Hardcover, 256 pages
English language
Published Sept. 7, 2010 by Pantheon Books.
Every day in Minor Universe 31 people get into time machines and try to change the past. That’s where Charles Yu, time travel technician, steps in. He helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he’s not taking client calls, Yu visits his mother and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished. The key to locating his father may be found in a book. It’s called How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and somewhere inside it is information that will help him. It may even save his life.
The story is like watching a complicated movie, where you think about it afterward to put the pieces together. especially in the second half, the story seems fragmented and some mental assembly is required. Yet the emotional current that runs through the book is strong and clear. I don't think the writing style is for everyone, but I really liked it.
Read this book in three days!
I decided to read this book after hearing the author's interview on the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. It turned out to be a bit different from what I had originally expected, as a sort of hybrid between SF and literary avant-garde, and much of it taking place inside the head of the main character, who happens to have the same name as the author. He gets put through the wringer, both physically and psychically, in the process of discovering the narrative of his own life story.
I did not find it funny. It was new and different, but depressing.
