Book Review | In One Life and Out Another #20booksofsummer23

Book 4 of my summer reading challenge and a really unusual one.

In One Life and Out Another
J. Mercer

This is the story of how my parents split me in two, and how I ultimately put myself back together…

On the eve of Marin’s birthday, her parents tell her they’re getting divorced—or, in a parallel universe, they don’t tell her anything at all. This defining moment, along with Marin’s subsequent choices, turn her into polar ends of herself and drastically affect the relationships she has with her two best friends, her mom, and soccer player Sam Hanson. The possibilities of ‘what could have been’ play out in alternating scenarios throughout the book.

If Marin can’t make it into Wash U and get away from her suffocating mother, she just might self-implode. She’s determined that nothing will stop her, but then she can’t seem to say no to what everyone else wants—or yes to Sam, seeing as her best friend Hannah wants him too.

Things that this Marin puts up with—a narcissistic mother and a buoyant yet selfish best friend—the other never would. But then, the other can’t stop fighting long enough to get who or what she wants. Instead, she marks a path through life that nearly alienates her best friend Whitney and the boy from work she won’t let herself be distracted by, because distractions like Sam Hanson won’t get her into dance school and away from her mom.

One moment may have changed the trajectory of her future, but if Marin can’t find her way back to herself, she’ll not only lose the boy and her best friends, but also the future she’s worked so hard for.

IN ONE LIFE AND OUT ANOTHER will appeal to fans of E.Lockhart, Brenna Yovanoff, and Kristin Dwyer, as well as readers who enjoyed the SLIDING DOOR premise of MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE by Taylor Jenkins Reid or THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig.

Goodreads | The StoryGraph | Amazon

I was intrigued when I read the blurb for this book with how the structure would work with Marin’s life diverging into two different life paths. It is really simple but effective, each Marin gets alternate chapters it was one after the other and they were marked with sentences that would start the chapter on one life and then end at the start of the next life which was very clever.

I had thought that I would easily get confused about which version of Marin that I was reading about but actually that didn’t really happen, each chapter had very similar themes but it was fairly easy to keep track of which storyline I was reading and it was only towards the end of the book that I got a bit mixed up once or twice.

It was interesting to see the differences in Marin’s lives due to this one big change but I like that the author didn’t go too outlandish with this, there were differences in each Marin but fundamentally they had the same aspirations. I found her to be a very relatable character, I think everyone can understand trying to manage different relationships and doing things to please people whilst also trying to please yourself.

I enjoyed getting to explore the different relationships in Marin’s life from the different perspectives just to see what changed. Her relationship with her mum was kind of fascinating because it was on a knife edge all the time and was fraught with tension, it wasn’t always easy to read because she made me so frustrated on Marin’s behalf but it was portrayed so well.

Also, it was good to see how Marin was with Whitney and Hannah in both timelines, I like that you could see the differences in how Marin acts because of how these formative relationships have helped to shape her. They were both kind of similar in each timeline, there were still some subtle differences but it was interesting to get a fuller picture of them depending on which Marin we are with. I quite liked that Sam seemed the same no matter what storyline, that he and Marin had that easy chemistry in both and that he was consistent in his feelings, he was a very loveable character.

I wasn’t sure how the author was going to pull it all together for the ending but it worked really well and I left feeling glad that both versions of Marin had a path going forward that was the best option for her, it made me feel hopeful. In One Life and Out Another is a book with an intriguing premise which I feel it really delivers on, it is an excellent look at relationships and an enjoyable read.