You can get through this epically long novel without confusing yourself. I didn't pay attention when I bought this book that it is 4 different lives that could have been of one character. So at first I thought the author didn't remember his story all that well. Didn't Aunt Mildred live in California? How can she be a professor in Chicago? So I went back and read another review and from then on, I loved this book. If you grew up in the 80s, you would immediately think of those thin "Choose Your Own Adventure" books that were so light on the possible trails that you were always disappointed. Well this book is like CYOA books on steroids, with the trails long and different and giving your memory a challenge as you read. Highly recommend if you need a change of pace from quick and predictable fiction. And if you love to write run-on sentences yourself, you will be pleased to know you aren't always wrong.

I'm giving anything away and saying that this book tells the story of one boy from four different timelines. It's a neat idea. This is more than just one book it is really 1, 2, 3, 4 novels in one. Each chapter is more of a section, very lengthy, I wound up reading each story line in order rather then according to the table of contents simply because I kept forgetting where the story left off in the previous chapter section devoted to that iteration of the boy. This novel appears to be autobiographical. The author is a bit of a snob when it comes to his assumption that his readers probably haven't read as extensively as all four of the main characters have (or is it "main character had"since it is the same boy in a different timeline?). All in all not a bad read. Very well written. The man does love to string words together into a beautiful sentence then string beautiful sentences into beautiful paragraphs. The book leaves our hero at 1972 so this makes me wonder if there will be a second book called 8765. (Something to look forward to.)