Review of Timewise

[CoolReads]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Timewise" by Robert Leet.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Timewise follows the life of Ron Larsen who is an orphan living in Mill Falls, Massachusetts. His early childhood is a blur of foster families. The young man picks up the game of chess to earn some pocket money. One day while playing chess at a local park, he is befriended by a mysterious woman named Regina Russo, a Physics Professor. Their paths keep crossing when Regina volunteers at Ron’s school.

At eighteen, Ron no longer has the state or foster family’s support to enable him to continue his studies. He picks up poker to keep a roof over his head, clothed and fed. Regina steps in during this crucial period by offering to sponsor Ron through college, provided he scores straight A’s. Ron accepts the offer and works to graduate as a mathematician at Northern University in Foxfield. His regular meetings with Regina, where he receives his stipends, involve discussions on physics and other scientific theories. After graduating, Ron moves to Seattle, where his career takes off after he employs fractal system to predict share prices. A letter from Regina seeking his help has him returning to Foxfield. This is when Regina reveals her secret basement laboratory and the experiments she has been conducting.

I liked Ron’s character right from the start because, from an early age, life forced him to fend for himself. Three quarters of this story is about how he grows from an enterprising teenager trying to make a quick buck into a respected stock trading genius. Along the way, Ron a friendly character, meets various people that teach him ideas and life skills, some which Ron adapts in his life. The only thing I did not enjoy that much about his character was having to endure Ron’s constant falling in and out of romantic relationships. I felt he fell too easily into love.

As for Regina, I initially found her character to be creepy, in a stalker paedophile sense. Regina was in her late thirties when she first sought out a 14-year-old Ron. She then turned up at both Ron’s middle and high school as a volunteer teacher, although she did not teach any of his classes. Later, when Ron finishes school and is living on his own, Regina once again seeks him out by turning up at his apartment steps. I had hoped that Regina was time travelling from the future to guide Ron or watch over him, which would have explained all the stalker like syndrome she was exhibiting. But as the story progresses, the plot proves my theory wrong. Regina’s interest in helping Ron is genuine, with no sexual motive.

The major complaint I have for the book is the way the author, Robert Leet, presents scientific theories as dialogues taking place between Regina and Ron. I prefer to term the dialogues as lectures since it is Regina who dominates these conversations with minimal input from Ron. These lectures on scientific theories take up to almost 50% of the book, which causes the story to be draggy, especially in the earlier chapters. It is not until Chapter 15, we actually get to see a practical application of some of these theories when Regina shows Ron her time machine. At this stage, we see her using the time machine to foresee stock market share prices. Later, with some help from Ron, Regina tweaks the machine with a camera to take photographs of future events around her building. I admit I was a little disappointed that the story so far had debunked my earlier theory of human time travel.

The story picks up when FBI Special Agent DeVries, who is hellbent in proving Regina a terrorist, is introduced to readers. I enjoyed reading the many schemes that Regina and Ron cook up to foil DeVries’ attempts at discovering what is going on in the basement of their building. The ‘coring party’ scene was particularly funny.

I would rate this book as a 3 out of 4 stars. I am not rating it higher as the book reads like a science journal half the time, and as Ron’s memoir, the other half. I would recommend this book to those who are interested in discussions on scientific theories such as Newton’s law, quantum physics, Planck constant, inflation of the early universe, dark mark and speed of light. The book contains light eroticism and an unorthodox suicide scene, thus it is not suitable for young readers.

******
Timewise
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon

[Shannon Ruane]

Hi!

I really enjoyed this review. I agree it does sound like Rita is a stalker, but I find it amusing she has known of Ron's existence for a much longer period of time than he was aware of. I'm glad you told us that the book is 50% lecture style. That type of writing might make the book difficult to read.

The plot in general sounds interesting and is something I might consider.

Thank you for your review,

-Shannon Ruane

[CoolReads]

Hi!

I really enjoyed this review. I agree it does sound like Rita is a stalker, but I find it amusing she has known of Ron's existence for a much longer period of time than he was aware of. I'm glad you told us that the book is 50% lecture style. That type of writing might make the book difficult to read.

The plot in general sounds interesting and is something I might consider.

Thank you for your review,

-Shannon Ruane

Glad you enjoyed reading the review.