“Amidst the breathtaking world Thea Lim has created in AN OCEAN OF MINUTES is a profound meditation on the inhumanity of class and the limits of love. It takes immense talent to render cruelty both accurately and with honest beauty – Lim has pulled it off. This is a story about the malleability of time, but at its core lives something timeless.”
– Omar El-Akkad, author of AMERICAN WAR

America is in the grip of a deadly flu. When Frank gets sick, his girlfriend Polly will do whatever it takes to save him. She agrees to a radical plan—time travel has been invented in the future to thwart the virus. If she signs up for a one-way-trip into the future to work as a bonded labourer, the company will pay for the life-saving treatment Frank needs. Polly promises to meet Frank again in Galveston, Texas, where she will arrive in twelve years.

But when Polly is re-routed an extra five years into the future, Frank is nowhere to be found. Alone in a changed and divided America, with no status and no money, Polly must navigate a new life and find a way to locate Frank, to discover if he is alive, and if their love has endured.

“A beautiful debut exploring how time, love, and sacrifice are never what they seem to be.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Heartbreaking and haunting.” – NetGalley UK (Top 10 Books for June 2018)

“An Ocean of Minutes is a time machine into the future of this moment. Gripping and graceful, it’s dystopian love story as told by a visionary. Thea Lim’s debut reads like the birth of a legend.” – Mat Johnson, author of LOVING DAY and PYM

PUBLISHED: JULY 10, 2018

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

So how far and exactly what would you do for those you love. I suppose, it depends on the kind of love and with whom the love is shared.  For Polly and Frank, it is a bond that breaks all rules of survival or self-preservation.

Simply speaking, they love wholeheartedly. You have a loving couple, a conglomeration and a conflict that needs the immediate resolution that only the Protagonist can provide. Sounds great! Now, the author needed to pull this off.

Success! I was drawn in immediately.  The flashback technique not often used as it was at one time is refreshingly used here so that the reader can get absorbed into Frank and Polly’s relationship.  The plot is filled with twists and turns that kept the pace moving forward.  The author’s voice is engaging and character development intriguing. There’s not a lot of world-building involved but this isn’t anything that affects the overall story.

I liked this story and I think it’s definitely worth a read. I gave it: