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| Plot Summary of Time's Arrow |
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"Life is weird for the narrator of Time's Arrow. Things just don't seem to make sense. People walk backwards. Cars drive backwards. More importantly, he can't really seem to get inside the head of the body he inhabits, that of Dr. Tod Friendly: it's as though they are two separate selves. The man ditches his lovers, has sex with them, and then seduces them. Every Sunday he takes money out of the collection plate at church. He finds bits of himself in the trash: teeth, hair, and so forth. The man works as a doctor, breaking small children who come to see him. The narrator talks about his aversion to the doctor, describing the heinous acts he performs both on the children and in everyday life.
Life goes on for the two of them until time finally flows backwards to the one era and place in which it all makes sense for the narrator: the source of the doctor's literal, and spiritual, guilt. This causes a crisis of identity within the narrator. Has he been a separate entity all along, or just another part of the doctor? What could have caused time to flow backwards and morality to reverse in the first place?"
Miranda, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Time's Arrow |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1930's-1950's
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- vague finding self/purpose in life (i.e. no plot to book)
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- doctor
Age:
- 40's-50's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- deluded
- emotionally unstable
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- German
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- none
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 6 (an above average amount)
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Germany
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- very explicit references to deaths and torture
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- actual description of hetero sex
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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