Emma Straub’s This Time Tomorrow is one of those rare books where, almost immediately, it’s clear that every word, every sentence, is precious — every page feels like something to be treasured.Have you seen the 2013 rom-com About Time? Starring Rachel McAdams, Domhnall Gleeson, and Bill Nighy? It’s one of my favorite movies ever, and Straub’s novel is almost like a gender-flipped version of the story in that film, centering around a NYC-based woman taking stock of her life thus far . . . especially once she figures out how to time travel. (A run-of-the-mill rite of passage for all of us, no?) Anyway, here’s the official synopsis from the publisher:
“On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice’s life isn’t terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn’t exactly the one she expected. She’s happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, & she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, & it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn’t just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her old crush; it’s her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life & his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could?”
As you can probably piece together from the general plot, This Time Tomorrow has some gorgeous reflections on father-daughter relationships in the mix. It almost feels subversive, in a way, that Alice’s goal during her time-traveling expeditions to the ‘90s is to save her father, or further bond with him, instead of simply reconnecting with her high school crush and/or ensuring he marries her in the future. A lesser book might’ve focused entirely on the latter. And while Alice and her father, Leonard, are the heart of the book, a relationship that’s almost just as fleshed-out and emotional is the one between Alice and her best friend Sam.