The Lost Boys Symphony is a novel with lofty goals that missed the mark. I appreciate what it tried to do, but it is not the Butterfly Effect, Eternal Sunshine, and other movies focusing on existentially-minded stories. The novel is a thriller that, while interesting, got a bit too big to follow. I think with a complete developmental revision The Lost Boys Symphony would have more potential for greatness. 3 stars.

I'm A Schizophrenic, and So Am I

We start with a traditional triangle - a guy, a girl, and the guy's bestfriend, who is also attracted to the girl. After the girl moves on the guy starts to lose it and the best friend agonizes about whether to do something about his attraction to the girl. We've been doing this one ever since the Greeks decided to put a second actor up on the stage, but there's nothing wrong with that. (Remember, "Star Wars" is just a standard Western, but with droids.)

From this premise you could chart the guy's, (Henry's), mental breakdown, or the bestfriend's, (Gabe's), maneuvers and conflicts, or the girl's, (Val's), awakening to and conflict about her two admirers. And we sort of do all of that. But, is Henry having a true mental breakdown or are his classic signs of schizophrenia actually the result of extra time-traveling Henry's who keep showing up from his future to mess up his present in hopeless attempts to change his future? I don't know, and I don't really care as long as it's interesting.

And there's the rub. Sometimes it is interesting and sometimes it isn't. Putting aside the time traveling, do we care which Henry "wins", or which guy gets Val, or what Val decides to do if and when she finds herself? Well, sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't. Sometimes I felt like I was stuck eavesdropping on a dorm room bull session that I'd left behind me twenty years ago. Then again, sometimes there was a bit of dialogue, or a description, or a scene setting paragraph, that was just right and admirable enough to keep me going.

Undoubtedly, this book is well-crafted and admirably constructed, with some nice touches. (For example, early on in the book, clearly unbalanced and off his meds Henry sneaks away from home in the middle of the night in order to walk to Manhattan and find Val. His psychotic, fever dream, hallucinatory walk down the street is fascinating, beautifully framed and compellingly weird.) But, to me the actual characters and their conflicts weren't very engaging or consequential. So, my bottom line is that if you're a "writing" person this may have more appeal than if you read for characters and messages. I think.

(Please note that I received a free advance ecopy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)