Book Recommendation: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

Perhaps I should have thought twice about using the title “Book Recommendation” to blog about books I’ve read. Why? Because every so often I’ll read a book that I’m not sure whether I’d call my post a “recommendation.” That’s the case with this book. Many of the reviews I read praised this book. I am not sure it lived up to the praise. It’s not that it was bad … I just was left disappointed. I’ll explain more in a minute.

So before I get into it, let me share the Goodreads synopsis:

Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. “I nearly missed you, Doctor August,” she says. “I need to send a message.” This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

Interesting concept, right? It peaked my interest. I have had great success in the past with books that have a neat premise. This book had a lot of potential, but it never really did much. The book tells the story of Harry, who is a man who never really dies. Well, ok, he does, however after he dies, continues to relive his life over and over again. One Goodreads review described it to be like “Groundhog Day,” but instead of reliving the same day over and over, Harry is reborn after death in the same time and place every time.

So basically, he repeatedly has to start his life over as a child even though he has the memories and knowledge of many years and lifetimes. Toward the beginning of the book, Harry is given a message that the “world is ending” and that is happening faster than it should. It seems that he is the one who can stop it from happening. To me, this sets up an exciting read, but instead I thought it was a slow read.

Perhaps it was slow because Harry and the rest of the characters are kind of bland. You’d think that if this guy had fifteen lives, there would be a bit more character development. At the same time, the main character is usually someone you like or are rooting for (unless the main character is evil and then it is sort of the opposite). In this story, I really never felt like there was any character I liked.

I am not sure why I was under the impression that this would be sort of a time-travel type story, and it technically isn’t. There are, however, many time-travel-related plot holes that would come up as I read (Maybe I’ve watched Back to the Future too many times and these things bugged me) that left me with questions.

There were so many good reviews about this book. Maybe I am missing something. I listened to the audio book and found myself re-listening to segments. That’s not odd, because every now and then I will reread a passage in a book to make sure I get what is going on. I really wanted to like it more than I did. I say that because this is simply my opinion. Maybe you will read it and say, “Keith has no idea what he is talking about! This book is great!” If that is the case, please let me know! To me, the book has an very interesting but poorly executed premise that could have been something so much more.