Into the Current

by Jared Young

Daniel Solomon is not having a good day. Somewhere between Bangkok and Tokyo, zipping through the stratosphere, the jetliner on which he’s travelling cracks open like an egg, ejecting Daniel and his fellow passengers into the great blue sky.

If only that were the worst of it.

Thousands of feet above the merciless Earth, still strapped into his seat, his cherished comics fluttering away like freed parrots, Daniel finds out what it means to have your life flash before your eyes.

Time stops, the wreckage of the plane freezes in place, postponing the inevitable end, and Daniel finds that he can transport himself back into his past. Re-experiencing his memories in real time, but helpless to change the present, he plunges into the detritus of his all-but-concluded life.

In this daring and often hilarious novel, Jared Young defies the laws of physics and the conventions of narrative to explore the twists and turns of great sex and bad decisions, chance and grand design, and the moments of truth that can turn disaster into a mere interruption on the horizon.

Genres: Fiction

160 pages, Hardcover

Published September 13, 2016

About the author

Jared Young is a novelist and screenwriter, originally from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. His literary work has appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world, and his film projects have played at festivals around the world and have been developed by the National Screen Institute in Canada. He wrote and directed the first book trailer to screen in competition at a major international film festival (SXSW), where it won several awards.

Reviews

[Caroline Lafrance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea... some parts were really interesting, but I felt like the writer just wanted to impress the reader with his writing, overly describing simple things... it got on my nerves!

[Liz Laurin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still currently reading this, so I will come back with a follow up review when finished. I got an ARC of this through work, and while the story isn't something I would have automatically picked up, the authors writing/prose is unbelievably good. Descriptive without being too wordy, completely real and so perfectly well imagined. I feel like I am in Daniels head.

[Wendell Hennan]

I gave up and stopped skimming at about page 125. Felt like I was on drugs or dreaming and nothing was piecing together, making sense or of any importance. Why am I spending my time at this.

[Genevieve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where to begin with reviewing Jared Young’s first novel, Into The Current? Actually, the better questions would be “When to begin?” or “With whom to begin?”

The story begins with the narrator and protagonist, Daniel Solomon, telling his tale to someone he refers to as “my love.” He begins with a description of what started out as an ordinary, uneventful flight from Bangkok, traversing the Pacific Ocean while observing the other passengers around him, daydreaming about a girl he knew in high school, and carefully minding his treasured collection of Suicide Squad comics.

Then we are jolted along with Daniel as the plane begins to break apart, while Daniel helplessly watches the other passengers, not to mention his Suicide Squad comics, being sucked out of the aircraft into the abyss of the atmosphere.

Daniel finds himself floating in the air along with the plane wreckage that has also come to a halt. Everything is floating and Daniel recalls moments in his life; many defining moments and some insignificant moments. Moments with women – his grandmother, his mother, his first love and the American girl he fell for in Thailand. He recalls sexual encounters (real and fantasized) and moments of violence, disappointment, clarity, confusion, infatuation, love, anger and sadness.

Many of the novel’s chapters include stories and memories – almost like mini chapters within chapters. If Daniel’s life is meant to be flashing before his eyes as he floats above the Pacific Ocean it is doing so in a very nonlinear fashion; however, this nonlinearity brings the reader to this limbo state where Daniel remains. Daniel is confused; he doesn’t know why he is floating in the air amid the wreckage of a plane. We, the reader, are also confused, but we can’t help but turn the page to discover what thoughts and memories Daniel’s mind travels to next, and also wonder why they are travelling there. Although his storytelling tends to be all over the place, jumping from one memory to the next, after a while, the stories within the mini chapters begin to merge and we, the readers, begin to see where Daniel’s story is going.

As I finished reading this book, I had to once again read the description of the author to confirm that yes … this is indeed Jared Young’s first novel. The writing is so exquisitely explicit. Some passages of this novel would cause the prudish readers to spit out their cereal. The sexually inexperienced could consider themselves at least a little bit experienced after reading Daniel’s very precise descriptions of his sexual relations. Readers who were bullied or abandoned or tormented or assaulted or exploited in their younger years will likely let out a sigh, a gasp or even a tear of appreciation for Mr. Young, an author who has found a way to write what we are thinking, but don’t know quite how to say ourselves.

Into The Current holds us, stranded in the air currents with Daniel, while taking us through the personal experiences that have impacted him most, until he brings us back to the current point in his life. It is an excellent book that will make you want to re-read the final few pages to confirm that yes, you have reached the end of Daniel’s story and that’s it. That’s all.


https://atlanticbookstoday.ca/intothe...

[Digitally Lit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Savannah: I’ve finished this book awhile ago but Into the Current was the type of book that makes you feel so many emotions at once and one that you need to take time and reflect on.

This book was unlike anything I’ve ever read before. There was action right off the bat with a plane crash and our protagonist Daniel Solomon realizing he has the ability to relive his own memories as Time is stopped. He retells his memories almost as if he was having a conversation with you which was a little confusing at first but it was quite intriguing.

This book isn’t for everyone but I’m super glad I got the chance to read it! The ending was so unexpected but it felt like the perfect way to wrap things up. I would recommend this book for a more older and mature audience as several things mentionnée could be triggering to some people. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW: mentions of rape, multiple sex scenes, the f and r slur.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were parts of this book I really liked and parts I didn’t. I thought it was an interesting concept - I liked the format of the book; and the maturation of the main character was done well. What I didn’t like was the unnecessary wordiness - at one point he spent almost a page and a half describing a “belly button/ navel/ umbilicus”.

The book seems to be written for the teen/ early twenties male. So I think I may not be the target market. The jacket says “Daniel discovers what it means to have your life flash before your eyes” - unfortunately most of Daniel’s memories are of him having sex. If you like hearing a twenty something male describe every sexual experience he’s ever had then this is the book for you. If not - maybe choose something else.

[P.J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sooo, this was not good. It started off fine, I liked the writing style but then... it just got tiring and awful. Basically the protagonist is blaming all the women he's known for how his life and death has turned out. Everything is everyone else's fault and not his. He is also speaking to his 'love' who turns out to be his unborn daughter. Which fine, is a nice thought but not when there's an awfully written sex scene every chapter. This protagonist also had this whole complex of how he loved women who needed him and were 'broken' in some way, disgusting. All in all a cool concept which is what initially brought me in but very bad execution and an EXTREMELY unlikeable protagonist.

[Mairead · Rating 4 out of 5]

the narrator is a frustrating douche for most of the novel but when he finally realizes that his memories aren't truths but just perspective, he does have some nice moments of growth. too bad he's dead when he does lmao.

it's definitely an experiential novel rather than something narrative driven, but i did like it.

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Young white Canadian male, has a bully problem, separated parents in childhood, first girlfriend becomes his whole life but then he ruins it because he's young and immature; moves to Thailand to find purpose, enjoys the life (where the mundane is amazing and the amazing is mundane), gets a girl pregnant, is a thoughtless dick to her too. Then his plane crashes and he relives his memories (life flashed before his eyes) to realize that yes, he was young and immature and made mistakes. And book finishes with a short imagining of the life of his daughter that he'll never know.
Too similar to my life, I guess, so the characters seem too normal, life event clichés, the eventual insights too basic. I mean, who hasn't died in a plane crash to Tokyo and had time suspended, am I right?

[Ainsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was skeptical for the first few pages, but once I got into it, I loved it.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book from beginning to end. Well-written with a unique device used to tell the story and a nice message at the end. Couldn't put it down - read it over a long weekend.

[Mike Heenan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously a strong grasp of vocabulary and the story holds for most of the book but tails off into the current at the end.