Bumbling every-man Tom Barren goes from the 2016 of our futuristic dreams to the 2016 we are all sadly too familiar with, thanks to his typical bad luck and a time-traveling fiasco. While Tom goes on a quest to return to his own timeline, readers are treated to a fast paced story that has something for everyone- science, romance, adventure, suspense, family drama, philosophical quandaries and more. Everything works seamlessly and results in a book that is sure to delight.

4.0 - thanks to NetGalley for an ARC - I wasn't sure that I liked this "memoir" at first, but once I got through the first 50 pages, I couldn't put it down. Rather unusual storytelling, some bewilderment at a few of the storylines, but rather fun and still thought-provoking. Recommended.

ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS is compulsively readable and addictive. I enjoyed this book so much—think of it as a modern-day Back to the Future meets Taylor Jenkins Reid's Maybe in Another Life. Wonderful storytelling and compelling characters made this story completely entertaining, a page-turner, and joy to read.

One of the things I liked about this book was Tom Barren. The narrative reads like Tom is telling you the story of his life. His witty quips, sense of humor, and self-deprecating tendencies made him endearing and engaging. I liked him right away, despite his obvious character flaws. Elan Mastai developed his character so well, creating a fantastic character arc for him with room to evolve—and change he did! He goes from being a self-described "loser" and slightly selfish to the hero who saves everyone.

This novel is categorized as science fiction, so I was concerned that some of the technical explanations would go over my head or weigh down the story. Not so! Elan Mastai does a fantastic job of weaving in the detailed passages surrounding quantum physics and time travel while making the story easy to digest and fascinating! The novel addresses some of the inherent problems in time travel such as the issue of the earth's constant movement.

Mastai's storytelling is especially noteworthy. Everything about this book felt fresh, new, and different. I couldn't wait to read the next chapter, as some chapters end on mini-cliffhangers. A good amount of my enjoyment stemmed from the questions that the novel poses. If given the chance, would I go back in time to change something from my past, without knowing the potential consequences? What would it be like traveling to a world with remnants of your own but wholly different?

Aside from Tom, there are great side characters in Penny and Greta that make the story that much more addictive and fun. Those characters were interesting and relatable but all had flaws that made them realistic.

Romance lovers will enjoy this sci-fi time travel novel colored with romantic elements. Tom changes the time space continuum over a broken heart and manages to find Penny again. If that's not romantic, I don't know what is. In addition to the Goettreider Engine, love was Tom's constant, which is sort of beautiful to think about. It was the thing that was rooted in his mind no matter what version of today he was in.

Audiobook Comments:

I listened to this book almost entirely in one sitting while driving to visit a friend in Kentucky. The author narrates it and I thought it was really great! When I saw that it was the author as opposed to a regular narrator, I have to admit that I thought maybe it wouldn't be as entertaining but Elan Mastai gave a great performance. The benefit to having an author narrate the book is that he or she has the chance to deliver the lines the way h/she envisioned it. I really liked the way Mr. Mastai brought Tom to life because he wasn't the most likable guy in the beginning but his performance combined with the aforementioned character development made me feel for Tom and endeared me to him. If you're looking to listen to this book, give it a go!

* Thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for providing me with an audiobook for review. This was a fun listen!

I love time travel books and I have to say this is one of my favorites to date. I had to put the book down a few times because of information overload. Fascinating twists and turns throughout. I highly recommend this title for anyone who loves time travel books!

Time travel seems to be popular again these days and this novel, which is a really creative example of the genre is definitely worth a read, even if you aren't a sci-fi fan. It's well written and very complex (I wonder is Mastri kept a chart on the wall to keep track o f things,) It might seem a bit confusing at first but stick with it. You learn about the characters slowly and the message of the plot may not seem obvious at first but it's worth it. THanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I had to DNF this after the first 80 pages or so. I really enjoyed the writing style. I thought it was a fun voice that flowed nicely and kept me wanting to read more. But when a book written by a man starts out with that man sleeping with four women in quick succession (because they just couldn't help themselves, he was GRIEVING) and then the fifth woman he sleeps with ruins her career because SHE was purposefully being sexually reckless and promiscuous and ends up pregnant (because pregnancy ALWAYS ruins women's careers, didn't you know?!) and said man admits that he was TOO LAZY AND STUPID to insist on wearing a condom? Yeah, no. Also, his mother (who has died suddenly) is this doormat that his father just walks all over and though the mother is written as extremely unfulfilled and depressed. and the son KNEW this, he never did a single thing to help her? And just accepted that this was what his mother was meant to do? WHY. This is a big reason why I don't read many adult books by men. I just can't get past things like this, which feel so damaging and avoidable.

Tom Barren lives in 2016 – but not our 2016. He lives in the futuristic world that was imagined in the optimistic 1950s, filled with flying cars, moon bases, and automated food and clothing made specifically for each person’s taste. Due to the invention of the Gottreider Engine, a machine that draws power from the movement of the Earth’s orbit, there is an endless source of clean energy – which means the people of this alternate 2016 have no environmental damages, no greenhouse gasses and no global warming. Everyone’s needs are catered to and everything seems to be perfect, but Tom is still unhappy.

After the death of his homemaker mother, Tom goes to work for his successful scientist father, who is planning to send a team of time-travelling “chrononauts” back to the moment that the Gottreider Engine was first invented in 1965. Tom is training as a backup chrononaut to superstar Penelope – his father has no faith in his abilities and doesn’t trust Tom to actually travel back in time. However, when events take a surprising turn and Penelope is unable to travel, Tom ends up alone in our version of 2016. To him, our world seems like a dystopian wasteland of pollution and suffering.

When Tom wakes up in a hospital, surrounded by a family that seems familiar but is strangely different, he finds out that his name is John Barren and he is a successful architect in Toronto. He tries to explain that he has just travelled from an alternate timeline, but his sister (who did not exist in his former world) insists that his delusions are taken from John’s unpublished novel, which was originally based on his childhood fantasies about another, futuristic world. Tom begins to doubt his own reality, but he holds on to the idea that John and himself have always been connected through the fabric of time.

Uncertain about his grasp on reality, Tom attempts to live as John. However, he holds on to Tom’s dreams by searching for the Penelope of this world – instead of a successful, independent and sometimes cruel chrononaut, the version of her in this 2016 is a quirky, thoughtful bookshop owner named Penny. Against all odds, Penny believes Tom’s story and the two form a powerful bond that may stand the test of alternate timelines. However, when Tom meets Gottreider, the inventor of the engine, he must decide whether his own happiness is worth more than the chance to give our 2016 a source of clean energy that will increase global health and happiness. It is an interesting way of looking at Utilitarian philosophical theory, and forces us to question what we would do in the same situation.

All Our Wrong Todays is written as a memoir of Tom’s travels. I found his voice to be incredibly annoying at first, but the tone changes as he grows as a character, confronting his individual and collective past. Tom’s provocative voice and its development show Mastai’s talent as a writer, especially as someone so unlikeable becomes completely empathetic by the end of the novel. Even Tom writes that he is embarrassed by the earlier, more offensive passages of his memoir, as he develops into a better person. My enjoyment of the book crept up on me as well – I didn’t love it at first, but all of a sudden I couldn’t put it down, and I thought about it when I wasn’t reading. Some parts were repetitious, but it didn’t take away from the overall momentum of the fast-paced plot.

This novel is obviously going to invite comparison to Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, released last year. While the two books have a lot in common – quantum theory, alternate timelines, the effect one person’s actions can have on the lives of many – I found this one to be much more quirky and entertaining. Mastai gives us a lot to think about, and he makes his philosophy very accessible. I especially liked the idea (taken from French philosopher Paul Virilio) that every time a new technology is invented, the “accident” of that technology is also invented – so when the airplane was invented, so was the plane crash. In his memoir, Tom writes that the accident applies to people as well, and “every person you meet introduces the accident of that person to you…[t]here is no intimacy without consequence.” (Loc. 156) Tom experiences these accidents firsthand, and his reactions are always very human and relatable.

There is so much content and so many ideas here, and I think many different kinds of readers could potentially enjoy this novel. As our own world becomes more technologically advanced, fulfilling some of those dreams that Tom talks about from the 1950s, the line between science fiction and literary writing is becoming less obvious. As Tom tells us, “[t]hat’s all science is. A collection of the best answers we have right now. It’s always open to revision.” (Loc. 2343) Authors like Mastai are inspiring that revision in all of us.

I received this book from Penguin Random House and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I've pondered over All Our Wrongs Today for a few weeks. I originally thought that I would rate this as a 2 star effort but realized I was being a bit harsh in my assessment. Part of this comes from my dislike of all the incarnations of the protagonist, Tom Barren. He is an as ass In each of the realities he is thrusts himself toward. Although his name is different in each of these realities the one consistent is that he is a narcissist. Everything is about him. He does come to a realization that he can become an amalgam of all of these individuals but most of the book is directed towards the selfish needs of him.

So taking my dislike of the character and looking at the overall direction Elan Mastai Was taking I came to an understanding that maybe that was the point all along. He is self centered but he is finding himself looking into that mirror that reflects that back at him. He dislikes what he sees. He recognizes the need to grow and that in itself is growth. What he does has an impact on the world but so does the choices of everyone else. The understanding that he doesn't live in a vacuum and that there are different choices each person makes is an epiphany that is the catalyst for dramatic change. The world is what he makes it. His choices are a small eddy in the confluence of events.

I can't quite get to a 4 star rating because there was an annoying amount of repitition in his retrospection of how things turn out. He pines over these meaningless one night conquests of women that he himself says were meaningless and self serving. So the writing for me was a little strained. The premises is still interesting but it could have been handled a bit differently. Which is easy to say since I'm not the writer.

As a first novel All Our Wrongs Today offers a glimpse into the possibilities that Elan Mastai brings to the table. I look forward to reading more from him.

4.5 stars. “Is it possible to think outside the box of your ideology? Or is ideology the box and you just have to work at opening it? Maybe it’s too late for us and the best we can do is raise a generation less shackled by outmoded dreams, free to imagine something…else”. I am not one who usually goes for time travel stories but I am so glad I received an advanced copy of this book. I finished it several days ago and honestly, I am still having a hard time articulating my feelings about it.

The premise: In Tom Barren’s 2016, humanity thrives in an amazing utopian paradise. There is no war, no pollution, no waste and equality truly exists. But even in a world of perfection, people are not always shielded from their problems. Tom is struggling with his place in life and trying to figure out his path. He is not accomplished by his society’s standards and gives off quite the slacker vibe. A terrible twist of fate causes him to make a decision that dramatically alters the course of his life and the entire universe. Tom decides to travel back in time and things go horribly awry as he finds himself in our present day 2016. Our current reality is a repulsive, alternative dystopia to Tom and initially he longs to return to his life in the future. But he slowly realizes that not everything is gloom and doom here in present day 2016, as he discovers that in this life he has a complete family, a successful career and a girl he desperately loves. Will Tom fix his mistake and return the universe to its previous perfect state, or will he choose to stay in the unorganized chaos that is our present world surrounded by people he loves?
I have to say that I found some parts of the book confusing and there were several instances where I had to re-read passages to keep everything straight. There was even a point where I thought that Tom was just severely delusional and at any moment he was going to wake up in a psych ward. Tom’s character was at times extremely aggravating, but by the end of the book he had endeared himself to me and I found myself cheering him on as he matched wits with Lionel. The future and present day Penelope broke my heart, (though I much preferred present day Penelope’s character). The last few chapters left me wide eyed and dying to know what choice Tom would make. Would he choose the greater good so everyone would again be living in peace and perfection or would he opt to stay in the messy but happy present? This book checked all the boxes for me and I think this would be an amazing selection for a book club discussion. It’s different, strange, intelligent, emotional and thought provoking. Do yourself a favor and read it. I promise you, you will not be disappointed. Thank you so much to Netgalley and Dutton for a copy of this amazing story in exchange for my honest review.

My review likely won't do justice to how much I loved this book.

It's a time travel adventure, but with an unusual amount of heart and insight into human feelings and how our world works. And casting our version of 2016 as the alternate dystopia is a really clever narrative device. Things get a bit convoluted at points, but overall this is an interesting and deep take on time travel and what it might do to someone.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley. The review is my own.

I found this to be a thoughtful and entertaining take on the time travel story. Time travel stories have plenty of tropes, and it seems like most of it’s been done before. Mastai’s debut novel takes those tropes, mashes them together, and comes out with something that feels new. I had a few issues with this novel but overall I really enjoyed it.

Narrator Tom Barren is in his mid-twenties in a present day that looks very different from our own. A new, limitless power source has led to scientific developments that have wiped out most poverty, crime, and disease. It has also led to advancements in space travel. And, for the first time, time travel is about to be a reality.

Tom works for his father, a sort of mad scientist and a lousy dad, who is the inventor of time travel. Dr. Barren’s whole career is wrapped up in getting time travel right. Due to a series of mishaps, Tom jumps into the time machine and heads back to the 1960’s, when the limitless power source is about to be invented. But will Tom’s dash into the past have implications for the future? Of course!

There’s a healthy dose of Back to the Future in this book, but then again, the idea that going back in time might endanger your future (and indeed, your very existence) wasn’t new to Back to the Future either. Mastai gives us a clever story that looks at what happens as a result of Tom’s travel to 1965. The twist is this: instead of going back to his idealized high-tech existence, he ends up in the present we know, where everyone has cell phones but the world is still fighting over power. I won’t tell you much more, except that Tom has to wrestle with interesting issues relating to parallel timelines, such as whether he likes his family better in this world or that one, what happens to all the people who exist in one world but are never born in the other one (and why was he born in both times when others are not), and who is he in this timeline? Most importantly, if Tom has the chance to undo what he's done, should he?

The current state of the world isn't because we stopped believing in an optimistic spirit of wonder and discovery... the current state of the world is the consequence of that belief. People are despondent about the future because they're increasingly aware that we, as a species, chased an inspiring dream that led us to ruin. We told ourselves the world is here for us to control, so the better our technology, the better our control, the better our world will be. The fact that for every leap in technology the world gets more sour and chaotic is deeply confusing.
There’s a “meta” aspect to this book which is often very clever (but occasionally a bit self-conscious). For example, as Tom is writing this narrative he often comments on how he’s writing it and occasionally goes back and re-reads it. There’s even a question of whether this is all just someone’s idea for a science fiction novel. Tom also tells us that books don’t even exist in his world, because technology has all become completely interactive. No one ever reads the same story.

I only have two criticisms of this book. The first is this: Tom has a really annoying and unlikable voice in the first part of the book. He’s whiny, sexist, and complains a lot without accomplishing much of anything. He hates his father but seems fine mooching off him for a job. He mourns his dead mother but has no problem using his sadness to get women in bed. Fortunately, we soon see Tom grow as a character and then the book gets really good, but if I wasn’t reading this for NetGalley I might have given up on it early on.

My other criticism comes towards the end, and it’s this: Tom’s adventures in time get to a certain point where I felt the paradoxes just got a little ridiculous. I prefer time travel stories to keep it as simple and linear as possible. For me it becomes too complicated when multiple timelines start wrapping around each other. On the other hand, if you don’t mind a time travel story getting really mind-bending, you will like this one.

In general, this was a story I really enjoyed. Mastai isn’t trying to re-invent the time travel novel; rather it feels like he’s paying homage to the many visions of alternative futures and pasts that have come before him.

Note: I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher Dutton Books. The book was released February 7, 2016.

"Is it possible to think outside of the box of your ideology? Or is ideology the box and you just have to work at opening it?"

In Tom Barren's 2016, all of the technological advances predicted in the 1950's have come to light. In 1965, a scientist named Lionel Goettreider discovered a new form of energy, unleashing the power of automation and nano-targeting into the world. Need a haircut, a meal, or a new outfit? The touch of a button gets the job done, and the results are perfectly tailored to your needs. If you're heading to work, take your flying car. Life is easy with technology at the forefront, but Tom isn't happy. Tom's father, a leader in the field of time travel, is openly disappointed in his son but reluctantly brings him aboard his company. Tom was not meant to be the first to test his father's time machine, but through a mishap, that's exactly what he becomes. Tom ends up in another 2016 - our 2016 - where a haircut requires a skilled, scissor yielding, professional.

While this book is categorized as sci-fi, I found it surprisingly rooted in humanity. Tom's struggles are relatable, and I found myself highlighting many poignant passages. Mastai creatively addresses fate and destiny, the power that a single decision can have on the course of one's life, and finding contentment and human connection in a world overrun with technology. Though I didn't fully connect with Tom I still wanted the best for him - I wanted him to find his way home, and for him to have peace with wherever that was.

I often struggle with books primarily narrated in the first person, but found that the story was engaging enough that I didn't notice it here, a testament to Mastai's writing. He does use the word "like" conversationally quite a bit, and I could have done without that. I understand the intent, people do talk like this, but I found it distracting. Mastai's insights are meaningful and this story was really fun to read!

Wow, just wow - this book is a bit mind-blowing. Author Elan Mastai, Hollywood screenwriter and first-time novelist, has written a unique, creative take on time travel and all the inherent problems involved in not only going back in time, but in attempting to right past mistakes. Does this sound a bit Back to the Future - ish? Perhaps, but that would be like comparing Dr. Seuss to Emily Dickinson. Mastai's take on time travel is deep and puzzling and mind-bending and exciting and humorous and dark...all in just one book. Main character Tom, who becomes John and then Victor, thanks to different mishaps in time, is a 32 year old whose father invents a time machine that takes him, accidentally, back to the inception of the greatest invention of all time - a generator that has unlimited energy, that creates a 2016 that is reminiscent of the Jetsons. However, in Tom's time travel, the world is disrupted and he ends up back in our 2016, a world of questionable food choices, lack of environmental protection, and archaic automobiles that stay on the ground. The voice for Tom is highly engaging, drawing us in to his world through his humor, his frustrations, his eventual insight into what life ultimately should be. What a provocative choice for a book club as well as a fantastic read on your own; I highly recommend this debut novel!

Elan Mastai's debut novel All Our Wrong Todays is a delight to read. It is thoughtful, speculative, reflective science-fiction. Mastai wanders down plenty of scientific-sounding rabbit trails, enough to make it sound like sci-fi, but not so much that it gets in the way of a great time-travel story.

The story begins in 2016, but not our 2016. In this alternative timeline, the world's most famous scientist invented the Goettreider engine, which produces limitless energy spurred seemingly unlimited technological progress. Tom Barren's father, a protege of the more famous Goettreider, is about to become famous himself, as the inventor of time travel. Tom, the disappointment of the family, the slacker son who has not distinguished himself in any way, screws up the timeline of history by sneaking into his father's lab and traveling back in time to the moment the Goettreider engine is first activated.

When Tom returns to 2016 after his brief foray in the past, he finds himself in our 2016, in a future that has no Goettreider engine and missing all the technological and sociological advances it made possible. He's the same guy, only with memories from both timelines. Somehow he has to figure out who he really is. Plus, he has to convince his family and his girlfriend, who is the same but different in this new timeline, that he's not absolutely crazy.

Wracked with guilt about potentially having eliminated billions of people who were never born as a result of his tinkering with history, he contemplates trying to fix it. But as he tries to explain to Goettreider, "time travel is very bad at fixing mistakes. What it's very good at is creating even worse mistakes." In this sense, All Our Wrong Todays engages many of the same questions countless movies and books about time travel have raised. But Mastai does it oh so well!

One of the real-life ideas (in our timeline, and, apparently in the other timeline as well) that Mastai introduces is French philosopher Paul Virilio's idea concept of the integral accident. As Tom/Mastai describes it, it's "the idea that every time you introduce a new technology, you also introduce the accident of that technology, so you have a responsibility to anticipate not just the good it can do but also the bad it can wreak, not just the glory but also the ruin." The invention of train travel is also the invention of derailment, for example.

Tom/Mastai has written not a novel, but a memoir. "And the best thing about a memoir is it doesn't even need to make sense." But in an entertaining and thoughtful way, All Our Wrong Todays makes perfect sense, and, whether a novel or a memoir, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading it.


Thanks to NetGalley for the complimentary electronic review copy!

I read for pleasure, entertainment and I read to escape real life. I thought this book would brig me pleasure, be entertaining and allow me to escape - it did not.

Perhaps I am just too old for this kind of smarmy, childish narration or too unintelligent to understand the scientific language used (I needed to look up just a few too many words!!!) but since I do love my time-travel fantasy books I slogged on for as long as I could.

Unfortunately I just ended up on the narrator expounding on his sex life and just gave it up. I have nothing against reading about sex -heck I read romances -but this just seemed to me to be more of a 'little boy braggin' than a good attempt at adding some romance.

DNF>>>>> I have better things to do with my life and better things to read.

*ARC supplied by publisher.

Science fiction is not my genre but this book was really good. Tom Barren is a misfit in a futuristic world. Chosen to understudy a promising chrononaut, Tom changes the history of our future world by time traveling in her place except he really messes things up. Funny and insightful, this novel actually had me thinking " could this really happen and who or where is my alternate persona?"

I loved the concept of this book, unfortunately more than a quarter of the way into it the main concept had not yet been explored, just the main character's difficult relationship with his parents and the women he has slept with. I'm disappointed.

(Only one star for enjoyment, the second star is because I still love the premise.)

Tom Barren comes from an alternate year 2016. The world he lives in is the one people in the 1950s imagined we would have — flying cars, moving sidewalks, moon bases, unlimited energy and resources, and time-travel. When Tom makes a trip to the past to observe a historic occasion, he accidentally interferes and changes the future. He activates the emergency recall back to 2016, but when he gets back he finds himself in our 2016 instead of the one he came from.

This is a clever twist on the time-travel theme. Once Tom returns to the present, he needs to adjust to a lot of changes. The timeline had diverged with some subtle changes and some quite drastic. There is some science and techo stuff, but this is also a story about relationships – Tom’s family, his girlfriend, his career.

The story is told mostly in the first person and had the feel of a memoir. The book does switch to the third person a few times and we get a summary or recap of what has happened to Tom. The beginning was a little slow but picks up once we get past the initial world building. Most of the book takes place in our timeline, but we need to know about Tom’s world in order to understand him.

I found the story lighthearted, entertaining, and at times humorous. While this is definitely scifi, it’s not confusing or difficult to follow, and there is enough story about relationships and even a few romances to keep other genre readers entertained.

3.5 or 4 stars. Took me a little while to get into this one. The story is told in the first person and the main character is kind of a verbose, whiny loser who spends a good bit of time explaining himself and his situation. But still, I could see that it was going somewhere worth going, so I hung in there. And I'm glad I did, even though it didn't go where I thought it was going to go! Anyway, our MC goes back in time and accidentally changes something and most of the book deals with him in his new reality. He becomes a much more interesting and likeable character and the book deals with some really interesting themes. Some parts were a bit confusing, but overall, it was an entertaining as well as thought-provoking book.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book.