“The Long and Winding Road”: Here, There & Everywhere

Although it might seem a bit odd to begin a review at the ending, it somehow seems fitting for Chris Roberson’s dazzlingly imaginative, compulsively readable time-travel novel, Here, There & Everywhere.  Its final paragraph in particular gave me goosebumps, as I witnessed all of the story’s various entwining threads–both thematic and plot-based–coalesce into a rapturous, near-symphonic whole.  Here, There & Everywhere‘s denouement uses the “wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey” concept, as voiced in Doctor Who, and takes it to a level not only emotionally powerful but throughly satisfying in how it answers all of our questions while finally, potentially granting our much-loved protagonist exactly what she has been searching for all along.  The conclusion is handled with a deftness and lightness of touch that keeps it from being overwrought. The prose remains as lovingly simple and succinct as the rest of the book, which manages throughout to handle what could have otherwise have been rather heavy and introspective material in spots, in a way that both enhances the tale’s emotional core and ensures that it never remains anything less than a great deal of fun from start to finish.

On the surface, Here, There & Everywhere is actually a joyous romp through time and space–the life story of a singularly unique woman, Roxanne Bonaventure, who, from a young age, is gifted with a very special bracelet, which she dubs “the Sofia,” that allows her to spend her life zigzagging through time and space.  Over the course of her many years, she visits the past (meeting figures both historical and mundane) and the future, as well as alternate timelines in which the world turned out differently than our own, whether the variations be as simple as The Beatles not being made up of the people we know, or as significant as the Earth being populated by dinosaur-men. The bouncing-around through time affords the novel the unique opportunity to transform from scene to scene, sampling from a wide variety of styles and genres.  In one chapter, it is a 1940s-era, Indiana Jones-influenced adventure serial, complete with evil Nazis plotting world domination through mysticism.  In another chapter, it is a Victorian-era Sherlock Holmesian mystery.  In yet another, it is a Jules Vernesian adventure in a prehistoric wonderland, each journey more thrilling and delightful than the last.

Underneath the larksome exterior, however, Roberson’s novel has a rather serious subtext.  Although most of the time, Roxanne has a ball traipsing across the universe, she can also be a deeply lonely individual, who has sacrificed the chance at making deep, long-lasting connections with other people in favor of her extraordinary gift.  While she usually is able to accept her lonesomeness as a trade-off for the remarkable life she is leading, her solitary existence affects her at unexpected times, and more so as she ages.  That is not to say that Here, There & Everywhere is ever the story of a woman consumed by regret for giving up on the chance at love.  True, there are occasions where she loses lovers due to her distance, but Roberson never fails to remind the reader that the more pertinent issue is that Roxanne is separate from all of humanity.  In various timelines, she repeatedly forges friendships, in an effort to make human connections, but they are always transitory, and she is always distanced from them. Not only can she never reveal her secret, but, more significantly, she knows their future.  Here, There & Everywhere captures the alienation of a time traveler’s life in a profound yet subtle manner that never overwhelms the story with pathos but which keeps the novel–even in its most thrillingly pulpy of moments–cushioned in a layer of emotional reality that beautifully complements its jaunty surface.

Another incredibly impressive element is how Roberson is able to weave complex concepts of theoretical physics throughout the narrative without bogging the tale down in scientific exposition.  Roberson is playing with a multiverse theory here that most adult novels would shy away from tackling–let alone a young adult novel like this one–but does so in a clear, straightforward manner that would make just as much sense to a fan of hardcore science-fiction as it would to one who cares less about the mechanics of the world-building and more about the effect.  He maintains a delicate balance of neither over-simplifying the language and concepts nor barraging the layman with too much information, thus being condescending to neither.

Here, There & Everywhere is a true gem of a novel that takes us inside the heart and soul of a character both down-to-earth and utterly fantastical, and also takes us twisting and turning, up and down throughout the centuries.  Adding to its mystical aura, each chapter, like the book itself, is named after a different Beatles song, each of which further illuminates each event in Roxanne’s life.  One Beatles hit not mentioned, however, is “The Long and Winding Road,” a song whose lyrics and themes could describe the novel just as well as those Roberson chose.  Like the protagonist of the song, Roxanne spends her life traveling an ever-changing road, constantly meandering off into surprising directions, but one which ultimately circles her back to where she originally started.  To whose door does Roxanne’s road lead?  Just ask the girl with the sun in her eyes, and she’s gone.

Related posts:

1. “Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey”: Chris Roberson’s End of the Century
2. “Strange Journey”: Chris Roberson’s Paragaea
3. Frontierland: Ian McDonald’s Desolation Road
4. The 10 Best Books I Read in 2009
5. Shadow and Light: Lynn Flewelling’s The White Road

Tagged as: Books, Chris Roberson, Here There & Everywhere