DNF: This Changes Everything by Sally Ember (Melissa’s review)

This Changes Everything (The Spanners #1) 
written by Sally Ember
published by Sally Ember

find it here: (affiliate links) (Free at time of post date.) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange  for an honest review.

Where I stopped reading: location 418 of 2632 in my eBooks app

Why I stopped reading: It was too much.

There were too many characters, too many acronyms, too many tenses. Too much of me wondered which reality was true–the one where “Clara” writes a fictional account of her alien encounters, the one where “Clara” writes a true account of her experiences, or the one where Ms. Ember struggles so much to find the truth that we, as readers, are left to question her own sanity. I’ll say this: either Ms. Ember is an absolute genius, or she’s in need of some serious psychotropic meds.

I was only partway into chapter three, but I’d already waded through too many “Chapter Interludes” to keep the plot straight. The most I can tell you is that “Clara” seems to be in contact with some alien life forms, who encourage her to believe that everything is happening all at once and that she should write her possible-biography/possible-novel (however confusing it might be) in the present tense. Clara also seems to lack the ability to prioritize–her examples all include gratuitous examples, and goodness help me, I had no idea what I was supposed to pay attention to (and yeah, I know I ended that sentence with a preposition).

There might be more plot. It might be awesome. But, for me, there was too much EVERYTHING ELSE.

Sorry, Ms. Ember.

 

What others have rated this book: According to Goodreads, the average rating for This Changes Everything is 4.64 stars. It looks like a majority of readers gave this book 5 stars. There were 3 five-star and 3 one-star reviews on Amazon. At Barnes & Noble, there were 2 five-star and 2 four-star reviews. Just because I didn’t finish this book doesn’t mean you won’t.

About the book – from Goodreads:  Dr. Clara Ackerman Branon, Ph.D., 58, is having the first of many home visits from holographic representations of five beings from the Many Worlds Collective (MWC), a consortium of planet and star systems all around the multiverse, over a thirty-year, increasingly Utopian period. Earth is being invited to join, formally, and the December, 2012, visit is the first one allowed to be made public. Making the existence of the MWC public means many Earthers have to adjust our beliefs and ideas about life, religion, culture, identity and, well, everything we think and are. Clara becomes the liaison for Earth, the Chief Communicator, between Earth and the MWC.