There is the supernatural at work in this book. Abigail, 45, encounters a younger version of herself at 22, who goes by the name of A. Abigail tries to warn A of the problems ahead. For me there was just too much going on to make a cohesive story line.

I have been at the book for a few days but unfortunately I haven't been able to make either head nor tail about what is happening and why. The story seems to be in riddles and structurally fantastic sentences but then nothing concrete comes of it. I hope its just me and the book is otherwise well received.

Abby Willard, once a promising student at the Rhode Island School of Design, chose a more conventional path instead of pursuing her art. In her forties, she is married to Dennis, mother to teenagers Pete and Benjamin, and head of the design department of a pharmaceutical company.

One rainy evening, from the backseat of a cab, Abby sees a young woman leaving a club in a raspberry coat and silver shoes, clothes she recognizes because they were once hers when she was living in New York City with a taste for wild abandon, an “experience junkie.” At first, she thinks it might be her imagination, a fleeting memory, but she increasingly encounters her younger self who has a corporeality she cannot deny. Seeing “A,” unencumbered, Abby questions her choices, wondering why she abandoned her art.
Meanwhile, her marriage teeters on the brink as Dennis’s secrets are revealed and Abby yearns to explore, hearing “change the outcome,” repeated in her mind. When Pete becomes ensnared in a radical group, Abby at first forbids him to associate with it but then feels its pull.

On one level, A’s appearance, whether real or imaginary, leads to self-doubt and revaluation, but on another, her case presents a conundrum to others: if A is real, how is it possible? And if not, why did Abby conjure her?

I foundYou Again’s concept fabulous, and I was intrigued by the clues sprinkled throughout the novel as well as the author’s framing device to present the story. I liked, also, the resolution. I wasn’t sure, though, that Abby was the correct character to realize the plot. I found her older self irritating. Dennis didn’t have many redeeming characteristics as a husband, and I didn’t like her sons very much. So, it was difficult to have empathy for the family, and their behavior made this even more challenging.

The book did have interesting meditations on the excavation of memory, the elusiveness of the past, and the impact of mid-life crisis on the self.

How many times have you thought "I wish I could tell my younger self..."?
Hindsight is always 20/20, and I would love to tell my younger self things like "he's not the one" or "ask for that raise" but those are all hypothetical mental conversations I have between my current and younger self. Now, consider if you stepped out of a cab and literally saw your younger self? You'd think your mind was playing tricks on you. What if your younger self started showing up in your daily life? Who would you tell? People would think you are crazy! This novel really did have me intrigued with the concept and I was very impressed with how the author brought big themes (art, antifa radicals) to the otherwise formulaic thriller of late (mid-life/identity crisis, marriage problems, affairs). I thought this novel was very smart and unique. My suggestion is to read this in a physical format or check to see if the finished e-format has a full table of contents because I wanted to flip back a few times to check the dates of different events. ⁠

I loved the concept of this book but did not like the way it was written. I did not like most of the characters nor did I understand the motivations. Furthermore, I did not enjoy the way the book was set up which became very confusing at times. Thank you to netgalley for the book!

What did I just read? This should be labeled literary fiction instead of mystery or thriller. It's not my genre and this book was not my cuppa, but it seems like it could be a hit for others. If you like to read books where you don't like any of the characters at all, this is the book for you. The writing was very good and the premise was interesting--the main character SEES HERSELF, her younger self--how intriguing! I probably wouldn't have finished it but I wanted to know how the author was going to wrap that BS up in a bow. My smarty-pants husband is a science guy so I asked him some questions about some things near the end and he just about broke his face rolling his eyes. This was my first netgalley book; my thanks to netgalley and Harper Collins.

“The best way to explain what I’m beginning to think: Imagine your life as a stack of photos. All the pictures in the stack exist all at once, but you may view them only one at a time. Maybe Abigail Willard’s stack includes multiple exposures—sequences captured with some degree of transparency, one atop the other. Multiple spacetime moments visible all at once. But visible solely to her. That’s the why. Why her?”

You Again was an intriguing blend of theoretical physics, hallucinations, and brain chemistry. I quite enjoyed the deliberation over Abby’s mental state and the pursuit for scientific truth. I was very taken by the synopsis of this book, and the first quarter really had me hooked. This whole concept of the younger-self apparition proved entrancing. The points of contact between present and past Abby were sometimes confusing, but I feel like the ending of this book did a nice job of evening out the rougher edges around this central story element. Some of the side plots felt a bit sluggish to me, notably all of the romantic relationships. I also don’t feel as if the protagonist’s belief in (or condemnation of) the antifa movement was fleshed out nearly as thoroughly as it should have been. Abby seemed to waffle constantly between unrest and conformity, and her role in the final violent activity felt inconsequential and unconvincing to me. I appreciated the recurring commentary on the commercialization of art (selling out). This was all in all an interesting statement about time, memory, regret, and romanticization of the past self.

This was an interesting novel. Some plot threads worked better than others for me; while I think the emails were meant to amp up intensity and pacing, I actually thought Abigail's thread was strong enough to entertain on its own. I also found the handling of the antifa protests to be a little too surface-level, and felt that it was too easy. That said, I think a lot of people will relate to Abigail, as she journeys back into repressed/lost memories of a traumatic relationship in her twenties, and too, how she finds herself as an artist after focusing on her career and family for two decades. For a lot of readers, this book will very well be a page-turner, but for me, some of the threads just didn't hold up as well as others, and I wasn't consistently invested with Abigail's story. But I still recommend the book, especially if you're interested in aging, motherhood, and similar themes.

I am pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading this book. From start to finish, it kept me wondering and debating whether Abigail was haunted by her younger self because 1) She was hallucinating and was suffering from some psychological break as a result of an unfilled artistic life; 2) She was suffering from symptoms that were physiological in nature and perhaps manifestation from traumatic injury to her brain or 3) From a physics standpoint, can she and her younger self co-exist in the same time and space. I rarely reread fiction once I am finished but I would definitely reread You Again because I want to make certain I didn't miss or gloss over some small clues here & there.

This book really touched my heart and felt close to home, maybe because I am a woman around her age with two teenage children. I saw parts of myself in her and felt connected to her mourning her lost dreams as well as feeling it was all worth it as she looked at her children. It captures the juxtaposition of both the loss and the joy of middle age. Loved it even though I felt a bit that the story line of the antifa clouded the picture unnecessarily.

You Again by Debra Jo Immergut is without a doubt one of the most bizarre novels I have ever read but I could not stop reading it. Until the very end I would have said it was a psychological thriller but the last few pages made me think more Twilight Zone than Gone Girl.

Abigail is a 46 year old working mom. A long time ago she was considered the future of painting and even had a gallery showing in SoHo, NY. But marriage, motherhood, bills and a mortgage have her working as an artistic director for a pharmaceutical company.

Then on a rainy day in NY she sees her. She is just as she remembers. The hair, the eyes and that look of invincibility that only the young possess. There is the younger Abigail before responsibilities of life. How can that be possible? Is she losing her mind? Has she walked through some time warp? Is this just a doppelganger?

As Abigail becomes obssessed with this younger version of herself we see her marriage falter, an affair with a police detective, a son become involved with violent protests, and her need to warn this young girl not to make the mistakes she did; especially that fateful night with her old boyfriend Eli.

Interspersed between chapters are correspondence between doctors and scientists about Abigail a year after she first sees herself. These were not helpful in understanding what was happening until the end but even then I still have questions.

Maybe that's the point of the story. We don't always have all the answers but we need to still keep living. Trauma has real effects on our mind and body and secrets never stay buried forever.

I want to say more but I don't want to giveaway the surprises, the OMG moments or the "wait what just happened" events. The author is brilliant at writing unique descriptive scenes that made me realize why I review books instead of writing them.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

This one was just not for me. The stream of conscience writing was difficult to sort through. The storyline, seeing your younger self, was fascinating, but the disjointed family life was written in a flowery unreal way. With the oddly interjected discussion between doctors and emails between colleagues, it was just a jumbled mess of stuff I wasn't terrible drawn in to or cared about. When the affairs were revealed, I was just pretty well done with the book but still had 50% to go. I wish I'd loved it more.

In my personal rating system, no book earns five stars unless I'm *certain* that I will want to read it again. For You Again, make that NEED to read it again. The language is beautiful -- not showy, but with a casual depth. The premise is, well, "unique" seems too bland a word to convey its originality.

Abigail is a middle-aged wife and mother, who was an extravagantly gifted artist in her youth. She now designs marketing materials for a pharmaceutical company. These days, by way of affirmation, what she gets is a throwaway compliment from a coworker: "Color is your competency, Abby."

Early on in the story, Abigail is visited by -- what? hallucinations? apparitions? She sees a walking, talking version of herself from 20 years earlier, a period she can only dimly recall. And why is that?

Some other reviewers grumbled about the intrusion into the narrative of a psychiatrist's notes and snippets of an ongoing email conversation between a detective and a physicist. I loved these bits -- for me, they served as highway markers for what might come next, for the questions I should be asking myself along the road.

Everything was so informed, so intelligent: from the theory and production of art to the flirtations with the time-space continuum.

As to why I need to read this book again, I want to suss out the lingering mystery of You Again, to seek out clues I may have missed. What happened to Abigail, was it physical or metaphysical?

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an advance readers copy.

It is not often I DNF a book. But life is simply too short for reading to feel like a chore. I originally was curious about this book because it seemed like an exciting concept, but it fell short for me. I cannot speak to the entire plot, but from what I read, I was uninterested and not invested in the characters. While I can certainly appreciate Debra Jo Immergut's writing, I was regrettably not the right audience for this book. Thank you to #NetGalley, Ecco, and Debra Jo Immergut for this advanced e-copy of #YouAgain.

This book took me out. I went into this thinking this would be a light read of a woman in flux, seeing her younger self and realizing that life is fine as it is. What I got is a extremely high concept, suspenseful and scientifically confusing wonderful book.

Abby is the head of visual design at a pharma company - far from her dreams of being an artist. Then, she sees a skinny pair of legs in silver platforms and a pink coat and everything changes - because those legs are hers, from 20+ years prior.

What follows is a story of a woman searching for something, herself, happiness, the truth. This is an exploration in how brains work, how memories stay with us forever and how the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This is a terribly written review of a wonderful book. There are not enough words to talk about how wonderful and surprising this book from Debra Jo Immergut.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I cannot continue reading this book. It is difficult to follow the characters and the sequences sent by the author. I cannot determine if the writer is talking about real or imagined images and people. I would not be able to recommend or reject it.

You Again is the story of Abigail Willard a forty-six year old art director at a pharmaceutical company. One night on her way home from work she sees a young woman who she recognizes as herself at age twenty-two. As the story continues Abigail begins to question the stable life she and her husband, Dennis have built with their two teenage sons Pete and Benjamin. Both Abigail and Dennis have given up promising careers as artists to raise their family. Abigail continues to encounter her younger self, at first by accident and later by design. Meanwwhile her son Peter enters a rebellious stage remniscent of her own wilder youth. The story brings into question whether time past, time present and time future all exist at the same time but are not recognize by us because of the limitations of our own minds.The story becomes more and more compelling as Immergut weaves the plotlines and characters together leading to an intriguing conclusion.

What would you do if you encountered your younger self, at age 22, on a rainy night in NYC? This is what happens to Abigail Willard. She’s 46 when she sees her former self, wearing a raspberry colored coat and silver platform shoes, getting into the back of a cab. Abby used to be an artist, a free spirit, but she got married to a fellow artist, had two kids and gave up her dream. Now she’s a working mom of two boys and she works for a pharmaceutical company. Abby stopped painting long ago.
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So I began to wonder about Abby. Is this some kind of time travel story? Sci-fi? Is she hallucinating? Is she dreaming? As the weeks go by in Abby’s life, she sees her younger self more and more. Abby is convinced this is part of a deeper mystery in her life that has its roots in her past.
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Well, I will say this is well-written, literary fiction. Book club material. It’s thought-provoking. Abby is a flawed character who narrates the story .The NYC setting is also a character in this book because the city is so important to Abby. The story gets a bit bogged down and confusing as the book goes on which was unfortunate because I did enjoy the uniqueness of the story.

Abby Willard, 46, wife, mother of 2 teenage boys, graphic designer, finds herself in a work a day existence far from her younger days as an artist whose work was shown in galleries.

On her way home from work one rainy evening, her eyes are drawn to the cab window, where she sees a girl that looks just like she did in her 20’s. She gets out of the cab to get a better look and so begins this story.

Debra Jo Immergut does a great job alluding to the past and showing it’s intersect with the current day. I also appreciate how she highlights the struggles of identity, parenthood, and marriage. I loved the discussion of art, I could envision her using the ashes to add to her paint. Abby’s connection to One the fact that she carried a paint chip around with her really made her feel human.

The intersecting and overlapping layers of stories were interesting but didn’t quite resonate with me. I can see how Abby and A were both struggling to find happiness and validation both as artists and as people. I felt that there were too many extraneous characters that distracted from the thread of the story. I had a hard time sympathizing with any of the characters.

A midlife crisis, wrapped in a TBI, wrapped in….. prescience? Though well written, this just wasn’t the right book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Interesting but confusing look into the mind of Abby, an artist and mother who is having memory troubles and potentially identity-related troubles, and hallucinations of seeing her former self on the streets. I thought the author did a nice job conveying her mental state and how it began to slip and she became confused and withdrawn at times. However, the interspersing of the neurologist's notes at different time frames was confusing and didn't really work for me. The neurologist and her team never felt that interesting because they were given so little time and so little background. And they never found anything terribly interesting so I think it should have been included differently somehow.