Every Anxious Wave

De: Mo Daviau

Narrado por: Zach Villa

Why would we need music if our lives were exactly as we wanted them to be?

Karl Bender is a quiet guy who lives in three places: his bar, his apartment, and the cheap Mediterranean place on the corner that keeps him well fed with his daily portion of hummus and chicken shwarma. But that's all about to change. When he stumbles upon a time-traveling wormhole, Karl develops a business selling access to people who want to go back in time to hear their favorite bands. It's a pretty ingenious plan, and Karl's indie rock ethics ensure that he keeps things small and special.

Until, that is, he mistakenly transports best friend Wayne to 980 Mannahattan instead of 1980 Manhattan. Karl is distraught. He needs an ally. And he finds one in brilliant, prickly, overweight astrophysicist Lena Geduldig. The connection is immediate. While they work on getting Wayne back, Karl and Lena fall in love - with time travel and each other. Unable to resist meddling with the past, they bounce around time. That's when they alter the course of their lives. That's when they threaten their future together.

A wild romp of a love story across time, Every Anxious Wave plays ball with the big questions: Who would we become if we could rewrite our pasts? How do we hold on to love across time?

©2016 Mo Daviau (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Surprisingly Thoughtful

Would you try another book from Mo Daviau and/or Zach Villa?

I was skeptical given the subject matter but enjoyed the characters and could relate to their insecurities, regrets, and final maturity.

Did Every Anxious Wave inspire you to do anything?

I appreciate the way the story--fable-like, really urges the listener to make the most of everyday without worry.

Great Story & Great Reader.

Could not put it down! Way to go Mo! Can you make some more boiks please. I loved it and plan on listening again.

Heartwarming, yet exciting.

If you could sum up Every Anxious Wave in three words, what would they be?

I thought the book, over all was well written and exciting, yet heartwarming. Would like to have hear more about timetravel, but the romance intermixed with the timetravel was well done.

I would suggest this book to people who like "The Timetravlers Wife".

It's my own fault...

I live in Seattle. I get enough of whiny, emo hipsters in my everyday life. What made me think I was going to enjoy a novel about them?

There are some interesting ideas here: If you could go back and change your past--make it so you never went through through the terrible, painful experiences you've had--would you still be you? If not, who *would* you be? To take away the bad parts of your life, what else would you have to give up?

But those ideas got stretched so thin, they just couldn't sustain my interest anymore. I usually choose longer audio books--if I'm enjoying one, I want it to really last. This book was considerably shorter than most of the ones I've been listening to. And still I looked at the countdown a dozen times, and wondered, dear god, how much longer can they drag this out??

I can't fault the narrator--his flat, drawling, too-cool-for-school performance fit voice of the main character perfectly. But that doesn't mean his reading was at all pleasant to listen to. I'm curious what he'd sound like narrating another book with an entirely different tone...but not enough to go and buy another of his books to find out.

I'm sure there's an audience for this book--I'm just not a part of it.

I love a good love story!

Hi Mo,
it's your uber driver, stephanie! just finished the book and I adored it and your characters. can't wait for the next one!
your actor did a wonderful job :)
all my best!
s
ps
you are a badass!

Music, time travel, uncertain relationships

Rich with sub plots. I wanted it to go on longer.
I can easily see this as a movie in the future. The narration is spot on, though I get a little uncertain about the idea of an ethnic accent being done (think Apu from The Simpsons), I realize it's a means to distinguish characters.
I'm a recent Audible convert. So far this is my favorite. I've already visited other works, this is the one that's sticking with me.
Just my thing.

Frustrating

The story begins with exciting time traveling experiences then turns into a weird soap opera with a long drawn out ending that is neither a relief or a surprise. Too much swearing.

Academy of Music, New York City, 11/24/1971

That's the concert I would travel back in time to see. Yes, King Crimson, and Procol Harum -- three iconic prog-rock bands at the dawn of the popularity of prog-rock (before its descent into bombasity several years later), the moment Yes and Crimson grew popular in America. Or maybe the Allmans at the Fillmore, of the Dead's Bear's Choice concert. So many shows, so few time machines to send you back to see them.

Such is the premise of Mo Daviau's debut novel, which jumps right into a wormhole that takes former minor alt-rock star Karl Bender back in time, and which he uses to go back to the great shows he may or may not have seen in his youth. (He is partial to alt and punk, and if I had to stick to his genre, I'd go back to see early Smiths or Ben Folds Five or even Karl's fave, Elliott Smith.)

While this is all in good fun for fans of this genre, a la High Fidelity, it is not enough for a serious book, so things get personal when Karl hires Lena, a Ph.D. candidate in physics to help retrieve his friend from the year 980, where he was accidentally sent instead of 1980 (where he intended to stop the murder of John Lennon). The remainder is about Karl's belated coming to maturity over Lena, with the time travel element complicating matters in ways I will not spoil.

Overall, entertaining for sure and interesting in the way time altering tales can be. But as in so many time travel stories, plot holes emerge, almost by definition. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, but as opposed to the way The Terminator/La Jetee finds an especially neat way to close all its time loops, Daviau lets her timelines spin out of control. Meanwhile, the original hook -- the music -- diminishes as a factor, by the end ignored entirely. Too bad. A good listen, but some missed opportunities.

Not what I expected, yet satisfying

I really enjoyed the beginning yet struggled near end. I appreciated the current day and quest for lost friend yet the future hopping was not my cup of tea. An enjoyable listen.

fun time travel story

I enjoyed this book and found it quirky. the idea of traveling back in time to see old rock shows really intrigued me but the subplot of love that travels throughout the years is the most interesting of all