Hello Now
- by Jenny Valentine
- Novella
- Fantasy, Experimental
- YA and Up
- Debatable Time Travel
- English
- Hello Now by Jenny Valentine (Philomel Books, March 2020).
Teenager Jude enjoys thinking in similes and metaphors, so much so that perhaps Jude’s whole story—being uprooted, meeting an odd man, and meeting an otherworldly boy who sees no difference between space and time—is itself a metaphor for first love. The odd boy, Novo, has equally odd conversations with Jude—I’m unsure whether the conversations are deep or metaphors or both or neither—while he manipulates time, space and memories.
—Michael Main
You are the place I return to, in between times. My fulcrum, the point at my center, around which all of me turns. You are my chance at stillness. The rock in my water. I know you.
Tags
(6)
- Time Periods
- Circa AD 2000 to 2099: presumed time period
- Themes
- Differing Time Rates: Novo seems able to slow down time and possibly freeze it.
- Long Life: Novo and possibly Henri
- Viewing the Past: Novo shows Jude and Henri moments from Henri’s past.
- Fictional Tags
- Dickensian Guides: Certainly Novo’s assistance in showing Henri’s memories is similar to a Dickensian guide, but perhaps his interactions with Jude are also guidelike, similar to the spirit of Christmas present.
- Spirits: To me, Novo seems more like a spirit than anything else.
Variants
(2)
- Hello Now by Jenny Valentine (Philomel Books, March 2020).
- audio reading.
Hello Now by Jenny Valentine (Recorded Books, April 2020).