A science lesson explained in our own vernacular language—love.

This is an entertaining and deeply engrossing story of a middle-aged man who gets abducted by an unknown person, only to find out that his life (the universe and its reality) is not what it appears to be anymore.

At first, I wasn't feeling anything for the characters. I thought Jason was flat and boring. His backstory wasn't as fleshed out as any characters that I've read before, and I pegged him as a cliche college Physics professor who had lots of regrets in his life. Adding up to my boredom was the writing style. I couldn't stand the choppy sentences and sometimes the lack of fluidity.

BUT I endured all of those because of one thing: the plot! The mystery wasn't something as top-notched compared to those in crime novels but the sequences of the scenes were very compulsively addicting to read. And then I had this full realization of the purpose of the writing style. It was to create this sense of dread, the discontinuity of thoughts, the blur of reality inside Jason's head.

I really admire Blake Crouch's touch of the scientific aspects of the story. I did a little research about him, and I found out that he didn't have degree in Physics, that he was a writer by major (English and Creative Writing to be exact). So this brings me to my next point: with his mastery of words and the topic (obviously through intense research), he was able to explain the nerdy stuff—the quantum mechanics, the superimposition of matter, the allegory and dilemma of the Schrodinger's cat—so easily that I believe even people with no background in hard science would easily understand.

Moreover, the tension and the conflict, which drove the novel forward, were executed excellently. In every step that Jason discovers something, an obstacle arises, which would lead him to discover another information. Up, up, and up until it reaches the climax. This book also utilizes the three types of conflict in such fluid manner.

Spoiler

1. Man vs. Man - obviously, it's Jason vs. Leighton and the whole lab, 2. Man vs. nature - the part where Jason and Amanda come face to face with different unforgiving worlds as the try the doors inside the box, and 3. Man vs. himself - when Jason finally discovers the real world but he has to eliminate all other versions of himself in order to protect his family

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Through time, I was pleasantly surprised that Jason grew inside me. I had perceived him as someone mediocre, a highly-scientific person but not intimidating and smug, but I witnessed him grow, I felt his motivation, his burning desire to return to his family. Oh my gosh, I could forgive the insufficient characterization because I did admire him. I wanted him to succeed. In conclusion: I cared for him. Maybe because he was reactive in the first half, then suddenly turned into a proactive badass in the second half towards the end. This types of characters never fail to work for me. Zero to hero characters are my total weakness.

So if you're intimidated to read Science Fiction because of the complexity of the concept, the grandeur of the world, I recommend you to start with this one.

Super loved it, another favorite of mine.