The Sword and Laser discussion

While I enjoyed certain aspects of this book (the humour, the characters of the ex-pats, the ways the inherited trauma of the bridge's Cambodian family background mirrored the trauma of the people who were ripped out of their own time) I found it overall a bit frustrating.

Why?

Well, because it was one of the most oddly-paced books I've ever read. For about the first three-quarters of the narrative, we're with the bridge and Graham Gore as she tries to get him to adapt to modern life. We have charming characters like Maggie and Arthur, alongside some less charming characters like Cardingham and Adela. It's funny and slow-burningly romantic. There are hints that something is amiss with the time-travel project and the mysterious figure of the Brigadier is involved, but that all feels very backgrounded - 'don't worry about it'.

Then we abruptly have the reveal that (view spoiler)[ Adela is actually a version of the bridge from the future messing with her own timeline (hide spoiler)] and a whole lot of plot happens in a very short space of time. It all feels extremely rushed and under-explained and, to my mind at least, unsatisfying.

Now I'm very much a character and writing-style doorway person, so I enjoyed the early sections of the book. However, I couldn't help feeling that the book would have been a lot better overall if the plot had been more evenly distributed instead of clumped up at the end. I would also have appreciated a bit more explanation of what the characters were actually trying to achieve by messing with the timeline, and maybe even seen (view spoiler)[ what the future they were trying to avert looked like (hide spoiler)].
What did you all make of it? This book certainly seems to have divided opinions!

It was a very differently paced book, but that was actually part of what grabbed my attention. I started paying attention to the little things the bridge would mention but which it was clear she wasn't really paying attention to or understanding or really caring much about. Her attention was mostly on Graham (and Maggie whenever she was present) and the pacing followed the flow the bridge believed was happening. Then that flow was interrupted by the things she should have been noticing erupting into her life and she began just trying to keep up and often flailing in the wrong direction.

All the pacing and most of the information was tied to the perception and attention of what I've described as our impossible myopic bridge. She's not just Graham's bridge, she's ours as well. And in both instances, she's a pretty unreliable one. I enjoyed that ride personally, but I can see how it could also be frustrating.

+1 to Ruth's comment (on this and the various other threads); exactly reflects my thoughts.

*puts finger to nose* Yep, if this is ever made into a movie it should have a theme song by the Bridge Eyed Peas "Where Is The Plot." (Sing it with me! "People coping people hiding, people out of time abiding, people talking quite a lot, but where is the plot? Where is the plooot, where is the plot?")

Ruth wrote: "whole lot of plot happens in a very short space of time. It all feels extremely rushed and under-explained and, to my mind at least, unsatisfying"

I didn’t get that at all. I thought it was ramping up as it went along when near the end things came to a head, much like the “Sanderson tsunami” at the end of Brandon Sanderson’s novels.

Ruth wrote: "I would also have appreciated a bit more explanation of what the characters were actually trying to achieve by messing with the timeline"

Yes, I never really felt like I understood why all the shenanigans were happening.

I definitely noticed all the plot rushing together at the end - but I was disappointed by it mostly because I'd been enjoying the book the whole time without much stuff actually happening. Probably, the author never really intended this to be a cozy book, but I would have been fine with that.

I am feeling exactly like Ruth. At the beginning I was even wondering if there was going to be a plot and if the time travel would be important outside of creating some allegories.