All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, a review

All Our Wrong Todays’ Back-of-Book Description

Elan Mastai’s acclaimed debut novel is a story of friendship and family, of unexpected journeys and alternate paths, and of love in its multitude of forms.

It’s 2016, and in Tom Barren’s world, technology has solved all of humanity’s problems—there’s no war, no poverty, no under-ripe avocadoes. Unfortunately, Tom isn’t happy. He’s lost the girl of his dreams. And what do you do when you’re heartbroken and have a time machine? Something stupid.

Finding himself stranded in a terrible alternate reality—which we immediately recognize as our 2016—Tom is desperate to fix his mistake and go home. Right up until the moment he discovers wonderfully unexpected versions of his family, his career, and the woman who may just be the love of his life.

Now Tom faces an impossible choice. Go back to his perfect but loveless life. Or stay in our messy reality with a soulmate by his side. His search for the answer takes him across continents and timelines in a quest to figure out, finally, who he really is and what his future—our future—is supposed to be.

Filled with humor and heart and packed with insight, intelligence, and mind-bending invention, All Our Wrong Todays is a powerful and moving story of life, loss, and love.

My Thoughts

So I usually let you all know how I hear about a book. But I have no idea where I heard about All Our Wrong Todays. Someone asked me recently, and for the life of me, I cannot remember where I learned the title. But it ended up on my Goodreads ‘Want to Read’ shelf, so when I had a gift card to Barnes & Noble, I picked it.

Pardon my language, but Holy Shit! Best book choice I’ve ever made. I loved this book; I love it still. I am in love with this book. 

From the moment I started reading it, I never wanted to stop. The author, Elan Mastai, does a remarkable job of capturing the readers’ attention and keeping them involved and intrigued the whole way through. This is his first book, by the way! (Way to set the bar for new authors, Elan.)

It is a time travel story, so some of the timeline and setting descriptions are little intricate and could be hard to follow. I also had to look up some words a few times, which some people might not enjoy. But personally, I like it! I appreciate a book that challenges me.

It also has really short chapters, like only a couple pages each. Again, some people might not like that; at first, I found it weird.  But then I started to appreciate it because it gave me plenty of opportunities to stop when I needed to. 

The main character was a little tricky in the beginning – kind of hard to decide if I liked him or not. But that quickly faded into a lovely appreciation and relatability. His character is well rounded and experiences a breadth of emotion and character growth. The other characters are all well developed, too. 

And the writing, you guys! The writing was gold. Witty, smart, and poetic enough that you could feel the emotion. The story is science fiction, but it’s written in a way that makes you think he’s just talking about the strangeness of being a normal human being, which I love! (Another one of my favorite books did that, too.) 

I could go on and on I suppose. But let’s get to the quotes, shall we. 

Favorite Quotes From All Our Wrong Todays

“Every person you meet introduces the accident of that person to you. What can go right and what can go wrong. There is no intimacy without consequences.” 

 

“I remember, as a kid, when I first understood that only half of every tree is visible, that the roots in the soil are equal to the branches in the sky, that a whole other half is underground. It took me a lot longer, well into adulthood, to realize that people are like that too.”

 

“When you jump off a cliff, falling can look a whole lot like flying, for a while anyway.”

 

“Reading a book where every word is fixed in place by the deliberate choices of a controlling vision, surrendering agency over your own imagination to a stranger you’ll likely never meet, is some sort of masochistic pleasure.” 

 

“Maybe the best ideas are the ones that travel freely and don’t really belong to any one person.” 

 

“Like everyone, she carries around a suitcase of troubles everywhere she goes, but she leaves it unlocked, for anyone to rifle through if they care enough to be curious.” 

 

“…because physics has solutions and the heart only has questions… compared to love, physics was a relief.” 

 

“He was reckless and, in certain circumstances, recklessness can appear courageous.”

 

“That’s what love can do for you, if you let it – build a person out of all your broken pieces.”

 

“…the idea that every time you introduce a technology, you also introduce the accident of that technology, so you have a responsibility to anticipate not just the good it can do but also the bad it can wreak, not just the glory but also the ruin.”

In Conclusion 

5 stars. All Our Wrong Todays is the best book I’ve read in a really long time – maybe ever. It was so refreshing to feel consumed by the story and to be so invested in where it was going. I don’t often reread books, but I’m gonna make an exception on this one. I’ll reread it for sure, and I already can’t wait. 

Buy this book – support this author. I want him to write more books.  It would make a great gift for sci-fi enthusiasts, family drama aficionados, romance readers, even! Buy it for everyone! 

Thanks so much for reading this review – there’s plenty more to check out here.  Be sure to share this site with other readers and consider pinning one of the quotes below to your favorite quote or book board!

This post was proofread by Grammarly