Harper Collins: 11/27/18
eBook review copy; 336 pages
ISBN-13: 9780062319593
Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates is a
recommended dystopian novel about a totalitarian regime where
being sent back in time is a punishment.
Adriane Strohl is named
valedictorian of her high school class, even after others tried to
tell her that it is better to not stand out in the current
political environment. When she practices her speech, which
consists of questions, she is arrested, charged with Treason and
Questioning of Authority, and punished by being sent to college.
The college she is sent to is in Wainscotia, Wisconsin, and the
time is in 1959, eighty years in the past. She is given a new
name, Mary Ellen Enright, and has a chip implanted in her brain to
ensure her cooperation and loss of past memories. The opening of
the novel lists the rules and constraints Adriane is under for the
time she is sentenced for rehabilitation. Obviously she should
know that it could be dangerous when she becomes obsessed with and
tries to talk to Dr. Ira Wolfman, a psychology professor. She is
sure that he has also been sentenced to exile in 1959 Wainscotia.
Oates has created an
interesting dystopian world, but, in my opinion, it certainly
reads like a Young Adult novel and is not as well-imagined or
well-developed as other adult dystopian novels out there. It falls
a bit short of making the political statement that Oates' desires.
Adriane's paranoia and struggle to try to remember who she was
before feels realistic, as does her inability to fit into 1959. In
many ways it feels like this novel was rushed to publication as a
political statement. It might have had a chance to make a bigger
impact if more time was spent making it a better, more complete
statement. There is one part which occurs later in the novel that
was startling and elevated the novel above the ordinary - a bit -
which is the basis for my three stars. The conclusion is
enigmatic, in relationship to the information the reader has about
Adriane's punishment.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy
of Harper
Collins.
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