regardless if they agree with each other's choices. Even though this is a romance, their friendship was honestly the best relationship in the book. Gabby is definitely my favorite character in this story. She is such a strong and caring individual, and I love how vocal she is about her feminism.
"Looks aren't the measure of a woman."
I could go on and on about why this book is so fantastic, but I don't want to spoil it. I think that it's best to know as little as possible because the major points of the book are right after Hannah chooses who to head home with. I can say that I really enjoyed this book and would totally recommend it. Get your highlighter ready because there are some great quotes.
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