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An Ocean of Minutes
America is in the grip of a deadly flu pandemic. When Frank catches the virus, his girlfriend Polly will do whatever it takes to save him, even if it means risking everything. She agrees to a radical plan—time travel has been invented in the future to thwart the virus. If she signs up for a one-way-trip into the future to work as a bonded labourer, the company will pay for the life-saving treatment Frank needs. Polly promises to meet Frank again in Galveston, Texas, where she will arrive in twelve years.
But when Polly is re-routed an extra five years into the future, Frank is nowhere to be found. Alone in a changed and divided America, with no status and no money, Polly must navigate a new life and find a way to locate Frank, to discover if he is alive, and if their love has endured.
But when Polly is re-routed an extra five years into the future, Frank is nowhere to be found. Alone in a changed and divided America, with no status and no money, Polly must navigate a new life and find a way to locate Frank, to discover if he is alive, and if their love has endured.
Kindle Edition
First published June 26, 2018
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About the author
Thea Lim
3 books180 followersThea Lim is the author of An Ocean of Minutes, which was shortlisted for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Thea Lim's writing has been published by Granta, The Paris Review, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, Salon, The Southampton Review and others. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston and she previously served as nonfiction editor at Gulf Coast. She grew up in Singapore and lives in Toronto with her family, where she is a professor of creative writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,206 reviews
May 3, 2019
》5 stars《
It has been a while since I have been this devoted to a book. Dystopian novels were my favorite in my high school years. This took me back it time somehow. It is a book about time travel anyway.
See, the story is very solid, it is so beautifully written, detailed but also it left room for your own imagination to wonder and this made it even more intriguing and mysterious.
The story of Polly and Frank
Even though the story is filled with pure fantasy, it felt very real. Beautiful imagination.
Polly is my favorite. She is the time traveler.
The relationship between Polly and Frank before Polly time travels, is told through flashbacks.
What felt like minutes ago for Polly, it has been years for Frank. Will he wait for her?
Was it worth reading? - Totally.
Will I read it again? - Probably.
Would I recommend it? - Of course. It is a magnificent story.
October 10, 2018
An Ocean of Minutes pulls a bait-and-switch that I expect will frustrate and confuse some readers. It appears to promise a pandemic/dystopia with a time travel twist, and a bit of a love story to boot. Instead, the book takes you on a tour of the immigrant experience.
Polly, our protagonist, is not just a time traveler, she's also a refugee from the past and an indentured labourer trying to work off the cost of her passage. She suddenly finds herself on the lowest rung of society, no status, money, or independence and in massive debt to her employer. The system is rigged against her and any attempt to navigate the mind-boggling bureaucracy is doomed to fail.
Polly needs something to cling to, and that something is the hope of finding Frank, her boyfriend from the past. For Polly, their separation was only moments ago, but for Frank it's been seventeen years (he went the long way 'round). Through flashbacks, we see their relationship unfold, and gradually get a sense of whether Polly is right to believe Frank would wait for her.
Through its time travel conceit, An Ocean of Minutes portrays displacement and immigration without directly referencing any specific real-world situation, allowing the reader to focus on the human experience. It's a clever trick and a gutsy one, since some readers may feel cheated that the book isn't the one they thought they were getting. Personally I think the author could have gone even further in this direction, as it was an absorbing read with a novel approach.
Polly, our protagonist, is not just a time traveler, she's also a refugee from the past and an indentured labourer trying to work off the cost of her passage. She suddenly finds herself on the lowest rung of society, no status, money, or independence and in massive debt to her employer. The system is rigged against her and any attempt to navigate the mind-boggling bureaucracy is doomed to fail.
Polly needs something to cling to, and that something is the hope of finding Frank, her boyfriend from the past. For Polly, their separation was only moments ago, but for Frank it's been seventeen years (he went the long way 'round). Through flashbacks, we see their relationship unfold, and gradually get a sense of whether Polly is right to believe Frank would wait for her.
Through its time travel conceit, An Ocean of Minutes portrays displacement and immigration without directly referencing any specific real-world situation, allowing the reader to focus on the human experience. It's a clever trick and a gutsy one, since some readers may feel cheated that the book isn't the one they thought they were getting. Personally I think the author could have gone even further in this direction, as it was an absorbing read with a novel approach.
November 14, 2018
The protagonist was usually lost, people were mostly mean to her, and this reader was generally bored.
February 11, 2019
Compared to Station Eleven and The Time Traveler's Wife on the cover, An Ocean of Minutes was only very superficially like them in that in the first case there was a flu epidemic and in the second it involved time travel. Such a wonderful premise, but it just did not deliver. I was really psyched to read this too and it was a quick read as I raced to find out what happened to the separated lovers, but it was so disappointing I wanted to throw it across the room. Ugh!
There are some fine things in the telling; one thing that was realistic in the text was how discombobulated Polly feels in this new world. She is a naturally timid person and she floundered around making errors mostly because she won't stand up for herself or even ask questions. Also, I felt that the love between Frank and Polly is well fleshed out. It's believable.
There are a lot of odd passages too though with descriptions that left me pondering what the author meant. I would rate it about a 2.5, rounded up for the unique premise.
There are some fine things in the telling; one thing that was realistic in the text was how discombobulated Polly feels in this new world. She is a naturally timid person and she floundered around making errors mostly because she won't stand up for herself or even ask questions. Also, I felt that the love between Frank and Polly is well fleshed out. It's believable.
There are a lot of odd passages too though with descriptions that left me pondering what the author meant. I would rate it about a 2.5, rounded up for the unique premise.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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May 7, 2018So, Polly and Frank love each other and Frank falls ill with a pandemic flu that is very rare. In order to get treatmnt they need a lot of money, so Polly ends up offering to work for a time travelling company. They make a pact to find each other again when she is "deployed" to 1993, the time to which she is gonna travel. But when she arrives it is 5 later and the pandemic flu has wiped almost all population. So she gets scared and then lots of bizarre and silly situations happen: she gets on the wrong bus and goes to another place instead of where she has to go, she doesn't know how to deal with the driver in order to get driven where she must be, she doesn't ask anyone (she sees some weird things around her, like recorded children's laughter and people with helmet like things on their head), she has to pee and ends up surrounded by bushes where she gets found by her boss that has come for her, aaaaaand... wtf I am reading?
I am sorry because I wanted to enjoy this, the pandemic idea sounded interesting as did the thought about they meeting again in the future, him all cured because of her time travelling paying the fees, but there were lots of surreal situations (like the described above) which I didn't buy into which affected my enjoyment of the story. The potential is there, but the book wasn't on my wave lenght.
I am sorry because I wanted to enjoy this, the pandemic idea sounded interesting as did the thought about they meeting again in the future, him all cured because of her time travelling paying the fees, but there were lots of surreal situations (like the described above) which I didn't buy into which affected my enjoyment of the story. The potential is there, but the book wasn't on my wave lenght.
February 23, 2018
2.5 stars Hmmm...I'm thinking this is one of those books that could have been amazing but wasn't.. I'm a huge fan of dystopian sci fi and I love time travel stories, but An Ocean of Minutes was quite disappointing as a whole. For the record, I did not see any similarity with Station Eleven except that both stories involved a flu pandemic. And there was no comparison between this story and The Time Traveller's Wife (which is one of my favourite books of all time) .except that they both include time travel and a love story. An Ocean of Minutes explores the question: Can true love withstand the test of time if one person travels to the future while the other is left behind ? The premise is that Polly leaves her present life behind to travel 17 years into the future to save Frank, her true love, from succumbing to the deadly flu. She volunteers in a moment of desperation with the plan that Frank will find her when she arrives and they will resume their relationship where they left off. The only caveat is that Frank will have lived those 17 years while Polly will still be the same age as when she left. I was certainly intrigued to know how it would turn out.
There were moments that kept me invested such as the bits about the flu pandemic as well as the post apocalyptic descriptions. I was also keen to know what happens to Polly and Frank's relationship but it took most of the story to get there.
There were a couple serious flaws that detracted from my overall enjoyment - the poorly developed romance and Polly being written as a weak and unreliable character. Let's talk about the romance first (sigh)....it just didn't feel like a hot and heavy, can't get you out of my mind kind of love. It felt hollow and superficial. I didn't believe they were really in love. Where was the passion??? Where was the heartbreak??? It's not until the very end that we get a hint of this romance. There was also an odd scene at the start in which a squirrel gets run over during their first date....I did not see the point of including that bit and was disappointed that the author would include animal cruelty for no apparent reason.
Now let's talk about the main character....oh dear... Polly was a bit of a hot mess. It was extremely hard to empathize with her. Her decisions lacked believability. She let others walk all over her, which was frustrating as heck! I wasn't able to trust in her character - particularly in the last 20% of the book - so the ending was not a good experience for me, I wanted to shake her and scream "wake up and feel some emotions! Do something other than pine and mope!"
This was unfortunately one of those reads that probably could have used a few more re-writes to get where it needed to go. I wish it would have focused more on Polly and Frank's relationship in the future as that was really the meat and potatoes of the story. The plot did keep my attention until the end (although I did skim here and there) so that's why I rounded up to a three. Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
There were moments that kept me invested such as the bits about the flu pandemic as well as the post apocalyptic descriptions. I was also keen to know what happens to Polly and Frank's relationship but it took most of the story to get there.
There were a couple serious flaws that detracted from my overall enjoyment - the poorly developed romance and Polly being written as a weak and unreliable character. Let's talk about the romance first (sigh)....it just didn't feel like a hot and heavy, can't get you out of my mind kind of love. It felt hollow and superficial. I didn't believe they were really in love. Where was the passion??? Where was the heartbreak??? It's not until the very end that we get a hint of this romance. There was also an odd scene at the start in which a squirrel gets run over during their first date....I did not see the point of including that bit and was disappointed that the author would include animal cruelty for no apparent reason.
Now let's talk about the main character....oh dear... Polly was a bit of a hot mess. It was extremely hard to empathize with her. Her decisions lacked believability. She let others walk all over her, which was frustrating as heck! I wasn't able to trust in her character - particularly in the last 20% of the book - so the ending was not a good experience for me, I wanted to shake her and scream "wake up and feel some emotions! Do something other than pine and mope!"
This was unfortunately one of those reads that probably could have used a few more re-writes to get where it needed to go. I wish it would have focused more on Polly and Frank's relationship in the future as that was really the meat and potatoes of the story. The plot did keep my attention until the end (although I did skim here and there) so that's why I rounded up to a three. Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
October 27, 2022
“They’re from the United States. We’re in America!”
In 1981, the USA is in the grip of a flu pandemic. Time travel is an established reality. Frank and Polly are in love but Frank has succumbed to the flu virus and will die unless he receives life-saving treatment that is expensive and beyond the reach of Frank and Polly’s wallets. To save Frank’s life, Polly signs a contract of future servitude with TimeRaiser, the corporation that sends uninfected people to the future to work for them in exchange for that life-saving treatment for somebody left behind in a dying present. Polly and Frank set up plans to rendezvous in 1993 but Polly is re-routed to 1998. Frank is nowhere to be found and Polly discovers that her present-day country is rather different from the country that she left behind and her basic human rights are as lost to her as Frank.
Canadian author Thea Lim demonstrates an uncanny skill to convey the head-over-heels unabashed love that Frank and Polly share without even once straying into the possible pitfalls of cloying sweetness, prurient exhibitionism, juvenile silliness or self-centered jealousies. And all of that is done with a masterful grasp of the writer’s dictum, “Show, don’t tell”! For example, Polly’s aunt Donna is clearly demonstrated to be a clever fun-loving, but introverted, quiet, and self-deprecating homebody when she suggests that Polly, “Go do something daring so I can live vicariously.” So much from a single sentence!
But her unerring ability to lift a beautiful romance out of the pages of her novel is betrayed by her inability to provide an underlying dystopian narrative that is compelling, exciting, gripping and truly frightening or convincing. It’s obvious that her intent was to pen a scathing critique of the possible outcomes that the USA faces if it continues down the current roads that are being paved by white, right-wing, fundamentalist Christian hatred, misogyny, homophobia, capitalism – the basic stuff of racist Republican voters and politicians. As a reader, my reaction to Lim’s prognostications never exceeded a simple head-nodding agreement. I wanted to be angry, to be frightened, to be truly indignant … but Lim’s narrative never pushed me to those extremes.
That said, it’s a fine story with a creative underlying story line. Unquestionably, a provocative cautionary tale to 21st century USA and its current political situation. I’m glad to have read it and can recommend it to readers who enjoyed the likes of The Time-Traveler’s Wife.
Paul Weiss
In 1981, the USA is in the grip of a flu pandemic. Time travel is an established reality. Frank and Polly are in love but Frank has succumbed to the flu virus and will die unless he receives life-saving treatment that is expensive and beyond the reach of Frank and Polly’s wallets. To save Frank’s life, Polly signs a contract of future servitude with TimeRaiser, the corporation that sends uninfected people to the future to work for them in exchange for that life-saving treatment for somebody left behind in a dying present. Polly and Frank set up plans to rendezvous in 1993 but Polly is re-routed to 1998. Frank is nowhere to be found and Polly discovers that her present-day country is rather different from the country that she left behind and her basic human rights are as lost to her as Frank.
Canadian author Thea Lim demonstrates an uncanny skill to convey the head-over-heels unabashed love that Frank and Polly share without even once straying into the possible pitfalls of cloying sweetness, prurient exhibitionism, juvenile silliness or self-centered jealousies. And all of that is done with a masterful grasp of the writer’s dictum, “Show, don’t tell”! For example, Polly’s aunt Donna is clearly demonstrated to be a clever fun-loving, but introverted, quiet, and self-deprecating homebody when she suggests that Polly, “Go do something daring so I can live vicariously.” So much from a single sentence!
But her unerring ability to lift a beautiful romance out of the pages of her novel is betrayed by her inability to provide an underlying dystopian narrative that is compelling, exciting, gripping and truly frightening or convincing. It’s obvious that her intent was to pen a scathing critique of the possible outcomes that the USA faces if it continues down the current roads that are being paved by white, right-wing, fundamentalist Christian hatred, misogyny, homophobia, capitalism – the basic stuff of racist Republican voters and politicians. As a reader, my reaction to Lim’s prognostications never exceeded a simple head-nodding agreement. I wanted to be angry, to be frightened, to be truly indignant … but Lim’s narrative never pushed me to those extremes.
That said, it’s a fine story with a creative underlying story line. Unquestionably, a provocative cautionary tale to 21st century USA and its current political situation. I’m glad to have read it and can recommend it to readers who enjoyed the likes of The Time-Traveler’s Wife.
Paul Weiss
November 3, 2018
This book was perfectly fine but nothing really that special to me. It has a cool concept and with that it can tackle some interesting issues, but I guess I just never felt that connected to Polly enough to care about what happened. The writing was nice and there were some very beautiful sentiments, but it wasn't enough to take this book to the next level for me.
August 9, 2019
This time travel story isn't interested in the mechanics of the technology. Rather, it's about the displacement and dislocation one feels when one lands in a world that is similar but very, very different from one that one knows.
Polly decides in 1981 to travel to the future to work for the corporation TimeRaiser, in exchange for getting her boyfriend Frank necessary medical treatment during a global flu epidemic. When she arrives in the future, it's not 1993 as she expected (TimeRaiser's time travel machine is supposed to jump people forward twelve years). Instead, it's 1998 (the company rerouted her because her skills as an upholsterer were needed then), and Polly is thrown by how different things look and feel. She had signed on with TimeRaiser in 1981, not grasping what the company's terms were. She now discovers she’s an indentured servant, with little to no hope of accumulating enough money to pay off her debt to the company and reunite with her hopefully now safe and healthy (and older) boyfriend.
I really liked the writing in this book. And though Polly is persistently naïve in her dealings with people and TimeRaiser in 1998, and in her belief in Frank, I wanted her to somehow get out of TimeRaiser's clutches and find some sort of solid ground on which to rebuild her life. I expected that the 1998 corporate-controlled world she finds herself in would be pretty horrible, and as an employee, her options were extremely limited, tenuous and subject to abuse, reminding me of the situation of migrant workers. The story does give Polly a sort of resolution, part of which is dependent upon a library, which she says saved her life, so, Thea Lim's future isn't unutterably sad. Because, libraries.
Polly decides in 1981 to travel to the future to work for the corporation TimeRaiser, in exchange for getting her boyfriend Frank necessary medical treatment during a global flu epidemic. When she arrives in the future, it's not 1993 as she expected (TimeRaiser's time travel machine is supposed to jump people forward twelve years). Instead, it's 1998 (the company rerouted her because her skills as an upholsterer were needed then), and Polly is thrown by how different things look and feel. She had signed on with TimeRaiser in 1981, not grasping what the company's terms were. She now discovers she’s an indentured servant, with little to no hope of accumulating enough money to pay off her debt to the company and reunite with her hopefully now safe and healthy (and older) boyfriend.
I really liked the writing in this book. And though Polly is persistently naïve in her dealings with people and TimeRaiser in 1998, and in her belief in Frank, I wanted her to somehow get out of TimeRaiser's clutches and find some sort of solid ground on which to rebuild her life. I expected that the 1998 corporate-controlled world she finds herself in would be pretty horrible, and as an employee, her options were extremely limited, tenuous and subject to abuse, reminding me of the situation of migrant workers. The story does give Polly a sort of resolution, part of which is dependent upon a library, which she says saved her life, so, Thea Lim's future isn't unutterably sad. Because, libraries.
Want to read
August 22, 2018I can't wait to read this.
December 4, 2019
I thought a dystopian sci-fi with time travel in it would have been more exciting.
Instead it was just really really depressing.
Not even an addictive heartbreaking sadness...just super depressing.
The only real redemption was the character Cookie (and maybe?) the world building.
Cookie was awesome!
Instead it was just really really depressing.
Not even an addictive heartbreaking sadness...just super depressing.
The only real redemption was the character Cookie (and maybe?) the world building.
Cookie was awesome!
August 22, 2018
Whenever I use the term "existential crisis" in a review, it's guaranteed that the book is pretty darn good. Well, in my opinion anyway. That is the case for this one because if there was a time for an existential crisis, it would have been while reading this book.
Going into reading this, I didn't really know what it was about aside from time travel (which is in the summary, I'm not giving anything away). After reading, I would say it's kind of similar to "The Time Traveler's Wife" and the movie "About Time" with an extra bonus dystopian element. Romance, time travel, contagious disease, and a dystopian world.....sounds interesting doesn't it?
This novel also read very raw and real. Sometimes the story came across as believable, whether it be because of the unpredictable nature of the world or because of our current political climate. Either way, the idea of this novel being reality was terrifying in all accounts.
Even though I did read this book in the span of two days, I wouldn't necessarily say it was a 'quick read'. It had a lot of serious content within that really made me stop and think. Thus, the existentialism of the novel. It really had me thinking about life and death along with the length of time each individual has between both.
Additionally, even after the ending, I continue to wonder how the story went on for both of the main characters. A sequel isn't needed and could cause detriment to the original novel but the ending does end in a way that left me questions. With that being said, I think the ending was intentionally meant to end that way in which the reader draws their own conclusions.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed this novel and I hope that one day it possibly is made into a movie. It is a story that I would love to see adapted.
***I received this novel from a Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you to Goodreads and the publisher for hosting this giveaway.***
Going into reading this, I didn't really know what it was about aside from time travel (which is in the summary, I'm not giving anything away). After reading, I would say it's kind of similar to "The Time Traveler's Wife" and the movie "About Time" with an extra bonus dystopian element. Romance, time travel, contagious disease, and a dystopian world.....sounds interesting doesn't it?
This novel also read very raw and real. Sometimes the story came across as believable, whether it be because of the unpredictable nature of the world or because of our current political climate. Either way, the idea of this novel being reality was terrifying in all accounts.
Even though I did read this book in the span of two days, I wouldn't necessarily say it was a 'quick read'. It had a lot of serious content within that really made me stop and think. Thus, the existentialism of the novel. It really had me thinking about life and death along with the length of time each individual has between both.
Additionally, even after the ending, I continue to wonder how the story went on for both of the main characters. A sequel isn't needed and could cause detriment to the original novel but the ending does end in a way that left me questions. With that being said, I think the ending was intentionally meant to end that way in which the reader draws their own conclusions.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed this novel and I hope that one day it possibly is made into a movie. It is a story that I would love to see adapted.
***I received this novel from a Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you to Goodreads and the publisher for hosting this giveaway.***
October 5, 2018
A terrific premise however the author's characters lack the appropriate emotional response to almost all the novel's events caused this reader to become frustrated.
July 13, 2018
Dec 6, 2017
Can’t wait to read this! So proud of you, Auntie Thea!!
Can’t wait to read this! So proud of you, Auntie Thea!!
September 26, 2018
Polly finds herself pinching the pads of her fingers, one by one. This Saturdays-in-September idea is suddenly sickening. It is like a plan a mother would make to keep from losing her children on a subway. It's a plan able to withstand early-closing doors and a snarl of stairways, not the ocean of minutes that twelve years holds. But uselessly, her mind has gone blank. Strange, random thoughts wander into the empty space. Is it dinner time? She is entering a world where the notion of something as normal as dinner time does not exist.
When I was just a chapter into An Ocean of Minutes, my daughter asked me what the book was about and I was able to answer: It's 1981 and there's a devastating flu pandemic wiping out the population. Polly's partner, Frank, is sure to die, but since time travel has been invented in the future (there's a weak explanation for why people can be sent back to September of 1981 but not to six months earlier so the flu can be prevented), Polly has been able to sign on as an indentured servant – about to be sent to 1993 – in exchange for Frank's life-saving treatment in the present. With a time and place arranged where they will eventually meet, what could go wrong? As soon as I finished explaining this, I asked my daughter, “With just this information, what do you think would be a satisfying ending? That Polly overcomes a bunch of obstacles in the future but eventually finds Frank? Or that she overcomes obstacles but has lost him forever?” We agreed that the book must eventually be about more than just that, and then my daughter pretty much guessed how it turns out, but what I'm still unconvinced of is if this book really is about more than this basic plot. In the end, the writing was fine and some big ideas were gestured at, but I still wanted the more.
Just as the invention of air travel had made it easy to go, but no easier to leave, the invention of time travel made time easy to pass, but no easier to endure.
Polly and Frank are from Buffalo, but since they happened to have found themselves quarantined while vacationing in Texas, it's to a future Galveston that Polly is sent. It turns out that she was only given this opportunity because Polly has rare skills that are desperately required in the future: those of a furniture restorer. Apparently, after the flu (which killed off 90% of the population), the USA split into two countries – the United States in the north (which has all the military and industry) and America in the south (which has oil reserves and rundown resorts) – and because the rich northerners need places to vacation, Polly's skills are employed to clean pillows and recane chairs in a bizarro, moldering south; a place where Hispanic women are warehoused in shipping containers and shuttled to exercise bike farms in order to spend their days generating “clean energy” for those liberal northerners who love green living. Right away, Polly realises that she had been sent to the wrong year (1998), and as an indentured servant in a low-tech dystopia, she doesn't have a lot of rights or freedoms or access to information: she sold her time in order to save Frank's life, but at every turn, she's prevented from finding him again. As I said, there's some gestures about big ideas – about nationalism, class and belonging – but they didn't really go anywhere; this is more love story than social study; and it's a strangely uncompelling love story.
But what could she do? She looked up. She kept laughing in the evening light, which is what people do when monstrous epiphanies surface in their minds. You cannot put life on hold to have a moment of grief, so every second, half the people in the world are split in two. This is what they mean by life goes on, and the worst is that you go along with it too.
I don't think that author Thea Lim got much out of the sci-fi potential of her concept, and with her MFA from the University of Houston, her writing style is much the same as every other MFA I tend to complain about; all sizzle no steak. I was simply left wanting more from this.
February 13, 2018
An Ocean of Minutes is a wonderfully crafted story about love, independence, and reality. Lim captures the essence of young idealized love and weaves it into a story about heartbreak, loss, and the lengths people are willing to go for the ones they love.
An Ocean of Minutes focuses on Polly as she is thrust into a new life to save the man she loves, Frank. In order to escape the flu pandemic and save Frank, Polly agrees to travel twelve years into the future and work for TimeRaiser. Once she arrives, Polly is dismayed to find out she’s traveled much further into the future than she anticipated. Polly then begins her journey of becoming independent, discovering a new world, and desperately seeking out Frank.
In the opening chapters of the novel, a real sense of confusion and helplessness is communicated through the writing. Polly is lost in the whirlwind of a new society where she feels she doesn’t belong and doesn’t understand. Her motivation stems from her love of Frank and their eventual reunion. As Polly navigates the new and unrecognizable world, the reader experiences her emotions in real time. Since the emotions are so tightly weaved within the text, the exposition and info dump does not feel clunky or obvious.
The chapters alternate between Polly’s present and past. Through her chapters in the past, the reader discovers Polly and Frank’s relationship. These chapters are an absolute joy to read. They’re lovely and wonderful; yet communicate a real relationship with ups and downs. On the other hand, the present chapters showcase the harsh reality of the future. The juxtaposition of the idealized past and the harsh reality is sometimes hard to reconcile, but is important to the overall narrative.
The balance between the romantic and science fiction elements is flawless. The alternating chapters take on the responsibility of shouldering the weight of developing each of the elements. I would have liked to see more development in world building and the pandemic itself, however An Ocean of Minutes, at its core, is a novel about resilience and love rather than the world itself. For this reason, I rated the novel five stars instead of four since Lim explores her characters perfectly.
Overall, An Ocean of Minutes is an expertly told story about the lengths people will go for the ones they love most and the impact of those choices.
***I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
An Ocean of Minutes focuses on Polly as she is thrust into a new life to save the man she loves, Frank. In order to escape the flu pandemic and save Frank, Polly agrees to travel twelve years into the future and work for TimeRaiser. Once she arrives, Polly is dismayed to find out she’s traveled much further into the future than she anticipated. Polly then begins her journey of becoming independent, discovering a new world, and desperately seeking out Frank.
In the opening chapters of the novel, a real sense of confusion and helplessness is communicated through the writing. Polly is lost in the whirlwind of a new society where she feels she doesn’t belong and doesn’t understand. Her motivation stems from her love of Frank and their eventual reunion. As Polly navigates the new and unrecognizable world, the reader experiences her emotions in real time. Since the emotions are so tightly weaved within the text, the exposition and info dump does not feel clunky or obvious.
The chapters alternate between Polly’s present and past. Through her chapters in the past, the reader discovers Polly and Frank’s relationship. These chapters are an absolute joy to read. They’re lovely and wonderful; yet communicate a real relationship with ups and downs. On the other hand, the present chapters showcase the harsh reality of the future. The juxtaposition of the idealized past and the harsh reality is sometimes hard to reconcile, but is important to the overall narrative.
The balance between the romantic and science fiction elements is flawless. The alternating chapters take on the responsibility of shouldering the weight of developing each of the elements. I would have liked to see more development in world building and the pandemic itself, however An Ocean of Minutes, at its core, is a novel about resilience and love rather than the world itself. For this reason, I rated the novel five stars instead of four since Lim explores her characters perfectly.
Overall, An Ocean of Minutes is an expertly told story about the lengths people will go for the ones they love most and the impact of those choices.
***I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
July 19, 2018
2.5 stars ~ The story itself is okay and sorta tragic but it just did not turn out to be what I was hoping for. There was a lot of info dump that I simply didn’t care for and this resorted into me literally finishing this book in less than 2 hours because I was basically skimming through the whole thing, only stopping at the bits of dialogue I found interesting and probably the flashbacks of Polly and Frank’s relationship. I wasn’t a fan of the world building but then again I am more of a sci-fi person. The time travel bit intrigued me but apart from that weren’t any other sci-fi elements which I was hoping for. I just had a different version of how the story would play out and when it didn’t, I guess I was disappointed.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
July 18, 2018
Thanks so much to Touchstone Books for providing my free copy of AN OCEAN OF MINUTES by Thea Lim - all opinions are my own.
This beautiful debut novel has a very interesting premise with stellar writing and a perfectly constructed story. By the time the world reaches 1981, it is overcome with a terrible flu epidemic and Polly is desperately trying to save the one she loves, Frank. Our twenty-something protagonist signs a contract with TimeRaiser, a company that sends uninfected people to the future to work for them in exchange for life-saving medical treatment for their loved ones. Polly plans to meet up with Frank in 1993, but instead ends up in a very different America in 1998. The country is much divided and she learns her basic rights were taken away. And she can’t find Frank.
Lim is an extraordinary storyteller, because this book is a true page-turner. The story is told in alternating timelines, between past and present where the juxtaposition is executed seamlessly. I was spellbound by Polly and Frank’s story and I just HAD to know what happened next. One of my favorite genres is dystopia, so I was intrigued by the time travel and dystopian elements in this novel, but this was way more than I expected. It touches on a range of topics such as social class, immigration, love, and loss, but what I am most bedazzled by is the time period Lim chose to write about. It’s a time period we all know so there is nostalgia but at the same time reality is altered so you can still get lost in your imagination. As I was reading, I could feel Polly’s fear, anxiety, and despair of what she was going through and it was truly heartbreaking. AN OCEAN OF MINUTES is an imaginative love story with a dystopian feel that I rather enjoyed.
This beautiful debut novel has a very interesting premise with stellar writing and a perfectly constructed story. By the time the world reaches 1981, it is overcome with a terrible flu epidemic and Polly is desperately trying to save the one she loves, Frank. Our twenty-something protagonist signs a contract with TimeRaiser, a company that sends uninfected people to the future to work for them in exchange for life-saving medical treatment for their loved ones. Polly plans to meet up with Frank in 1993, but instead ends up in a very different America in 1998. The country is much divided and she learns her basic rights were taken away. And she can’t find Frank.
Lim is an extraordinary storyteller, because this book is a true page-turner. The story is told in alternating timelines, between past and present where the juxtaposition is executed seamlessly. I was spellbound by Polly and Frank’s story and I just HAD to know what happened next. One of my favorite genres is dystopia, so I was intrigued by the time travel and dystopian elements in this novel, but this was way more than I expected. It touches on a range of topics such as social class, immigration, love, and loss, but what I am most bedazzled by is the time period Lim chose to write about. It’s a time period we all know so there is nostalgia but at the same time reality is altered so you can still get lost in your imagination. As I was reading, I could feel Polly’s fear, anxiety, and despair of what she was going through and it was truly heartbreaking. AN OCEAN OF MINUTES is an imaginative love story with a dystopian feel that I rather enjoyed.
January 1, 2019
I really wanted to like this book, but there were a lot of things that annoyed me. I didn't like the two main characters, Polly and Frank. Polly had made the decision to time travel, but when it happened she acted like she had no idea what happened, where she was, and what was expected of her. Did she really as zero questions before signing up to jump 12 years in the future? I found Frank obnoxious from the moment he was introduced, and thought there was no way he was going to hold up his end of the deal.
I'm glad I finished the book, because it had some interesting concepts, but I wanted more information on the world, the disease, how time travel was possible and why they can only go forward in time. The idea of people riding bicycles to create energy is straight out of the Netflix series Black Mirror, as well as the life card currency. I also feel like the author didn't really know how to end the book, it just stops.
Polly should have let Frank die.
I'm glad I finished the book, because it had some interesting concepts, but I wanted more information on the world, the disease, how time travel was possible and why they can only go forward in time. The idea of people riding bicycles to create energy is straight out of the Netflix series Black Mirror, as well as the life card currency. I also feel like the author didn't really know how to end the book, it just stops.
Polly should have let Frank die.
May 14, 2019
"An Ocean of Minutes offers that rare combination of a provocative speculative setting, masterfully elegant writing, and a story that moves and haunts long after the last page.
Thea Lim is an enormously talented writer."
- David Chariandy, author of BROTHER and SOUCOUYANT
"A strikingly imaginative time-travel story unlike anything I've ever read, rich with pinpoint emotional insight and fierce, vivid observations about a future that's already our past."
- Élan Mastai, author of All Our Wrong Todays
When I read the above quotes about this novel, I knew that they had to be included in my review. They express my thoughts, but much more elegantly.
It is 1981 and Polly and Frank get stranded in Texas, where he catches a deadly virus. In order to pay for Frank to have the best medical care possible, Polly, his fiancé, agrees to time travel into the future and work for twelve years. She and Frank make arrangements to meet in Galveston on Saturday in September 1993 to restart their lives together.
What does the future hold for Polly and Frank?
Will things go according to the plan?
Will Frank get better? Will he be waiting for Polly? Will Polly come back?
AN OCEAN OF MINUTES is a gorgeous, devastating novel about courage , the complexity of love, and the power of memory. I enjoyed this novel and read it in less than two days. 4 brilliant futuristic stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thea Lim is an enormously talented writer."
- David Chariandy, author of BROTHER and SOUCOUYANT
"A strikingly imaginative time-travel story unlike anything I've ever read, rich with pinpoint emotional insight and fierce, vivid observations about a future that's already our past."
- Élan Mastai, author of All Our Wrong Todays
When I read the above quotes about this novel, I knew that they had to be included in my review. They express my thoughts, but much more elegantly.
It is 1981 and Polly and Frank get stranded in Texas, where he catches a deadly virus. In order to pay for Frank to have the best medical care possible, Polly, his fiancé, agrees to time travel into the future and work for twelve years. She and Frank make arrangements to meet in Galveston on Saturday in September 1993 to restart their lives together.
What does the future hold for Polly and Frank?
Will things go according to the plan?
Will Frank get better? Will he be waiting for Polly? Will Polly come back?
AN OCEAN OF MINUTES is a gorgeous, devastating novel about courage , the complexity of love, and the power of memory. I enjoyed this novel and read it in less than two days. 4 brilliant futuristic stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟
June 30, 2018
I have to say straight away this is one of the best books I’ve read in such a long time so I was extremely happy to be asked to be involved in the An Ocean of Minutes Blog Tour.
Prepare for a bombardment of superlatives…
I absolutely loved this book even though I felt emotionally destroyed by the end of it. I’m desperate to get hold of a hard copy (that cover!) and also when this gets turned into a Hollywood film I want to be part of the casting team: I have some great ideas!
I was initially drawn to reading An Ocean of Minutes because it ticked a lot of boxes; mainly time travel and a dystopian/post-apocalyptic setting. But it was so much more than I was expecting. It is a real genre-bending book which covers a number of important and timely themes including immigration, class/status, relationships, grief and ultimately the passing of time and the pain of love.
Set in the 1980s and 1990s it has a wonderfully nostalgic feel to it; in an interview, the author Thea Lim says she purposefully set the book in a period of time before we were saturated by modern technology like mobile phones and the internet. I think this was an excellent decision as it gives the book a unique wistfulness. Lim didn’t want to write a dystopia that tries to make a prediction of what the future will look like but instead focuses on issues affecting us now. Some aspects of the story directly mirror the abuses happening today – in particular how migrant workers and refugees are treated and the disparity between classes and ethnicities.
But what really got to me in the end (had me crying my eyes out) was the relationship between Polly and Frank. There was something so believable and heartbreaking about their story and it strongly resonated with me.
Having been transported 5 years too far into the future, I really felt Polly’s distress and anguish when she first arrives in Galveston to find the world as she knows it has gone forever.
The author’s descriptions of locations are powerfully realised but still allow the reader’s imagination to go wild. Galveston is now predominantly an overgrown wasteland, dotted with storage containers, concrete ruins and border fences while the rush is on to re-build luxury hotels and facilities for the elite tourists.
“Strip malls, warehouses and offices were canopied in shrubs and grasses” and ominously now “there are no regular stores”.
She finds herself alone in this surreal hellish prison of a town. Trapped until she pays off her debt to the TimeRaiser corporation and aware she has missed the year of her and Frank’s planned meeting, her desperation to find him is gut-wrenching. It’s pretty horrifying as she realises the seriousness of her decision; irreversible and impossible to return to the previous time and her old life.
This book played on my worst fears about time (running out of it, it going too quickly, not appreciating the present) and reminded me of the Welsh word Hiraeth which is difficult to translate to English. Hiraeth [hiraɪ̯θ]) pronounced with 2 syllables – Here Ithe – means a longing for a place or time, or a yearning or wistful grief for people and things long gone.
When a book can make you feel a myriad of emotions including the hammering heart of anxiety, the burning rage of anger and also a deep tear-jerking sadness it has to be a 5 star book. So yes, I can’t recommend this book enough.
Prepare for a bombardment of superlatives…
I absolutely loved this book even though I felt emotionally destroyed by the end of it. I’m desperate to get hold of a hard copy (that cover!) and also when this gets turned into a Hollywood film I want to be part of the casting team: I have some great ideas!
I was initially drawn to reading An Ocean of Minutes because it ticked a lot of boxes; mainly time travel and a dystopian/post-apocalyptic setting. But it was so much more than I was expecting. It is a real genre-bending book which covers a number of important and timely themes including immigration, class/status, relationships, grief and ultimately the passing of time and the pain of love.
Set in the 1980s and 1990s it has a wonderfully nostalgic feel to it; in an interview, the author Thea Lim says she purposefully set the book in a period of time before we were saturated by modern technology like mobile phones and the internet. I think this was an excellent decision as it gives the book a unique wistfulness. Lim didn’t want to write a dystopia that tries to make a prediction of what the future will look like but instead focuses on issues affecting us now. Some aspects of the story directly mirror the abuses happening today – in particular how migrant workers and refugees are treated and the disparity between classes and ethnicities.
But what really got to me in the end (had me crying my eyes out) was the relationship between Polly and Frank. There was something so believable and heartbreaking about their story and it strongly resonated with me.
Having been transported 5 years too far into the future, I really felt Polly’s distress and anguish when she first arrives in Galveston to find the world as she knows it has gone forever.
The author’s descriptions of locations are powerfully realised but still allow the reader’s imagination to go wild. Galveston is now predominantly an overgrown wasteland, dotted with storage containers, concrete ruins and border fences while the rush is on to re-build luxury hotels and facilities for the elite tourists.
“Strip malls, warehouses and offices were canopied in shrubs and grasses” and ominously now “there are no regular stores”.
She finds herself alone in this surreal hellish prison of a town. Trapped until she pays off her debt to the TimeRaiser corporation and aware she has missed the year of her and Frank’s planned meeting, her desperation to find him is gut-wrenching. It’s pretty horrifying as she realises the seriousness of her decision; irreversible and impossible to return to the previous time and her old life.
This book played on my worst fears about time (running out of it, it going too quickly, not appreciating the present) and reminded me of the Welsh word Hiraeth which is difficult to translate to English. Hiraeth [hiraɪ̯θ]) pronounced with 2 syllables – Here Ithe – means a longing for a place or time, or a yearning or wistful grief for people and things long gone.
When a book can make you feel a myriad of emotions including the hammering heart of anxiety, the burning rage of anger and also a deep tear-jerking sadness it has to be a 5 star book. So yes, I can’t recommend this book enough.
July 10, 2018
I was intrigued by the unique premise of An Ocean of Minutes and by the publisher's comparison with The Time Traveler's Wife and Station Eleven. A dystopian tale, little time travel and a love story that asks, "can true love stand the test of time?" Yes please!
Buuuuut, the similarities between the three books is weak. Yes, there's a flu pandemic (Station Eleven) and yes there's time travel (Time Traveler's Wife) but that's where the connections end. I wanted to feel more energy, heartache, passion and the danger of a new world.
I found myself slowly becoming invested in the book with its descriptions of the post-apocalyptic world and needing to see how things would pan out for the couple. But I had issues with Polly and Frank. I didn't feel the love between them. A little dysfunctional codependence, sure. But a sweeping romance to stand the test of time? Nope. I wanted to crawl inside their relationship to understand what they were giving up, but the reader is kept at arms' length with Polly, Frank and the secondary characters. As a main character, Polly is rather dull, emotionless and quickly goes from initially trying to find Frank in her new world, to half-hearted attempts to find him to apathy which was more than a little frustrating.
While it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns for me this time out, there were parts I enjoyed and found this to be an easy read. Lim has a fantastic premise and I applaud her for how she incorporated issues of immigration, migration and class structure into her story. But with more romance, a stronger dystopian vibe and more connection to the characters I would have given this book a higher rating.
Disclaimer: This Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
Buuuuut, the similarities between the three books is weak. Yes, there's a flu pandemic (Station Eleven) and yes there's time travel (Time Traveler's Wife) but that's where the connections end. I wanted to feel more energy, heartache, passion and the danger of a new world.
I found myself slowly becoming invested in the book with its descriptions of the post-apocalyptic world and needing to see how things would pan out for the couple. But I had issues with Polly and Frank. I didn't feel the love between them. A little dysfunctional codependence, sure. But a sweeping romance to stand the test of time? Nope. I wanted to crawl inside their relationship to understand what they were giving up, but the reader is kept at arms' length with Polly, Frank and the secondary characters. As a main character, Polly is rather dull, emotionless and quickly goes from initially trying to find Frank in her new world, to half-hearted attempts to find him to apathy which was more than a little frustrating.
While it wasn't all rainbows and unicorns for me this time out, there were parts I enjoyed and found this to be an easy read. Lim has a fantastic premise and I applaud her for how she incorporated issues of immigration, migration and class structure into her story. But with more romance, a stronger dystopian vibe and more connection to the characters I would have given this book a higher rating.
Disclaimer: This Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
February 1, 2019
Well I am not entirely sure how to rate this. I was expecting big things from this book after beign nominated for the Giller, and perhaps i had set my expectations too high. It was a very readable story, but the characters just seemed to come and go, and the descriptions of how/why the world declined after a flu epidemic were really glossed over. At the heart of the story is the question of whether or not love can survive a 17 year gap, which is caused by one character travelling form 1981 to 1998 in order to save her loved one's life.
It was just OK for me.
It was just OK for me.
January 5, 2019
Exhilaratingly imaginative.
Imagine a world where 17 years go by in the blink of an eye and you awake to a world that isn’t yours.
A world where your memories are all that remain. A world that is changed beyond all recognition.
Imagine that you haven’t aged whilst all around you people have experienced every minute of a pandemic that has changed the way that everything will be forever.
An Ocean of Minutes is quite simply a book like no other. Its originality is astounding. The writing is spellbinding - it will strike a chord in your heart that bring tears to your eyes as a blissful sigh escapes your lips. The protagonists are richly painted, vivid and utterly human.
I took this book everywhere with me in the hope that I could squeeze in a few pages. I wanted to let every single mesmerising sentence wash over me and found that before I knew it an hour had passed in what seemed like a minute.
As I turned the final page I looked up and like Polly felt like everything was altered somehow.
Thank you so much to riverrun for the ARC. An Ocean of Minutes is stunningly beautiful. It will take you on a journey to a world where love transcends minutes, years and oceans. The world of Polly & Frank.
Imagine a world where 17 years go by in the blink of an eye and you awake to a world that isn’t yours.
A world where your memories are all that remain. A world that is changed beyond all recognition.
Imagine that you haven’t aged whilst all around you people have experienced every minute of a pandemic that has changed the way that everything will be forever.
An Ocean of Minutes is quite simply a book like no other. Its originality is astounding. The writing is spellbinding - it will strike a chord in your heart that bring tears to your eyes as a blissful sigh escapes your lips. The protagonists are richly painted, vivid and utterly human.
I took this book everywhere with me in the hope that I could squeeze in a few pages. I wanted to let every single mesmerising sentence wash over me and found that before I knew it an hour had passed in what seemed like a minute.
As I turned the final page I looked up and like Polly felt like everything was altered somehow.
Thank you so much to riverrun for the ARC. An Ocean of Minutes is stunningly beautiful. It will take you on a journey to a world where love transcends minutes, years and oceans. The world of Polly & Frank.
May 7, 2018
Thanks to Touchstone for sending me a copy to review!
This is a pandemic story, but there's a twist: time travel has been invented in the future. If you agree to work as a bonded laborer, the company TimeRaiser will not only send you ahead and out of harm's way but also give your loved one the life-saving treatment that can't be found anywhere else.
And that's what Polly does to save Frank. They make plans to reunite in twelve years, but when Polly gets rerouted an extra five years she finds herself lost and lonely in a completely changed country. That's what makes this the kind of dystopian/sci-fi story that I love: the focus on the human side. What do we do, how do we react when our infrastructure falls apart and the world as we know it ends?
Beautifully told with understated prose - that perfect blend of a novel with great writing, a fresh plot and perspective, and memorable characters that broke my heart in the best way.
This is a pandemic story, but there's a twist: time travel has been invented in the future. If you agree to work as a bonded laborer, the company TimeRaiser will not only send you ahead and out of harm's way but also give your loved one the life-saving treatment that can't be found anywhere else.
And that's what Polly does to save Frank. They make plans to reunite in twelve years, but when Polly gets rerouted an extra five years she finds herself lost and lonely in a completely changed country. That's what makes this the kind of dystopian/sci-fi story that I love: the focus on the human side. What do we do, how do we react when our infrastructure falls apart and the world as we know it ends?
Beautifully told with understated prose - that perfect blend of a novel with great writing, a fresh plot and perspective, and memorable characters that broke my heart in the best way.
April 16, 2021
Technically this is slight dystopian/time travelling novel but suggest not having to high expectations for those themes. In 1981 Polly agrees to travel 12 years into the future and work there so that her boyfriend Frank gets the medical care he needs for the flu during a pandemic. But her arrival is delayed with 5 more years and Frank is nowhere to be found and its not easy for Polly to navigate through the new time zone as everything seem to be working against her and she struggled a lot. This is not an exciting Overy dramatic story that will entertain you at all times. This is more of a quiet yet emotional novel about finding your place in a world that seem to not quite want you and the hope and longing for a lost love. I enjoyed it and the ending was sad yet very realistic and good.
July 20, 2018
“TimeRaiser is a good company. We’ll protect you. Today, or rather tomorrow, is the first day of the rest of your life. It’s a gift.”
In the year 1981, the flu has devastated the world. When the ability to time travel becomes a reality, doctors attempt to go back to the beginning to prevent the flu from ever becoming an issue but limitations on travel prevent them from going back that far. Being infected is certain death and when Polly’s boyfriend Frank becomes infected, she agrees to a 32-month contract with TimeRaiser: in exchange for medical aid to cure Frank, Polly will travel to the year 1993 to help rebuild the physical elements of society. Goodbyes are conducted quickly with the two promising to meet the year she was due to arrive except Polly finds herself in the year 1998 instead. Filled with uncertainty in a world that used to be familiar, Polly must learn to cope with the past decisions that have changed her future irrevocably.
‘She had done it all without understanding the weight of what she was doing. Until this moment, the choice she’d made had kept its true, perverse nature secret: it was irreversible, and only comprehensible after it was done.’
With flashes between past and present, An Ocean of Minutes tells the story of Frank and Polly and why Polly would be willing to make such a monumental decision so that the two of them had a chance for a shared future. This story shares many genres, time travel, post-apocalyptic, and romance, but Lim balances the elements nicely and one never overwhelmed the other. The post-apocalyptic aspects were eerie, with the United States of America being divided into a section called The United States and a separate section called America. TimeRaiser’s employees are assigned codes based on the type of work they are assigned to do with some individuals making new tiles for new flooring, or other individuals ride exercise bikes all day to power resorts (reminding me vividly of Fifteen Million Merits. Any Black Mirror fans?) Polly is fortunate enough to be a skilled laborer and is assigned to restore old furniture where she’s granted certain liberties that regular “Journeymen” are not.
Life is still far from easy and nothing like the life that she left behind and Polly is forced to deal with far more than she ever anticipated when she signed up. Finding Frank is always at the forefront of her mind and was what kept these pages turning most for me: I was eager to know if Polly’s sacrifices would pay off for her and possibly Frank as well. The story’s pace is admittedly unhurried and despite the shocking nature of the world Polly finds herself in, it’s not exactly what I would call thrilling. Despite all this, I found myself completely enthralled in finding out the ending. The story concludes instead with a life lesson on impermanence, the reality of change, and a bit of a cynical approach to love. Realistic or not, I found it concluded most disappointingly.
‘In her heart, the past was not another time, but another place that still existed. It was just that she had taken a wrong turn.’
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
In the year 1981, the flu has devastated the world. When the ability to time travel becomes a reality, doctors attempt to go back to the beginning to prevent the flu from ever becoming an issue but limitations on travel prevent them from going back that far. Being infected is certain death and when Polly’s boyfriend Frank becomes infected, she agrees to a 32-month contract with TimeRaiser: in exchange for medical aid to cure Frank, Polly will travel to the year 1993 to help rebuild the physical elements of society. Goodbyes are conducted quickly with the two promising to meet the year she was due to arrive except Polly finds herself in the year 1998 instead. Filled with uncertainty in a world that used to be familiar, Polly must learn to cope with the past decisions that have changed her future irrevocably.
‘She had done it all without understanding the weight of what she was doing. Until this moment, the choice she’d made had kept its true, perverse nature secret: it was irreversible, and only comprehensible after it was done.’
With flashes between past and present, An Ocean of Minutes tells the story of Frank and Polly and why Polly would be willing to make such a monumental decision so that the two of them had a chance for a shared future. This story shares many genres, time travel, post-apocalyptic, and romance, but Lim balances the elements nicely and one never overwhelmed the other. The post-apocalyptic aspects were eerie, with the United States of America being divided into a section called The United States and a separate section called America. TimeRaiser’s employees are assigned codes based on the type of work they are assigned to do with some individuals making new tiles for new flooring, or other individuals ride exercise bikes all day to power resorts (reminding me vividly of Fifteen Million Merits. Any Black Mirror fans?) Polly is fortunate enough to be a skilled laborer and is assigned to restore old furniture where she’s granted certain liberties that regular “Journeymen” are not.
Life is still far from easy and nothing like the life that she left behind and Polly is forced to deal with far more than she ever anticipated when she signed up. Finding Frank is always at the forefront of her mind and was what kept these pages turning most for me: I was eager to know if Polly’s sacrifices would pay off for her and possibly Frank as well. The story’s pace is admittedly unhurried and despite the shocking nature of the world Polly finds herself in, it’s not exactly what I would call thrilling. Despite all this, I found myself completely enthralled in finding out the ending. The story concludes instead with a life lesson on impermanence, the reality of change, and a bit of a cynical approach to love. Realistic or not, I found it concluded most disappointingly.
‘In her heart, the past was not another time, but another place that still existed. It was just that she had taken a wrong turn.’
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
July 9, 2018
An ocean of minutes is a book that manages to combine quite a few genres. It’s little bit dystopian and sci fi but it’s mainly a beautiful, usual love story.
The world that has been created in this book is very intriguing and I enjoyed learning more about it. It’s quite similar in parts to the world that we know in that there is a definite class system in play with the poorer people trying to do anything to get by. The only way some people can afford the costly treatment for the flu epidemic that has affected the population is to sign up with a time traveling company for a job with them in the future, though once there they realise this isn’t the brilliant fix they though it was. It was quite chilling to realise how much control the company had on people and how hard they had to work to pay off their debt.
I loved Polly she seemed very clever and a hard worker, though at times was rather niave. Her attempts to navigate the strange future world was heatbreaking at times and I really felt for her and the predicament she finds herself in. Despite being classed as having a special skill the luxury she is promised doesn’t materislise and I could feel her upset and frustration as the bright future she hoped for fails to live up to her hopes.
The story is told in two parts. One follows Polly and her life in the future, 5 years further in the future then she hoped for which of course adds Futher complications as it makes finding Frank more difficult than she hoped. The other, told in a series of flash backs, focuses on Polly and Frank and the story of their life together. It is very poignant and beautiful to learn more about this, especially when it impacts the future. The two stories gradually come together and the ending was very uplifting and satisfying as it was great to see how far Polly had come.
Huge thanks to Ana at Quercus books for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour. This is definitely a book I will be thinking about for some time.
The world that has been created in this book is very intriguing and I enjoyed learning more about it. It’s quite similar in parts to the world that we know in that there is a definite class system in play with the poorer people trying to do anything to get by. The only way some people can afford the costly treatment for the flu epidemic that has affected the population is to sign up with a time traveling company for a job with them in the future, though once there they realise this isn’t the brilliant fix they though it was. It was quite chilling to realise how much control the company had on people and how hard they had to work to pay off their debt.
I loved Polly she seemed very clever and a hard worker, though at times was rather niave. Her attempts to navigate the strange future world was heatbreaking at times and I really felt for her and the predicament she finds herself in. Despite being classed as having a special skill the luxury she is promised doesn’t materislise and I could feel her upset and frustration as the bright future she hoped for fails to live up to her hopes.
The story is told in two parts. One follows Polly and her life in the future, 5 years further in the future then she hoped for which of course adds Futher complications as it makes finding Frank more difficult than she hoped. The other, told in a series of flash backs, focuses on Polly and Frank and the story of their life together. It is very poignant and beautiful to learn more about this, especially when it impacts the future. The two stories gradually come together and the ending was very uplifting and satisfying as it was great to see how far Polly had come.
Huge thanks to Ana at Quercus books for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour. This is definitely a book I will be thinking about for some time.
October 15, 2018
3.5 rounded up
An Ocean of Minutes, a book rooted in dystopic genre fiction tropes and at times feeling derivative, a less profound Station Eleven, is a surprise finalist for this year's Giller Prize. Seeing the mixed reviews on Goodreads and the somewhat lukewarm embrace of its inclusion as a contender for a literary fiction prize, I did not go in with too high expectations. However, the intense and very subtle story about dealing with loss and disappointment exceeded expectations.
Following the story of Polly, a woman who has accepted a contract to go to the future in order to save her lover (Frank) from certain death, we deal with her journey to find Frank in the future and how the expectations of eternal love and bliss must confront the stark realities of separation and time.
Although set in an alternative world where a pandemic has wreaked havoc and created a world very different than what we know, the setting in itself is a backdrop for Polly's exploration of love, loss and re calibration. Lim digs deep into Polly's psyche as she must confront an outcome that had not been bargained for and how despite this pushes forward to try to recreate a semblance of the love she hoped to save.
A worthy finalist and a worthy addition to the canon of literary dystopia.
An Ocean of Minutes, a book rooted in dystopic genre fiction tropes and at times feeling derivative, a less profound Station Eleven, is a surprise finalist for this year's Giller Prize. Seeing the mixed reviews on Goodreads and the somewhat lukewarm embrace of its inclusion as a contender for a literary fiction prize, I did not go in with too high expectations. However, the intense and very subtle story about dealing with loss and disappointment exceeded expectations.
Following the story of Polly, a woman who has accepted a contract to go to the future in order to save her lover (Frank) from certain death, we deal with her journey to find Frank in the future and how the expectations of eternal love and bliss must confront the stark realities of separation and time.
Although set in an alternative world where a pandemic has wreaked havoc and created a world very different than what we know, the setting in itself is a backdrop for Polly's exploration of love, loss and re calibration. Lim digs deep into Polly's psyche as she must confront an outcome that had not been bargained for and how despite this pushes forward to try to recreate a semblance of the love she hoped to save.
A worthy finalist and a worthy addition to the canon of literary dystopia.
August 2, 2018
This was VERY good, so of course it's hard for me to know what to say about it. Lim takes time travel in a wonderfully unexpected direction, using it to explore ideas of distance - physical, emotional, temporal - loss, love, and sacrifice. The setting is richly realized and like most good sci-fi, it asks the reader to confront contemporary issues (immigrant, the power of corporations, the way wealthy societies turn a blind eye to the labor that creates our comfortable lives) by altering them just a little. All of that is background, though, to a story about how we fall in love, what love asks of us, and how it evolves as we evolve. Can't recommend highly enough, especially for fans of Station Eleven and/or American War. Just so lovely and sad.
Audio narration was a bit flat and mushy, but also I sobbed through the last hour so *shrug emoticon*
Audio narration was a bit flat and mushy, but also I sobbed through the last hour so *shrug emoticon*
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