Tom Barren doesn’t live in the future; he lives in 2016, just like us. But he comes from a place that is just like we’ve always pictured “the future” for decades: flying cars, space tourism, food and clothes made on demand, a more peaceful world. Thing is, he’s a bit of a loser. His father is a genius and Tom, who’s in his early 30s, still has yet to find his own path. A string of events leads his father to hire him, despite his lack of qualifications, to be an “understudy” for one of the “chrononauts” who are preparing to travel back in time using his dad’s great invention: a time machine. The time machine can travel first just to one point and place in time: 1965 San Francisco, where the now-legendary Lionel Goettreider invented and started his Engine, which harnesses the rotation of the earth and somehow produces clean, unlimited power. Everything changed from that date.

After things go horribly wrong with the chrononaut Tom was the backup for, and whom he fell in love with, he ends up making a crazy spur-of-the-moment decision, then creating a huge change in the timeline, and he ends up essentially destroying his own timeline and landing in “our” 2016.

He feels horribly guilty about his actions and the repercussions, but he finds that he likes this life better. His “body,” you could say, has been John, a successful architect who for years has dreamed of the world Tom is from and designed buildings that come from there. He has a sister, which he doesn’t have in his original timeline, and his parents are both more interesting, better balanced, and happier. He looks for this timeline’s version of the Penelope he fell in love with, and he finds a similar Penny who is a great fit for him. Life is great. Except it isn’t. And it’s not “his.”

The book is written in the first person, and Tom just talks on and on about his personality, his failures, his desires, his lost world, his guilt, and so on. He’s pretty annoying. But despite the fact I kind of disliked him and got tired of all his philosophizing, I kinda rooted for him to just choose to be happy.

Of course, things don’t turn out quite that simple, and he ends up facing a big challenge and finally “settling” matters.

For most of this book, it seemed like a lot of narrator navel-gazing. I was almost wondering if this was a self-published book. It seemed like the writer didn’t have an editor to rein him in and not just write whatever he pleased as his brain went off on all kinds of tangents and thoughts. The book is more philosophical than sci-fi, though it starts feeling more like it really gets into the nitty-gritty of what could happen with time travel by the end (and then there’s a segment that’s pretty out-there and circuitous and almost a bit much, but it ends up making some sense for the plot). The tone is kind of strange, too. I wasn’t sure what to think for so much of it, and I somehow lack the proper words and literary comparisons to get it all across. But I appreciated what the author pulled off at the end.

This book wasnt for me. I just flat out did not like this book but I wish the author best of luck,

Tom Barren lives in a near-utopian version of our world in 2016, the world that Disney and science fiction optimistically imagined in the 1950s that we would one day have, complete with flying cars, ray guns, space vacations, and other Amazing Stories and Jetson-like technology. There’s a single compelling reason for this: in 1965, a man named Lionel Goettreider invented an engine that produced unlimited clean energy, in the process giving himself a fatal dose of radiation, but also becoming a historic figure on the level of Albert Einstein or Sir Isaac Newton.

Tom is a disappointment to his father, unsuccessful in life, his career, and love. But his father, a genius who has invented a method of time travel, gives Tom a job in his lab after his wife and Tom’s mother dies, not expecting him to amount to anything. Tom is assigned to be the understudy for Penelope Weschler, the career-driven team leader for the very first time travel mission, to watch the initial 1965 experiment with the Goettreider Engine, as invisible witnesses. Penelope and Tom have a one-night stand the night before the mission, and Pamela becomes pregnant, instantly changing her genetic composition and disqualifying her for the mission.

In the fallout, Tom rebelliously activates the time machine with himself as the only passenger, sending himself back to 1965 and inadvertently changing the result of Goettreider’s initial experiment. The emergency return function in the time-travel apparatus activates and sends Tom back to 2016 ― but he awakes in our world, with a kinder and gentler father, a mother who is still alive, a sister he never had before, a more personable and relaxed version of Penelope … and a polluted, conflict-ridden world that appalls him. Tom intends to fix his mistake and bring back the world he is familiar with, but as he develops new relationships in our world, he’s torn between these two versions of his world.

All Our Wrong Todays (2017) begins rather slowly, with an extended setup that could have been tightened up, and the sad, incompetent version of Loser Tom further drags down the story with his whining and self-pity. But once that actual time travel occurs about 25% of the way in, the pace picks up, the element of suspense kicks in, Tom somewhat inexplicably develops a more attractive and engaging personality (though a reason for that is suggested much later in the story), and this novel turned into a quick, gripping read that was almost impossible to put down.

All Our Wrong Todays is a time travel/alternate timelines science fiction novel that actually pays some serious attention to the paradoxes and theoretical difficulties with time travel. For example, Elan Mastai directly addresses the problem that the earth’s movement in space creates for would-be time travelers.

"Marty McFly didn’t appear thirty years earlier in his hometown of Hill Valley, California. His tricked-out DeLorean materialized in the endless empty blackness of the cosmos with the Earth approximately 350,000,000,000 miles away. … The Terminator would probably survive in space because it’s an unstoppable robot killing machine, but traveling from 2029 to 1984 would’ve given Sarah Connor a 525,000,000,000-mile head start."

The Gottreider Engine provides an unanticipated anchor, a bread crumb of tau radiation that can be followed through space and time. It’s an ingenious solution.

Mastai combines his periodic forays into the theoretical aspects of time travel and alternate timelines, with a suspenseful plot and some surprisingly insightful writing that helps to ground Tom’s breezy, conversational narrative voice. At different times All Our Wrong Todays reminded me strongly of both Stephen King‘s 11/22/63 and Blake Crouch‘s Dark Matter. Despite its slow start, overall it’s a solid science fiction novel and an enjoyable, absorbing read.

All Our Wrong Todays is a hard book to describe without giving anything away, and I feel that would eliminate some of the fun for the reader. Generally, it deals with time travel and its implications: alternate timelines and paradoxes, etc. In its style and structure it reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut's writings. Throughout the strange twists and turns, what holds the story together is its humanity and characterizations. If you are looking for an imaginative science fiction story this does the job, but there is so much that any reader can identify with on a personal level. This is a special book and I look forward to reading more from Elan Mastai. Five stars, highly recommended.

This is a review of an ARC provided by Netgalley. Thank you, Netgalley for allowing me to read this wonderful book.

"All our Wrong Todays" is an excellent, imaginative thrill ride. There are only two reasons that I didn't give it 5 starts. First, the final quarter of the book did run a little slow. Second, I would have liked to have seen more of Tom's reactions to finding himself in our world. However, other than that, it was a great ride. I've heard that movie rights have already been sold for this book, and I hope those rumors are true. I can't wait to see who will be cast.

It's about time. Really. In addition to having a wonderfully apt title, Elan Mastai's first novel All Our Wrong Todays (Dutton Penguin, digital galley) is a wonderfully entertaining and timely tale of alternate realities.

Narrator Tom Barron lives in a 2016 Toronto that resembles the techno-utopia imagined by cheesy SF novels and shows of the 1950s, all flying cars and helpful robots and synthetic food. As every schoolchild knows, this was all made possible by the 1965 invention of the Goettreider Engine, which generates clean energy. Tom's father, an overbearing research scientist, has finally built the world's first time machine and plans to send ace chrononaut (time traveler) Penelope Weschler back to 1965 to observe the debut of the Goettreider. But then Tom falls in love with perfection-obsessed Penelope, which leads to disastrous consequences that are further compounded when he travels back to 1965. As every time traveler knows, you don't mess with things in the past or you risk messing up the timeline and life as we know it Oh dear. Tom's arrival in 1965 means the Goettreider Engine fails in spectacular fashion, and when Tom is catapulted back to 2016, he finds himself in our 2016, all fossil-fueled and climate-change challenged.

It's a clever conceit, that we are living in the dystopia, but Mastai has more tricks to play. Parts of Tom's life are better in this second 2016. His dad is a happy science teacher, and his literature-loving mom is still alive. He has a sister and a career as successful architect. Still, when Tom starts trying to tell everyone about his time travels, they think he has suffered a head injury and is just talking about the novel he was going to write. Even his new love, bookstore owner Penny, doubts him. To prove he's not crazy, Tom goes in search of the real-life creator of the Goettreider Engine, journeying to San Francisco and Hong Kong, and eventually back to 1965 again. Oh dear. Messing with that timeline.

All Our Wrong Todays reminded me of Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, with its witty tone and provocative ideas. It also wears its knowledge lightly -- like The Big Bang Theory -- so that even those who've forgotten high school physics or aren't into science fiction can enjoy the ride. Sure, it's kind of out there, but so much is these days. I was pleased to know that even in alternate realities, people still read Dickens' Great Expectations. So read All Our Wrong Todays. It's a good time.
from On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever

Tom Barren lives in an alternate version of the year 2016 from the one that we know. In his world technology reigns with things such as flying cars, moving sidewalks, and moon bases. When a time travel mishap lands Tom in our version of reality though it seems more like a dystopian wasteland to Tom without the numerous inventions he knew his whole life.

Living in this version of 2016 Tom soon finds different versions of his own family and also the girl that he felt destined to be with exist in this other reality. Now for Tom he has a decision to make on whether he should try to save the world he knew or stay in the one he accidentally ended up in.

All Our Wrong Todays is a science fiction read that ends up with the majority of the story taking place in the world that we know now. All the while the main character is adjusting to our world we learn what his had been like as he struggles with being torn between his futuristic society that wasn’t quite perfect and the life he has found in our world.

The idea behind the story was actually quite interesting, somewhat leading upon the idea of the butterfly effect when it comes to time travel. This was one that had me hooked to see how it would all work out for the main character.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Tom Barren is from the future. A much better future. A timeline where dreams of flying cars, service robots and a life a leisure from the 1950s were realized thanks to the amazing Goettreider engine, a source of unlimited free clean power. Tom travels back in time to witness the moment when the engine was first turned on--the moment when our timeline and his diverged--and screws everything up. Attempting to return to his timeline that no now longer exists, he emerges in a third, much like ours but with some key differences, inhabiting the body of an alternate version of himself. No one believes him to be other than the person (a jerk named John Barron in this third timeline) the body has always held. Tom sets off to prove he is in fact Tom from another future not the jerk John, and is caught in a scheme to again travel back in time, to right his original wrong and return the timelines to their original state. But Tom has come to like where he is. He likes John's family and his new girlfriend. Can he alter the timelines to create a future that offers the best of each?

Interesting concept but execution is just ok. Todays is Mastai's first novel and reads like it. The beginning is weak and repetitive. I almost gave up on it more than once. How many times must the Tom Barren of the future tell us he is a worthless loser? Every page. Sometimes more than once per page. How many times must we hear that the future is awesome and his dream girl Penelope is perfect? Every other page. Once or twice or even thrice is more than enough. The middle chapters are much better, more concise and driven. The last quarter of the novel really moves, perhaps a bit too quickly to a rousing finish. If I were Mastai's editor, when he reached the end I would have sent him back to the first chapters to apply what he learned to re-write the beginning.

Two final comments:

1. I never cared for Tom, a problem when the entire novel is written from his perspective. Found Penelope and Penny much more interesting. In fact a better novel might have emerged from sending the perfect Penelope back in time to accidentally change the timelines and then watch her try to fix them. Tom was too twee for me from beginning to end.

2. I liked the flawed time machine invented by Goettreider where time reverses but at exactly the same pace as it advances; i.e., going back sixty years requires standing in the same place for sixty years. Imagine the mental challenge! Mastai does and it's one of the cleverest parts of All our wrong Todays.

On my buy, borrow skip scale. A tepid borrow.

How do I rate this?
Well, the beginning was freaking amazing...then it slowed down to where I almost DNF'd it. It picked back up at the 30% mark...then it got slow again at the 70% mark and again, I almost DNF'd it. This was the trend in this one for me. The reason why I gave it 3 stars, was because some of his writing blew me away-especially when he wrote about his mother. The family dynamics were also all too real for me as well.
The synopsis sounded rad and had aspects I love in a story; time travel and a sci-fi. Unfortunately, it felt I had already read this storyline somewhere else. Not much happened throughout the general story line and the world building was nonexistent... in all timelines. The ending was a cop out to me. There were though a few times, I was surprised to where the story had gone and the turn of events.
Hence, why again I gave it a 3 stars. There were parts I loved and then parts I hated. So overall, it was a fun read at times-and I liked it-just didn't love this one...bummer.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest opinion. My thanks to Elan Mastai and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the opportunity.

Wow - there is a LOT going on here. I was originally drawn to the book because of the time travel angle - one I really enjoy. I rather rapidly discovered that it was so much more than that though - mostly in a good way, but sometimes in a slightly over-reaching one... The main plot line is still about time travel and the law of unintended consequences. But the book is not just about time - it is also a love story, a family drama, a "be careful what you wish for" cautionary tale, a dystopian warning, a self-help/personal growth narrative, a techno-thriller, and an exegesis on the dangers of dissatisfaction. That's a lot of things to cover in less than 400 pages... For the most part, the multiple topics/genres are handled well, although there are times that they feel a little too much. There were some eye rolls, where I feared we were heading into trope territory, but they usually resolved themselves in some odd or unusual way that fed back into the main narrative points without too much distraction. All in all, this is a complicated work from a talented author - juggling that many ideas while still maintaining an essential, underlying theme (self-stated: "there's no such thing as the life you're supposed to have") is difficult; doing it with aplomb in a readable, thought-provoking AND entertaining fashion must be nigh on impossible - yet Mastai manages handily.

Wow! Time travel, alternate futures, sci-if (reality?)
For fans of Douglas Adams, or anybody who loves the written word, dystopia/utopia, time travel, physics, paradoxes, anything that requires your brain to work, please read this!

ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS by Elan Mastai will likely appeal to you if you like to read sci-fi titles. Unfortunately, I found it to have an awfully slow set-up and I could not summon much interest in the main character, Tom Barron. As he explains at the beginning of ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS, the world is "wrong" due to some action that he has taken. However, I read the first 65 or so pages and was still waiting to find out what that action was although I did enjoy some of the scientific explanation about time passing. As they say, "so many book, so little time," and I sadly decided not to finish this one. However, ALL OUR WRONG TODAYS has received starred reviews from Kirkus and Library Journal so if you are interested in time travel – Tom hints at leaving 2016 to go to July 11, 1965 and witness the birth of a new invention – this may be one for you.

It's not you, it's me. I had to break up with you after the first two or three chapters because you didn't hold my interest. And that's the kiss of death for any relationship. Your audience is out there; we just aren't right for each other.

p.s. Your sense of humor didn't strike me as funny as advertised, either. Sorry. Don't mean to kick you when you're down.

This book was smart, funny, and incredibly human. I loved it. Rather than tearing through it as I usually would, I read it slowly, wanting to savor each moment. It was incredibly entertaining and yet still managed to be a heartfelt reflection on what it means to live. It reads like a cross between The Martian and The Chronicles of St. Mary's, with a somewhat irreverent approach that still manages to be deep.

Tom was a narrator in the style of Mark Watney (minus some swearing). He's a screw-up and more focused on women and love than making something of himself in his world. Despite that, he is incredibly easy to connect to (perhaps due to the slightly self-deprecating sense of humor?). I adored him as a narrator.

One hazard of science fiction novels is that sometimes they get so technical, you no longer recognize which way is up. All Our Wrong Todays absolutely does not have that problem. Since Tom is essentially technologically illiterate, his explanations are very down to earth and easily understandable. For those of you more interested in the science and various theories about time travel/continuing theories, those are explored as well (mostly through conversations between secondary characters).

While this is a science fiction book, it ultimately is about more than adventure. It's about family and love and what it means to be human. In a way, it's a coming of age tale set against a fantastic backdrop. The author does an absolutely fantastic job of exploring human emotions, the good AND the ugly. Incomprehensible events happen (as they do in everyone's life) and the characters have to learn how to continue living.

Penny was the perfect love interest. She was funny, smart, and imperfect. She made Tom a better man and didn't allow him to lose sight of himself. The contrast between the carnal relationship of Penelope and Tom with the warm, loving one of Penny and Tim was very well done and really highlighted the differences between the two worlds. There was one scene in particular with Penny that was difficult to read. I was glad that the author showed the fallout of those decisions. The emotional aftermath was brutal and really delved into the heart of their relationship.

All Our Wrong Todays is a book to read slowly, savoring the experience the way you would a fine wine. Even if you don't normally read science fiction, I think you'll enjoy this book. I highly recommend this book that will leave you contemplating it long after you've finished reading. I would absolutely recommend this book.

A fascinating look at time travel. Good characters, thoughtful story. Very interesting look at paradoxes. Really made me ponder. I would definitely recommend this to any one interested in time travel. Unusual writing style, not your typical novel, but not too out there to enjoy. It caused me to wonder are there time travelers among us?

4 Stars

It's hard to put into words how I felt about this book. There are so many things and so many feelings that I'm not sure exactly where to start. Overall, I enjoyed this book, it was convoluted, but in the best way possible. I was constantly wanting to know what happened next and simultaneously rooting for and hating the main characters.

All Our Wrong Todays is a bit longwinded in some areas, a bit compressed in others, a bit too "literary" for my tastes and a bit too sad. Writing all that stuff down, even I wonder if I really enjoyed this book but the truth is I did. Usually after reading a book I can tell if it will appeal to the people I usually share books with. I can't on this one. Part of me thinks that everyone will love the fantastical time traveling elements but the emotions of this book might turn those same people off. The main character's life is sad for pretty much the first 40% of the book. Then, his sadness turns to guilt for another large portion. The author/narrator/whatever goes on various lofty tangents about various things using big smart people words, that I honestly had to skim over because if I had read the whole thing then my eyes would have fallen out of my head and rolled across the floor and its hard to find eyeballs in dark. But I still liked it.

For me, this felt like a blend between science and literary fiction. It had enough science-y, mind bending adventure elements that I enjoyed the story but not enough that it felt like true science fiction. This would probably appeal more to readers that enjoy literary fiction but can also suspend their sense of reality for a bit while they read a story. Not my normal cuppa tea but enjoyable all the same.

Wonderful story! Looking forward to reading more by this author!

Very clever and a joy to read. Great concept that is executed quite flawlessly. An author to watch.

I was excited to read this book due to all the positive buzz but unfortunately I just couldn't get into it. I usually like sci-fi but the stream of consciousness format didn't work for me. I would recommend it to someone who really loves hard core sci-fi.