Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Orbit (2014), Hardcover, 416 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Science Fiction. Historical Fiction. HTML:Wildly original, funny and moving, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is an extraordinary story of a life lived again and again from World Fantasy Award-winning author Claire North. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes
By now I've read a handful of these 'multiple lives' sci-fi stories and so far none of them have disappointed. In fact, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August is one of the more original multi-generational epic adventures I've ever read.
This is the story of the eponymous Harry August who is
This is the story of the eponymous Harry August who is
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blessed (or cursed, depending on how you look at it) to live his life on rewind/repeat for all time, and all while retaining his memory across each life. In short, he lives from approximately 1920 to until he dies, which is usually around the end of the 20th century. And throughout it all he remembers everything. Show Less
LibraryThing member mhanlon
I loved this book.
I've always loved this book.
Each and every lifetime in which I've read it.
In fact, I loved it so much that the next time through I visited Claire North (pseudonym) in 2005 -- it took me a while to find her pseudonymous self -- and handed her a partial outline of an idea for a book
She told me she'd already gotten an idea like that and called her patent lawyers.
So in my next life I tracked her down more quickly, came prepared with better notes. Saw her in 1990. Dropped off my scribbled notes in her school bag on a fine Scottish morning. The sensation of a five year old publishing a book which such a fun, imaginative plot and ripe characters made ripples that probably caused some odd things to happen downstream through the ages, but at least I got to read it earlier.
In my next life I tried giving the same notes to her father, but nothing came of it. He didn't care for the visceral descriptions of the tortures Harry August endures, yet endures with a type of detachment. The next after that I tried it out on her mother in 1981, but that, too, had no effect. The very next life I tried publishing the book myself, which is when the publisher pulled me aside, in the grimy halls of the printing room.
"You can't publish this book."
"Why not?" I may have stuttered a little.
He peered at me over the top of his glasses, which never seemed to sit well, as if the cloud of ink in which he seemed to walk prevented his glasses from adhering to his face.
I flapped the manuscript.
"Claire wants you to know that she knows."
"But... but she hasn't even been born yet."
The publisher simply looked at me, his hand held out for the manuscript.
"Aw."
"Is this the only extant copy?" He waggled his fingers at the manuscript I could tell was already slipping out of my hand. "Don't lie, now, she'll know. You know she'll know."
I nodded, and handed over the pages and skulked off and just waited and waited and waited until 2014, when the book would finally be published.
Except I didn't have to wait. Because I had one last copy because I'd spent the previous life memorizing the book and read it over again in my mind. In fact, I even wrote this review back in 1978, I just had to wait and wait for someone to come around and invent LIbraryThing.com.
I thought the plot was a lot of fun, the characters an excellent cast with whom you could spend a few lifetimes. There were beautiful moments when kalachakra meet each other in passing (Joseph Kirkbriar Shotbolt's story is a good one -- '"Oh God," he groaned, seeing me read. "You've trained as a doctor, haven't you? Can't stand bloody doctors, especially when they're five years old."), the mysterious Cronus Club saving its members, and sometimes not. The book was a spy novel, a time travel novel, a story about a couple of friends. What a fantastic read.
I've always loved this book.
Each and every lifetime in which I've read it.
In fact, I loved it so much that the next time through I visited Claire North (pseudonym) in 2005 -- it took me a while to find her pseudonymous self -- and handed her a partial outline of an idea for a book
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about a kalachakra, a person who lives their lifetime over and over again.She told me she'd already gotten an idea like that and called her patent lawyers.
So in my next life I tracked her down more quickly, came prepared with better notes. Saw her in 1990. Dropped off my scribbled notes in her school bag on a fine Scottish morning. The sensation of a five year old publishing a book which such a fun, imaginative plot and ripe characters made ripples that probably caused some odd things to happen downstream through the ages, but at least I got to read it earlier.
In my next life I tried giving the same notes to her father, but nothing came of it. He didn't care for the visceral descriptions of the tortures Harry August endures, yet endures with a type of detachment. The next after that I tried it out on her mother in 1981, but that, too, had no effect. The very next life I tried publishing the book myself, which is when the publisher pulled me aside, in the grimy halls of the printing room.
"You can't publish this book."
"Why not?" I may have stuttered a little.
He peered at me over the top of his glasses, which never seemed to sit well, as if the cloud of ink in which he seemed to walk prevented his glasses from adhering to his face.
I flapped the manuscript.
"Claire wants you to know that she knows."
"But... but she hasn't even been born yet."
The publisher simply looked at me, his hand held out for the manuscript.
"Aw."
"Is this the only extant copy?" He waggled his fingers at the manuscript I could tell was already slipping out of my hand. "Don't lie, now, she'll know. You know she'll know."
I nodded, and handed over the pages and skulked off and just waited and waited and waited until 2014, when the book would finally be published.
Except I didn't have to wait. Because I had one last copy because I'd spent the previous life memorizing the book and read it over again in my mind. In fact, I even wrote this review back in 1978, I just had to wait and wait for someone to come around and invent LIbraryThing.com.
I thought the plot was a lot of fun, the characters an excellent cast with whom you could spend a few lifetimes. There were beautiful moments when kalachakra meet each other in passing (Joseph Kirkbriar Shotbolt's story is a good one -- '"Oh God," he groaned, seeing me read. "You've trained as a doctor, haven't you? Can't stand bloody doctors, especially when they're five years old."), the mysterious Cronus Club saving its members, and sometimes not. The book was a spy novel, a time travel novel, a story about a couple of friends. What a fantastic read.
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LibraryThing member kgodey
Claire North’s THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF HOPE become an unexpected favorite of mine and I’ve been looking forward to reading more by her. It seems like she writes about people with extraordinary abilities living in the modern world (under her Claire North pen name, anyway, I haven’t read her
Harry August is what’s known as a kalachakra or an ouroboran – whenever he dies, he ends up being reborn as the exact same person in the exact same time, and he repeats his life over and over again. As the name of the book implies, we follow Harry through his first fifteen lives. It’s written like a memoir, it’s in first person, and tends to jump around all over the place, just like a person telling a story.
One of the things I loved about both THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF HOPE and this book is the way that the person’s abilities are explored. I’ve read/watched many, many books and movies about people with unique abilities, and almost no one is portrayed as using them in a realistic way, and the psychological implications of the powers are rarely explored, too. Other than these Claire North books, the only other portrayal that makes sense to me is Steven Gould’s Jumper series. The Cronus Club and the kind of amenities they provide for their members, and most of the the ways that Harry spends his lives make total sense – I could see myself doing that, too.
Even though Harry August is special, the book is not really about that, it’s a fairly simple story with a fantastic backdrop. I don’t want to say more about the overall plot because the slow reveal is part of what makes the book great. The first half of the book seems to be Harry just recollecting random snippets of his lives, but it all falls into place in the second half. That made for a focused and tight story, which I did enjoy but part of me also wished the whole book was Harry just talking about his various lives without much of a point because that was so interesting too.
I’m excited that I have two more Claire North novels to go – TOUCH and THE END OF THE DAY. And after that, maybe I’ll start reading her Catherine Webb and Kate Griffin books!
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other work), and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August also follows that pattern.Harry August is what’s known as a kalachakra or an ouroboran – whenever he dies, he ends up being reborn as the exact same person in the exact same time, and he repeats his life over and over again. As the name of the book implies, we follow Harry through his first fifteen lives. It’s written like a memoir, it’s in first person, and tends to jump around all over the place, just like a person telling a story.
One of the things I loved about both THE SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF HOPE and this book is the way that the person’s abilities are explored. I’ve read/watched many, many books and movies about people with unique abilities, and almost no one is portrayed as using them in a realistic way, and the psychological implications of the powers are rarely explored, too. Other than these Claire North books, the only other portrayal that makes sense to me is Steven Gould’s Jumper series. The Cronus Club and the kind of amenities they provide for their members, and most of the the ways that Harry spends his lives make total sense – I could see myself doing that, too.
Even though Harry August is special, the book is not really about that, it’s a fairly simple story with a fantastic backdrop. I don’t want to say more about the overall plot because the slow reveal is part of what makes the book great. The first half of the book seems to be Harry just recollecting random snippets of his lives, but it all falls into place in the second half. That made for a focused and tight story, which I did enjoy but part of me also wished the whole book was Harry just talking about his various lives without much of a point because that was so interesting too.
I’m excited that I have two more Claire North novels to go – TOUCH and THE END OF THE DAY. And after that, maybe I’ll start reading her Catherine Webb and Kate Griffin books!
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LibraryThing member RobertDay
Sometimes, people get interviewed who have had long and incident-filled lives, and the interviewer asks "If you had your time again, would you do anything different?", and the answer is invariably "No, not a thing." Never believe a word of it. I know I would do things differently. It's a theme that
Harry August is an ouroboran, or a "kalachakra". After he dies, he is resurrected into his own body at the moment of his birth, but over the next three years he gradually retrieves all the memories of his previous life, so that he is able to take different decisions. More, Harry is a mnemonic - he has full recall of his past lives, rather than just remembering stuff at random, the way ordinary people like you and me ("linears" in the language of the book) do.
The kalachakra have a support mechanism, the Cronus Club, which exists to help support its members, especially after they've been around the loop a few times and find their accumulated knowledge of the future too much at odds with the things they are taught and expected to believe as children. This is especially useful for those born in the first part of the twentieth century, where science, technology and societal norms changed so much over the course of one lifetime. The Cronus Club has a more sinister objective - to prevent individual kalachakra from impacting the timeline too much. Imagine what someone with a knowledge of the science and technology of the 1960s, 70s or 80s could do with that knowledge in the 1920s or 30s. Of course, this is exactly what happens...
This is perhaps the major divergence between this book and Grimwood's Replay. In Grimwood's book, we follow the protagonist through their life, finding that they cannot make major changes to the timeline even if their own lives vary a lot. Grimwood's protagonist only ever finds a handful of fellow ouroborans, and at the climax of that book a baton is handed on to a new individual. The focus is on the personal story. But Harry August, who has similar experiences, is part of a bigger picture; the span of Claire North's story is greater, there is more at stake and the Cronus Club is the secret society to end all secret societies!
North adds to the idea, with some speculation as to what is actually happening to the kalachakra; there is no "Tell me, Professor..." info-dump, but a lot of hints are dropped as to the nature of the universe and the phenomenon the kalachakra are experiencing. Generally, situations and consequences are well thought out. Harry moves through the twentieth century world, being careful to avoid some of the more obvious traps. The writing is rich and the characters, I felt, quite well drawn, though Harry does have a habit of launching off into digressions to illustrate some point or other. And there is a long section on the last kalachakra to try to change the world, and what became of them which could have done with a little more tightening up. But equally there were laugh-out-loud moments and some ingenious twisting of the history we know. I found this a compelling read that engaged me on so many levels. Recommended.
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has been infrequently visited in imaginative fiction; my collection only has four books of the sort - this, Ken Grimwood's Replay, Kate Atkinson's Life after Life and Jenny Erpenbeck's The End of Days (though I'm told that in the Erpenbeck, the idea is more of a literary device than the actual plot). Of those, it's years since I read Replay and the other two are still in the foothills of my To Be Read pile. No matter.Harry August is an ouroboran, or a "kalachakra". After he dies, he is resurrected into his own body at the moment of his birth, but over the next three years he gradually retrieves all the memories of his previous life, so that he is able to take different decisions. More, Harry is a mnemonic - he has full recall of his past lives, rather than just remembering stuff at random, the way ordinary people like you and me ("linears" in the language of the book) do.
The kalachakra have a support mechanism, the Cronus Club, which exists to help support its members, especially after they've been around the loop a few times and find their accumulated knowledge of the future too much at odds with the things they are taught and expected to believe as children. This is especially useful for those born in the first part of the twentieth century, where science, technology and societal norms changed so much over the course of one lifetime. The Cronus Club has a more sinister objective - to prevent individual kalachakra from impacting the timeline too much. Imagine what someone with a knowledge of the science and technology of the 1960s, 70s or 80s could do with that knowledge in the 1920s or 30s. Of course, this is exactly what happens...
This is perhaps the major divergence between this book and Grimwood's Replay. In Grimwood's book, we follow the protagonist through their life, finding that they cannot make major changes to the timeline even if their own lives vary a lot. Grimwood's protagonist only ever finds a handful of fellow ouroborans, and at the climax of that book a baton is handed on to a new individual. The focus is on the personal story. But Harry August, who has similar experiences, is part of a bigger picture; the span of Claire North's story is greater, there is more at stake and the Cronus Club is the secret society to end all secret societies!
North adds to the idea, with some speculation as to what is actually happening to the kalachakra; there is no "Tell me, Professor..." info-dump, but a lot of hints are dropped as to the nature of the universe and the phenomenon the kalachakra are experiencing. Generally, situations and consequences are well thought out. Harry moves through the twentieth century world, being careful to avoid some of the more obvious traps. The writing is rich and the characters, I felt, quite well drawn, though Harry does have a habit of launching off into digressions to illustrate some point or other. And there is a long section on the last kalachakra to try to change the world, and what became of them which could have done with a little more tightening up. But equally there were laugh-out-loud moments and some ingenious twisting of the history we know. I found this a compelling read that engaged me on so many levels. Recommended.
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LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Oops. Read for November BotM discussion in Time Travel group. I hope I will remember it well enough to discuss then.
Mostly now I'll just say this - it was too long-winded for its focus on the 'world is ending' project. It would have worked better for me at about 300 pp, not 405. Alternatively, more
Also, the beginning was exceptionally slow and long. It did get easier to keep reading as I got closer to the end, especially at about the same time that I figured out how it was going to end.
But in my opinion it doesn't really succeed as a philosophical statement (too didactic & simplistic) or as an adventure/mystery (too predictable & easy, not thrilling), as SF/TT (established science/technology plays a role, but no predictions are made), or as a character-driven story (I didn't relate to or find interesting or care about any of them, except maybe Harry's biological father). Sorry.
Groundhog Day on a global scale, without the humor?
And I'm not convinced I understand Vincent's motivations? Like Phearson, he suffers a simple righteous delusion of grandeur?
Mostly now I'll just say this - it was too long-winded for its focus on the 'world is ending' project. It would have worked better for me at about 300 pp, not 405. Alternatively, more
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stories of all the little adventures throughout all those lives could have been interesting, and made it worth a trilogy.Also, the beginning was exceptionally slow and long. It did get easier to keep reading as I got closer to the end, especially at about the same time that I figured out how it was going to end.
But in my opinion it doesn't really succeed as a philosophical statement (too didactic & simplistic) or as an adventure/mystery (too predictable & easy, not thrilling), as SF/TT (established science/technology plays a role, but no predictions are made), or as a character-driven story (I didn't relate to or find interesting or care about any of them, except maybe Harry's biological father). Sorry.
Groundhog Day on a global scale, without the humor?
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LibraryThing member voracious
Harry August is a kalachakra, meaning that he lives his lives over and over again, always starting over with the same birth to the same parents. Each time he begins again he retains what he learned from the lives before. Like Harry, there are others who return to live again and their lives overlap
This is not an easily read novel. The storyline is gritty and there is a lot of torture throughout the book. The middle of the book is particularly hard to get through and I almost gave up. However, after the halfway mark, the storyline starts picking up and suspense and the urgency of the story carries the book through to the end. Overall, an interesting take on the idea of reincarnation/time-travel but it isn't a feel good story by any means.
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over the centuries, allowing young children to pass information back through the centuries as they transmit it back through dying elderly kalachakra. With each life, Harry discovers that some of his actions (and those of others) can change the future (i.e. speed up the onset of technological advances). Unfortunately, there are others who attempt to use the kalachakra's knowledge of the future for their own gain. As Harry gradually works his way through 15 lives, a clear enemy is identified and Harry aligns himself with this person, in order to prevent the destruction of civilization. This process is arduous, both for Harry and the reader. This is not an easily read novel. The storyline is gritty and there is a lot of torture throughout the book. The middle of the book is particularly hard to get through and I almost gave up. However, after the halfway mark, the storyline starts picking up and suspense and the urgency of the story carries the book through to the end. Overall, an interesting take on the idea of reincarnation/time-travel but it isn't a feel good story by any means.
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LibraryThing member Dokfintong
This is the best book I have read in years. It is so good that it is hard to write a review without resorting to clichés. Claire North has realized fully a complex, very tight narrative within a standard SF trope. Her characters are sympathetic and believable. Harry and his fellow immortals retain
Claire North is a pseudonym for an accomplished UK author. I can hardly wait till her identity is revealed.
I received a review copy of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (Redhook Books) through NetGalley.com.
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their humanity, and their human curiosity, despite their ability to loop and the ennui this inevitably causes. We feel their love, pain and ambition, and understand the dangerous impulses that lead to the central plot crisis.Claire North is a pseudonym for an accomplished UK author. I can hardly wait till her identity is revealed.
I received a review copy of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (Redhook Books) through NetGalley.com.
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LibraryThing member booksgaloreca
I loved this book. The plot is based on a unique concept - it is the story of one man who finds out that when he dies he is reborn as the same person over and over again. But, every time he dies he comes back with all of the knowledge he gained in the lives before.
This is a well-written book and
I received a copy of the book from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
This is a well-written book and
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kept me fascinated throughout the whole thing. I would highly recommend it!I received a copy of the book from Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.
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LibraryThing member sydamy
What a fun book. If you loved Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, you will certainly enjoy this book. Although similar in idea, living a life over and over, how these author take this theme is very different. While Ursula is not completely aware of her different lives, Harry, is not only aware but
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remembers everything about them. Where Life After Life is more a study of choices and, what we do with our lives, Harry August is more of an adventure, a quest. Harry is living his lives as a means to a specific end, after a message has been delivered from the future. The world of the kalachakras (those that live again and again) is very well defined and even believable. Thoroughly entertains from start to finish. Show Less
LibraryThing member fefferbooks
I was so fascinated by this book, but it hit R-rated level swearing, which is my threshold for putting a book down. I really like Harry, and I think the twist on the reincarnation premise is interesting. The way the story unfolds is clever, too. I'm disappointed not to be able to find out what's
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going to happen, since at 13% finished, I'm still mostly getting background. It's always a bummer when I have to DNF a book like this. Claire North is a writer to watch. Show Less
LibraryThing member JanaRose1
Wow, was this book boring. Not only did it tediously go over the same information over and over and over but the story itself took forever to go anywhere. Overall, a big disappointment.
LibraryThing member myownwoman
I'm a really, really, awful reviewer. I've been sitting on this one for a month or more (Sorry NetGalley, you've been so good to me, and I've been so sporadic in my reviewing lately. I received this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion. Part-time job + 7 month old + my brother's wedding
This book is about an epic pair of frenemies that torment and delight each other across many lifetimes. It is about reincarnation, and the implications of being able to live a life more than once - being able to fine-tune one's previous "first-life" existence or experiment with alternate lifestyles, It's about science, and technology, and the impending apocalypse - which seems to hit the human race earlier each with each new life cycle that passes. The reader journeys through Harry August's life - or rather, each of his first fifteen lives over the course of the novel.
It's fresh. It's original. It's a REFRESHING type of dystopian fiction that strays from the murk and mire of the now overpopulated genre.
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on - SATURDAY = No time for the luxury of uninterrupted interneting. I somehow find time to read, but recently, I've found only the rarest of moments to actually process my thoughts about what I've read). SO. This book is about an epic pair of frenemies that torment and delight each other across many lifetimes. It is about reincarnation, and the implications of being able to live a life more than once - being able to fine-tune one's previous "first-life" existence or experiment with alternate lifestyles, It's about science, and technology, and the impending apocalypse - which seems to hit the human race earlier each with each new life cycle that passes. The reader journeys through Harry August's life - or rather, each of his first fifteen lives over the course of the novel.
It's fresh. It's original. It's a REFRESHING type of dystopian fiction that strays from the murk and mire of the now overpopulated genre.
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LibraryThing member lostinalibrary
Harry August has lived many lives. Well, to be more accurate, he has lived the same life many times sort of like the movie Groundhog Day only happening over an entire lifetime. Every life starts the same: he is born in the same place to the same parents but he remembers all of his other lives.
But Harry is special even among Kalachakra because he also a mneumonic – he retains every sight, smell, every memory he has ever had throughout every life and each of Harry’s lives is just that little bit different. He meets new people and reconnects with others, always with the knowledge of what is to come, what he can change and what he shouldn’t. But, at the end of his eleventh life, something strange, new and frightening happens. A little girl approaches his bedside with a message from the future - the world is ending and he is the only one who can save it.
The Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (which, according to the blurb, is a pseudonym for a very well-known author) is a real gem. It grabbed me from the get-go and never let up. Admittedly, I found the whole time travel and repeated lives things somewhat perplexing – eg do each of his lives take place in different dimensions – but, mostly, I just laid back and enjoyed the ride. And what a ride it is! Harry experiences murders, lost loves, betrayal, war, old friends and new dangers, real history among the fiction, tons of death in all kinds of unpleasant ways, and then, of course, there’s that whole end of the world thing to solve. I dare anyone to read this book and then honestly call it boring. It is fast, fun, sometimes gory, occasionally humourous, and always entertaining and it is one of the most enjoyable books I have read all year. Definitely a high recommendation for The Fifteen Lives of Harry August from me.
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Eventually he begins to change little parts of his lives, things that won’t have a big impact on the future but make it easier for him to live again and again. In one of his lives, he is approached by a woman who tells him about the Chronus Club, a place for people like him, people called Kalachakra. Since so many of them end up in Psychiatric Wards convinced they are crazy after being reborn, the Club seeks them out at the beginning of their lives to help them deal with and adjust to their many pasts and futures. The Chronus Club passes information to all its members back and forth through time in unique, interesting, and often funny ways ensuring the safety of its members. But Harry is special even among Kalachakra because he also a mneumonic – he retains every sight, smell, every memory he has ever had throughout every life and each of Harry’s lives is just that little bit different. He meets new people and reconnects with others, always with the knowledge of what is to come, what he can change and what he shouldn’t. But, at the end of his eleventh life, something strange, new and frightening happens. A little girl approaches his bedside with a message from the future - the world is ending and he is the only one who can save it.
The Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North (which, according to the blurb, is a pseudonym for a very well-known author) is a real gem. It grabbed me from the get-go and never let up. Admittedly, I found the whole time travel and repeated lives things somewhat perplexing – eg do each of his lives take place in different dimensions – but, mostly, I just laid back and enjoyed the ride. And what a ride it is! Harry experiences murders, lost loves, betrayal, war, old friends and new dangers, real history among the fiction, tons of death in all kinds of unpleasant ways, and then, of course, there’s that whole end of the world thing to solve. I dare anyone to read this book and then honestly call it boring. It is fast, fun, sometimes gory, occasionally humourous, and always entertaining and it is one of the most enjoyable books I have read all year. Definitely a high recommendation for The Fifteen Lives of Harry August from me.
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LibraryThing member Wmt477
Great read, I enjoyed very much.
LibraryThing member DubaiReader
Harry August lives over and over and over........
I'm going against the grain here, as I didn't think this book was as wonderful as other reviewers. Although I'm not a fan of Sci Fi / Fantasy, I don't think that was why this didn't appeal. I think it was the repetition. OK, we didn't have to go
Harry August is a 'Kalachakra', a person who repeats their life over and over, yet, although he begins in the same place under the same circumstances every time, he is able to make choices along the way. One time around he might help in the garden of the large house where his father is gardener, another time he opts to study law, yet again he may decide to be a scientist. He is unusual amongst the Kalachakra in that he can remember each life in full detail and take this information forward with him.
I liked the concept of the novel, especially the ability the Kalachakra have to pass messages forward and backwards in time. The characters were well flushed out, complete with differences from life to life, though this could be a bit difficult to recall in following lives. I was a bit puzzled as to how these changes from life to life didn't result in major event changes further forwards in time, but I'll let that pass.
The pace of the book picks up about half way through when a message passes back from the future, that the end of the world is coming sooner with each life. Harry finally has an aim in his life and sets out to find out who is causing this change and put a stop to it if he can.
We had a good discussion on the book at our book group and it certainly raises some interesting concepts, but I could have done with 100 pages less, probably removed from the early part of the book; maybe then, it wouldn't have lost my interest.
I'm going against the grain here, as I didn't think this book was as wonderful as other reviewers. Although I'm not a fan of Sci Fi / Fantasy, I don't think that was why this didn't appeal. I think it was the repetition. OK, we didn't have to go
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through every one of his fifteen lives in full detail, but even so, by the time I'd got to life no 3, I was ready to move on to something else.Harry August is a 'Kalachakra', a person who repeats their life over and over, yet, although he begins in the same place under the same circumstances every time, he is able to make choices along the way. One time around he might help in the garden of the large house where his father is gardener, another time he opts to study law, yet again he may decide to be a scientist. He is unusual amongst the Kalachakra in that he can remember each life in full detail and take this information forward with him.
I liked the concept of the novel, especially the ability the Kalachakra have to pass messages forward and backwards in time. The characters were well flushed out, complete with differences from life to life, though this could be a bit difficult to recall in following lives. I was a bit puzzled as to how these changes from life to life didn't result in major event changes further forwards in time, but I'll let that pass.
The pace of the book picks up about half way through when a message passes back from the future, that the end of the world is coming sooner with each life. Harry finally has an aim in his life and sets out to find out who is causing this change and put a stop to it if he can.
We had a good discussion on the book at our book group and it certainly raises some interesting concepts, but I could have done with 100 pages less, probably removed from the early part of the book; maybe then, it wouldn't have lost my interest.
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LibraryThing member Gwendydd
This isn't the only book to examine the concept of people repeating their lives over and over (like Groundhog Day, except their whole lives instead of one day), but it does put an interesting spin on the concept. There are many people who live their lives on repeat - at death, they are immediately
Despite this knowledge of the centuries, the kalachakra generally try not to mess with the historical timeline - they live their lives over and over, and for the most part they leave history alone.
That in and of itself is an interesting concept worth exploring. It is made more interesting when Harry August gets the message from the future that the end of the world is coming sooner and sooner, and he investigates how this is happening and tries to stop it.
The book is full of interesting ideas. The writing can sometimes be frustrating, because just as something exciting is happening, the narrator will go off on a tangent and tell a story from some other life... but the reason that is frustrating is because it is a great technique for keeping the suspense up, and it makes you just want to turn the pages faster and faster.
This was a very enjoyable book - a fun read, with some creative ideas and great food for thought.
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reborn as the same person, with their memories of their previous lives intact. The interesting twist in this book is that the kalachakra (as these repeating people are known) are in communication with each other, and can pass messages through the centuries - a kalachakra from the future can give a message to someone who is old when they are young, and then that younger person can give a message to someone who is old when they are young, and so on until messages are passed through the centuries.Despite this knowledge of the centuries, the kalachakra generally try not to mess with the historical timeline - they live their lives over and over, and for the most part they leave history alone.
That in and of itself is an interesting concept worth exploring. It is made more interesting when Harry August gets the message from the future that the end of the world is coming sooner and sooner, and he investigates how this is happening and tries to stop it.
The book is full of interesting ideas. The writing can sometimes be frustrating, because just as something exciting is happening, the narrator will go off on a tangent and tell a story from some other life... but the reason that is frustrating is because it is a great technique for keeping the suspense up, and it makes you just want to turn the pages faster and faster.
This was a very enjoyable book - a fun read, with some creative ideas and great food for thought.
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LibraryThing member Alirob
The best book I've read this year.
LibraryThing member lilywren
Harry August lives his life over and over and over again. He is always born in the same year, to the same mother and under the same circumstances. However, whilst each life takes him down a different path, one thing to be sure of is, Harry remembers his previous lives. Each rebirth brings added
It's a good read. A little dark and macabre in places with interesting themes on life, death, memory and rebirth. Not life changing but certainly worth a look.
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knowledge from these lives, adding layer upon layer of information which has been gathered over hundreds of years.It's a good read. A little dark and macabre in places with interesting themes on life, death, memory and rebirth. Not life changing but certainly worth a look.
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LibraryThing member TheDivineOomba
Time travelling, but only within your lifetime (or repeated lifetimes....) Harry August is a time traveller, he is one of a small amount of people who gets reborn over and over again, always remembering what happened in his previous lifetime. There are others like him, and, messages can get passed
I would love to read more of the stories in this series, or maybe a collection of short stories that aren't so heavy. This world is quite amazing, the characters well written and vibrant (even the enemy is written with human-ness in mind. The story makes sense and there is no extra words that get in the way of the story. Its not a deep book, for the most part, more of a detective story. Each rebirth of Harry shows a different perspective and is written with a new perspective.
Highly recommended for those who like quirky time-travel books.
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to the future and to the past. When a small girl turns up on his bedside, telling him the future is ending sooner with each future generation, Harry needs to figure what is going on and stop it... I would love to read more of the stories in this series, or maybe a collection of short stories that aren't so heavy. This world is quite amazing, the characters well written and vibrant (even the enemy is written with human-ness in mind. The story makes sense and there is no extra words that get in the way of the story. Its not a deep book, for the most part, more of a detective story. Each rebirth of Harry shows a different perspective and is written with a new perspective.
Highly recommended for those who like quirky time-travel books.
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LibraryThing member thejohnsmith
Harry August is a special type of man. He lives and dies just like the rest of us but then he lives his life all over again and again and again. He’s not alone. There are others just like him – the kalachakra. They don’t all live by the same code though and Harry finds that changes are being
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made that are impacting badly on the future. This is the gripping story of Harry August as he lives his lives and tries to prevent the end of the world. Show Less
LibraryThing member Simon_Goodson
This is an amazing book. I downloaded it for the title alone, it was quirky and promised something different. Boy did it deliver. The main theme of the book is simple at first glance but far more complex as the story develops. When the main character dies he returns to the start of his life,
I won't spoil the story by going into the plot in any more detail, other than to say it builds up layer after layer turning the book into a real page turner. The characters are very well developed, especially the main character, with no cardboard cutout baddies or angelic heros. The writing is tight and enjoyable. Highly recommended, and I'll be looking for more work by the author.
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initially with no memory of the prior life but by around three years old the memories return. He then has the chance to live his life, change his choices, with the knowledge of his previous life. And he gets to do it again and again and again.I won't spoil the story by going into the plot in any more detail, other than to say it builds up layer after layer turning the book into a real page turner. The characters are very well developed, especially the main character, with no cardboard cutout baddies or angelic heros. The writing is tight and enjoyable. Highly recommended, and I'll be looking for more work by the author.
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LibraryThing member iansales
Found this in a charity shop, had heard it mentioned here and there, understood it to be not unlike Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life (which I thought good), so decided to give it a go. And yes, I did enjoy it. The prose is nice and breezy, the central premise – people who relive their lives over
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and over again – was handled quite cleverly, and the eponymous protagonist was sympathetic and plausible. Plot-wise, the book is less successful – although hinted at on the first page, the plot didn’t actually kick into gear until over halfway in, and even then it spent more time on the silly maguffin at the core of the book than it did the far more interesting process by which the villain removed all his enemies. I’d seen mention of North’s Touch, due out early in 2015, and thought it might be worth a go. On the strength of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, I’ll almost certainly be picking up a copy. Show Less
LibraryThing member J.Bryan
I listened to this audiobook with pleasure and surprise. It's not my usual type of read. Greatly engaged by it and at times amused. A very cleverly conceived book with much to entertain and provoke thought. I think it ended at the right time though. Not sure this reader can countenance another 15
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lives. :-) Show Less
LibraryThing member indygo88
The premise of this book initially sounded a lot like Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, which I read not too long ago. However, in this one, Harry August is not the only person re-living his life. There are also a few other so-called kalachakras (also reliving their lives), and because of this fact,
Regardless, I felt this was a good, although not great, read. It did tend to drag somewhat, becoming a little bogged down with philosophical ponderings from the main character. It took me a long time to actually finish this book, but it did start picking up shortly after the halfway point & from then on I was able to stay focused and finish at a quicker pace. While I found the end satisfying, it was more anti-climactic than I'd hoped fo
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they're able to communicate with each other up and down through the years, from one generation to another. This is helpful if someone needs to, perhaps, provide a warning that the world is coming to an end, which is the case in this novel, in order to try to stop that end from happening. Sound confusing? It is, a little bit. I had to try to wrap my mind around a few things, as I do with most time travel books. (Though granted, this isn't exactly time travel, but it has some similarities. More like parallel universes.) It occurs to me that this book also reminded me a little of David Mitchell's more recent The Bone Clocks.Regardless, I felt this was a good, although not great, read. It did tend to drag somewhat, becoming a little bogged down with philosophical ponderings from the main character. It took me a long time to actually finish this book, but it did start picking up shortly after the halfway point & from then on I was able to stay focused and finish at a quicker pace. While I found the end satisfying, it was more anti-climactic than I'd hoped fo
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LibraryThing member UnderMyAppleTree
The story has a great premise — Harry and a small number of others like him are destined to live their lives over and over again. No matter how they die, they are reborn and live the same life. Nothing ever changes … until someone in their group begins interfering.
The book was promoted as a
A lot of people loved this book, but I had a difficult time getting into it. It was a slow read for most of the book, probably because I had trouble caring about Harry’s lives. Plus his lives are presented out of order making it a little more confusing than necessary to follow the timeline.
The mystery of who is changing things and why kept me interested enough to keep reading. The last quarter of the book does pick up and we finally find out what is happening, but it was an arduous journey to get there.
The book was promoted as a
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time travel story, but it really isn’t. It’s more like Groundhog Day, only Harry remembers and repeats an entire life instead of just one day.A lot of people loved this book, but I had a difficult time getting into it. It was a slow read for most of the book, probably because I had trouble caring about Harry’s lives. Plus his lives are presented out of order making it a little more confusing than necessary to follow the timeline.
The mystery of who is changing things and why kept me interested enough to keep reading. The last quarter of the book does pick up and we finally find out what is happening, but it was an arduous journey to get there.
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Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — Science Fiction — 2015)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Winner — 2015)
Arthur C. Clarke Award (Shortlist — 2015)
British Science Fiction Association Award (Shortlist — Novel — 2014)
Language
Original publication date
2014-04-08
ISBN
0356502570 / 9780356502571
Local notes
Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. 'I nearly missed you, Doctor August,' she says. 'I need to send a message.' This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.