One Tuesday, Early - Annalisa Crawford - ★★★★
AUTHOR: Annalisa Crawford
GENRE: Psychological Drama
PUBLICATION DATE: May 14, 2024
RATING: 4 stars.
In a Nutshell: A psychological drama with a dash of mystery and experimental storytelling. To the right reader, this will work mostly well. The problem is that there will be fewer right readers for such a writing approach. I hope the book finds its audience because such a clever writing endeavour, especially an indie one, deserves a try.
Plot Preview:
Early on a Tuesday morning, at 6.05 am, Lexi finds herself all alone. Literally. No sign of her partner Finn, her neighbours, the people outside on the streets – not a single person around. Her only company is a black cat who makes random appearances. As Lexi struggles to figure out what happened, she realises that she is stuck in that morning and at that time, with no clue about what’s going on.
In the meanwhile, on that same morning, Finn realises that he is all alone at home. As Lexi and he had had an argument the night before, he presume that she has gone out to cool down. But as the days pass by, Finn struggles to make peace with the fact that his life is not going to have Lexi in it again.
Time moves on for Finn, rushing through weeks and months and years, while Lexi is still stranded on that Tuesday morning. Will Lexi be able to escape her state of limbo? Will the two meet again? How and when?
The story comes to us in the alternating perspectives of the two main characters, with Lexi’s pov in second person and Finn’s in third person.
Annalisa Crawford is one of the few indie authors whose books I pick up without even reading the synopsis. I love her imaginative plotting, her tendency of imbuing ordinary situations with extraordinary content, and her atmospheric writing. Needless to say, I began this book with extremely high hopes. And to a great extent, the hopes were met.
First and foremost, hats off to the creativity of the writing! Few mainstream novels would have such an experimental style, with a seamless blend of the real and the surreal. It is so bizarre to see one character stuck at the exact same point of time while the other hurtles through years without any pause. The almost-opposite grammatical voices also add to the jarring effect. I love it when indie writers don’t stick to the formula but innovate with their storytelling.
Writing Lexi’s perspective in the second person is a stroke of genius as well as of boldness. Second person is a difficult voice to get right, and it is also risky because most readers do not prefer this voice. However, I have a fondness for the second person pov, and hence this writing choice tickled the right senses. As Lexi is stuck in the same place and time, using ‘you’ to describe her situation puts me right in her position, making me feel as stuck and lost and frustrated and helpless as she did.
As can be guessed, the above doesn’t result in a comfortable reading experience. Lexi’s arc, which is highly atmospheric and gives off quite eerie vibes, runs like a bizarre kind of ‘Groundhog Day’, where she isn’t just repeating a day but is stuck in the same day and time endlessly. You feel almost claustrophobic while reading her arc and just wish for something… anything… to happen. Her chapters, after the initial surprise, begin to generate a kind of déjà vu. I can see how and why this impact was intended – her life was stuck in the repeat mode, after all. But it doesn’t make reading her arc a fluid or entertaining experience.
Finn’s arc, on the other hand, is more conventional in style and content, and hence much smoother to read. But this doesn’t make his story more comfortable or easy-going. His grief at being left alone, his stoicism in the face of public criticism and speculation, and his desperate decision to move on, all feel realistically human. As you see him accept his fate and trudging onwards, it is tough to decide whom to feel sorrier for – Lexi or Finn. Being stuck in a time and place is gruelling, for sure. But it is equally painful to face life where everyone looks at you with suspicion and you have no closure for your grief.
The trickiest part of the book is the constant swap, not between the two characters or their two timeline modes but between second person and third person. It takes some time to get into the rhythm with each change of chapter, especially for Lexi’s arc, which is much more literary in feel and proceeds almost like a fever dream.
Because the arcs focus on the individual characters and their handling of the situation since that Tuesday morning, the prominent mood in both timelines is melancholic and introspective. The storyline covers not only its lead characters’ poignant emotions but also highlight some important points about the choices we make in life. This is not a book you would pick up for a light, breezy read.
I had an inkling about how the ending would go; it’s fairly easy to guess if you pay attention to the scattered clues. But this didn't take away from my experience with the final section, which was mostly satisfying. It was fascinating to see how the author resolved the two “states” of her lead characters. That said, the resolution also generated some questions in my mind, not all of which were answered by the book. As the writing is primarily character-oriented, our view of the broader plot is limited to what the characters share with us. This leads to a few major issues being left unacknowledged, which is the main reason why my rating isn’t higher.
All in all, this experimental work challenges the traditional storytelling format by putting one of its characters in a weird Groundhog-Day-limbo situation. As a writing achievement, this work is praise-worthy. As a reading experience, it is trickier to evaluate because it has some components that aren’t popular with a majority of readers.
In all honesty, I did struggle with the repetitiveness of Lexi’s arc and with some lingering doubts over a couple of the plot points. But the book is atypical in so many ways that I'm going to be lenient. Imagine penning half the book in the second person for a character stuck in a timeless rut! Brava, author!
Much recommended to speculative fiction and literary fiction readers with a penchant for unusual writing approaches and a soft corner for the second person voice. This is officially promoted as a literary thriller, but I don’t think the word ‘thriller’ applies to it in any way, so better not have that expectation.
My thanks to author Annalisa Crawford and BookSirens for the DRC of “One Tuesday Early”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
Here are some other books by this author that you could check out:
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