Under Story - Chloe Benjamin

 

Description

At an isolated research station in Antarctica, biologist Laurel Salter washes dishes for a living ten hours a day, six days a week. She tells no one why she left her career, or why her marriage ended.

But even in this remote outpost, Laurel can't outrun her past. When a strange light appears across the ice and draws a group of physicists to McMurdo, her former husband, Eli, won't be far behind.

Laurel is captivated by the Arc: its surreal glow; the way it seems almost alive. And though Eli is reluctant to test her wildest theory, Laurel is convinced that the Arc leads down a rabbit hole and into a world they can barely imagine. Can she persuade him to risk everything to fix the burden that hangs between them - to turn back the clock and live their story a second time?

And this time, live it differently.

Once read, never forgotten, Under Story is a genre-defying exploration of the promise of this life, what might lie beyond it, and how far we would go for more time with the people we love.

Review

I have a confession to make: I actually started reading this book several months ago, but after getting to around 30%, I just couldn’t get on with it. I found myself struggling to engage with the story and, in the end, I put it aside to read other books. I’m not usually one to abandon a book, so I did wonder whether I would ever go back to it. Eventually, though, I decided to give it another try.

When I picked it up again, I quite quickly reached the second part of the book, and initially things did seem to improve. The story became more interesting and I found myself wanting to see where it was going. Unfortunately, though, some of the issues I had with the first part remained.

At 512 pages, I also felt that the book was simply too long. There were times when the story felt very drawn out, and I found myself wondering when it was going to move on. I think the book could have been considerably shorter without losing the main story or the ideas the author was trying to explore. For me, the length contributed to the feeling that the story was sometimes plodding rather than moving at a pace that kept me interested.

Another issue I had was the amount of science. I appreciate that the scientific elements are important to the story and that the author has clearly put a great deal of thought into the ideas behind it, but there was just far too much of it for my liking. At times I felt that the science took over from the actual story, and I found some of it quite difficult to follow. I also wasn’t convinced that everything being presented was actually possible.

The second half of the book definitely asks you to suspend your disbelief. There is a particular premise introduced that I really struggled to get my head around. I can’t say too much about it without giving away a major part of the story, but I found it difficult to accept, even within the fictional world the author had created. Perhaps other readers will be more willing to go along with it than I was, but for me it made it harder to become fully immersed in the story.

Unfortunately, I didn’t particularly like the two lead characters. I found both of them to be quite selfish and self-centred, and I struggled to sympathise with their decisions or become emotionally invested in what happened to them. When I don't particularly connect with the main characters, I find it much harder to care about their journey, and that was certainly the case here.

Having said all that, I’m glad I went back to the book rather than leaving it unfinished. There were moments when the story grabbed my attention, particularly as it moved further into the second half, and I can appreciate the ambition behind the ideas. There is certainly an interesting concept at the heart of the book, even if it didn’t completely work for me.

Sadly, though, Under Story just wasn’t a book that worked for me. The combination of the length, the drawn out pacing, the amount of science, a premise that I struggled to accept and two main characters I didn’t particularly like made it a difficult read. I’m pleased I gave it a second chance, but ultimately I was left feeling that the book could have been shorter, tighter and more engaging.

I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.