Review: uniquely presented reformulation of a time travel story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 1, 2013
In a uniquely presented reformulation of a time travel story, Heldt has created an engaging book, full of history, humor and some unusual quandaries that are always present in time travel.  Joel is not a particularly empathetic character at the start of his senior year in university in 2000: far too full of himself and too self-absorbed.  Although he does emerge at the end of the story a far more adult character, with a better understanding of his own family and the relationships that came before.While there were some difficulties with the story: there was a frequent change in point of view that was not always clearly defined, many characters are referred to using a descriptive phrase rather than a name, and there were some odd lapses in language that would not have been common in the 1940's, the story did pick up in pacing and become quite engaging, with a solid ending that was a complete surprise to me as a reader.Heldt has a very chatty writing style, with a great knack for description sometimes to his detriment.  The pacing of the story often was sidelined due to the descriptive passages, and often I found myself pushing forward to see what would happen next.  I can say that Joel's repeated encounters with the younger version of his grandmother were incredibly well done: moving him back to his hometown gave the character a sense of place and grounding, and made his encounters just that much more fraught with difficulties as he was aware of what would happen.This is not a book without some issues, but it was one that was very worth persevering through to get to the end.  As a first-time effort, this book shows much promise and is a unique entrant in the time travel stories we know so well.I received an eBook copy from the author for purpose of honest review in the Indie Authors Rock promotion for I am, Indeed.  I was not compensated for this review, and all conclusions are my own responsibility.