The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

By: Claire North

Narrated by: Peter Kenny

Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

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 11th 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.

©2014 Claire North (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Can I give it 3.5 Stars?

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I am a sucker for both time travel and replayed life stories. Not the Scottish romance in time variety, but this Groundhog Day concept fascinates me. I try to read them all. I enjoyed this book on this level, and appreciated the wrinkle of the premise... that we all relive our lives again and again, but that through an evolutionary or other cause, most now forget those past experiences, while a few remember them... and thus become the guardians of the planet in a way. They have a chance, through the repeats, to correct wrongs. Of course, villains also emerge who would use the repeat opportunities for their own personal gain or to amass power.

I liked the premise, and for the most part the execution, but I found the book a little tedious and repetitive in places. That, coupled with the lack of variation in voices, actually forced me to go back and repeat several chapters of the book to be sure I was following the story. Some questions went unanswered, some lines were less than satisfactory, but it was a nice addition to the body of this genre, overall.

Come for the time travel and stay for Harry

Any additional comments?

I admittedly am a time travel geek, so I was thrilled to discover this book. I was surprised at how much I cared about Harry. And I love that the authro didn't take it down the love story path completely. It would have been less of a book. The narrator was great and impressively nailed several accents. His accents for Victor were creepy and spot on. I also loved the concept of the Cronus club. In so many of the time travel books, the protagonist is so lonely in their journey. The club brought a nice twist to it.

12 or 13 lives would have sufficed

I get it. Not exactly time travel, not particle physics. not brain science, either...... After 50 or so chapters, I just wanted the story to be over. Perhaps some sharper editing would have brought this very well written book into better focus, or maybe a warning to folks over 60 not to get started in the first place.
At least this protagonist acknowledges that parents exist - something that's become declasse in modern culture.

Unbelievably good

This book is an amazing work of fiction- the characters are utterly real, and the premise is engrossing. I'm a picky reader, and this book met every criteria I have for a book that I would recommend to everyone. The actual writing of it sucks you in and makes you want more and more. I found myself coming up with excuses to continue reading.

Amazing!

After reading/listening to hundreds of books, this might be my favorite. It’s incredibly cerebral, and I constantly found myself having to rewind because I’d get lost in my own thoughts about the book. It raised so many questions, mostly about myself though. But don’t worry— the book has a satisfying ending.

I think anyone who enjoys topics like time, reincarnation, speculative science, science fiction, or reflections on the nature of the life cycle would enjoy this book.

Intelligent and Captivating. Dark in a good way.

This was a fascinating book... darker than Replay, which has a similar premise, but so very different from that story.

The characters were very interesting, and the drama and tension throughout were excellent. I think I would have given it 5 stars if it hadn't been for the fact that I found that one of the central pillars of the story, the antagonists goal, seemed to be half-baked, and the finale was a bit cheap.

[Spoilers Below]

The problem I had with the story is that Vincent's "quantum mirror" and what it represented was... well, silly.

So you have a piece of equipment that will allow you to make observations of the all the fundamental forces of the universe? Great. But everything science has taught us is that for every question we answer, dozens more pop up. Even if the machine answered all the questions and gave the equation for life, the universe and everything, Claire North never draws us a straight line from that achievement to the end of the world.

Why would a complete understanding of physics destroy everything? Especially with immortal guardians standing by to prevent the abuse of technology. There is a lot of talk about God / becoming God... but the idea that we the readers, or our protagonist should give this any real credence is... well... absent.

The other problem I had with the story was the laziness of the ending. Harry spends two lifetimes playing the perfect undercover agent, doing all sorts of digging through paperwork and finances for clues to Vincent's past... and in the end, Vincent just TELLS him? Out of some form of guilt or sentimentality or something? We KNOW Vincent is a sociopath who feels none of these things. Come on! I feel robbed.

There were some minor points I also found annoying. Here are some that bugged me the most:

Harry gets tortured by a "Linear" agent who KNOWS that Harry is going to loop back through time. At no point during this torture does Harry say, "Hey, if you don't stop torturing me, I will kill you and everyone you love next time around. I can revisit this torture on you and worse for all eternity. So... maybe rethink what you're doing?"

Harry's wife, Jennifer, institutionalizes Harry, despite evidence that Harry can tell the future, and does so in three amazing ways. It just felt a little bit contrived. Is Harry such a poor communicator? Is Jennifer so completely heartless?

Finally, we are left wondering at Harry's ultimate fate and purpose. He lives for all eternity, doing absolutely nothing of value until he gets bored and kills himself? Better for the readers if he turned on the God machine and shown us something interesting.

Thought provoking and fun!

I've had this on my wish list for ages and finally got around to listening. I really enjoyed Claire North's take on reincarnation and the possibilities it yielded. I got so engrossed in the tale, I'd sometimes find my self in real life thinking "maybe I'll take that path in my next life". It really sucks you in.

My one complaint would be that this is one of those books that's more about the journey than the destination. In a mostly non-linear fashion, North takes us through Harry's lives, adding some backstory here, some color there, and that's the beauty of it all. Alas, for all the build up, the final confrontation of the big bad felt like a let down. Not only does it just sort of happen and then the book ends, but there's foreshadowing early on that doesn't seem to amount to much either. I really feel like it needed an epilogue.

That said, the journey was still fun as heck and Peter Kenny did an excellent job narrating. Definitely recommend!

Simply... Unforgettable.

This book sat in my library for well over a year before i came to listen to it. I had tried it out initially upon purchase but left it after a chapter. Looking back after so long and having finished this book i can't say what led me to drop this but i can say that whatever it was it was quite the mistake i made.

This book is, magical. The depths to which we explore our protagonist Harry throughout his life is fantastically written and detailed. We see human nature at some of it's lowest moments but also in some of its greatest triumphs. There are no one note characters here, there is real depth and motivation behind the actions everyone takes. Agree or disagree with any as you like, but you will understand that drive and it is so well done.

I don't have very many 5-Star across the board Audio-Books. Some Jack Ryan, some Expeditionary Force. Then it comes down to the very few True Gems like this where i wish i could give a 6th star or ponder a change of how i rate books just so people can know that these truly do stand above the rest.
A book that so thoroughly draws you in and just makes you feels at a loss once you finish it. Like you have just both gained and lost something so profound that you can't place your finger on it.

I could not recommend this more.

Loved this book

I had actually wondered if there were any books with this premise, and I was thrilled when I found this book. After listening to it, I'm even more pleased.

Changed My Outlook on Life

I do not believe in spoilers in reviews, so read mine with confidence I will not ruin this book for you.

My wife and I listened to this book and we both loved it. (She is normally not into sci-fi) what we both loved was the books completely mind blowing universe and rules to life. (You learn in the first chapter that Harry lives his entire life, dies and is reborn on his orginal birthday, with a chance to live his life all over again.)

The story has incredible characters, plot twists and deep thoughts about the 20th century, the role of technology and just how different a person's life can be when they make different choices. As I was listening to the book, it was fun to pretend that I was living the first of my lives and that one day, I'd be reborn and have a chance to do it all over again. From there I lept back to reality and realized, why not do the bold thing now? Why wait for a mythical second life?

I love when sci-fi gives one a chance to reflect on one's own life and meaning and this book was a great vehicle for that.

The writing and narration are also first rate. My wife and I both noticed that the female author did a masterful job telling the story from her male protagonists point of view. It was a stunning accomplishment. After finishing the book, I read some articles on "Claire North" (pen name) and found that she decided to tell the story from a male's point of view so she could get the points across withouth having to deal with the massive social revolution for women during the 20th century, which is a subject that deserves a story of its own.

Bottom line: best novel I've listened to in 2015. Home run.

Happy listening!