Interesting premise and I did make it through the book, but fell a little flat for me. Will still recommend it for the collection as thrillers like this are always popular.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of You Again.

I was excited when my request was approved because the premise sounds interesting. How can it not?

A woman in her late forties sees a version of her younger self back when she was a promising young artist and hadn't sold out to the corporate world.

The writing was good, but the author lacked a cohesive narrative.

What is the story really about?

Abby's mental fragility and imbalance as she struggles with a demanding career, her sons and their issues, and her thoughts about sacrificing an artistic career for one of motherhood, stability, and in some ways, mediocrity?

The narrative was bogged down with poor structure and formatting; segues into her son's radicalization, Abby's pursuit of her art, wordy prose about color and how she sees color and how good she is at color, random breakaways to medical diagnosis that disturbed the flow of the story, already disjointed with so many loose threads that it was hard to follow.

I didn't like any of the characters, nor did I dislike them. I just wished I had liked Abby.

I liked the explanation for why Abby was seeing a younger version of herself, but You Again needed the narrative to focus on Abby and her younger self, and not her son, and an organized, tighter format and structure to add mystery and suspense.

Abigail, 46 year old pharmacist art director, on her way home late one night from her cab window sees herself, a twenty year old version, that is. Fleeing the cab, she attempts to follow the young woman and her male companion, an exact copy of a deceased boyfriend of Abigail. The obsession begins and so too the search to find this woman. They eventually meet and, slowly recalling her past, Abigail tries to warn her of what is to come. Simultaneously her present-day personal life starts to unravel. Her husband, Dennis, loses his job and, in an effort to re-establish his art career, seems to be having an affair with a family friend art collector. Abigail sleeps with a detective who has involved himself in the radical group to which her son Peter belongs. Their house burns down. Her health suffers. Debra Jo Immergut presents her readers with a possible explanation. Is it a question of physics, brain malformation, the delayed result of an horrific trauma experienced twenty years ago? Or is it an unexplainable phenomenon of life? How would one react if confronted by a younger version of oneself?

You Again is a unique combination of suspense mixed in with a sprinkle of metaphysical. Edgar Award nominee, Debra Jo Immergut, answers the question: What would you do if you were to meet your younger self? Abigail (Abby) Willard is a successful middle-aged working mom stuck in the monotony of everyday life, with a job that pays the bills, a marriage that feels like your favorite pair of sweatpants and enough friends not to consider yourself as a loner. One cold rainy January night, while riding home from work, Abby spies her twenty-one-year-old self emerging from a dark doorway with silver platform sandals and favorite pink velvet coat, used only for clubbing. Shocked by this revelation, Abby demands the cab driver to stop so that she can get a closer look. As the weeks continued into months, Abby continues to see her younger self at the critical time of her young life, before her world changed forever. Assuming this is a sign to change the direction of her life, Abby takes up painting, fights for political justice, and falls in love with a police officer, but is this blessing a curse in high heels?

One day while sitting in a cab, Abby Willard spots a young woman on the sidewalk, only to realize moments later that it's a younger version of herself.

From this opening, we delve into Abby becoming slightly obsessed with the younger her, and she begins to go to various places she went to when she was young, knowing she will find herself there. Surrounding the mystery of why she is seeing herself, and why there are gaps in her memory, are various other stories: her soul-sucking job for a big pharmacology company as a graphic designer, her husband's work woes, her oldest son starting to run with a group of antifa protestors with his new friend Dmitri, who may or may not be what he seems, and her interaction with a detective after her son is arrested.

Amidst all of this, Abby continues to follow the younger her, eventually speaking to her, trying to talk her out of the mistakes Abby knows she will make. Interspersed with this are notes from therapy sessions, and a neurologist reviewing medical records and images - at the outset, we're not sure what those records are or who they are about.

Along the way, we learn that both Abby and her husband are very talented artists, but both gave up their art when it wouldn't pay the bills. The younger Abby then starts appearing to older Abby at random moments - proving the oddball nature of this goes both way - offering her own advice to the older Abby.

Events reach a crescendo in the last third of the book, with a fire, a death, and a question about space and time.

The writing is almost stream of consciousness, with sentence fragments scattered widely throughout the book, and this works well with the story, since we are watching Abby experience some very existential questions about herself and the world in which she now lives.

A solid three and a half stars out of five.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ecco for the advance copy.

Not sure what is going on here?
You again is an okay story, it was complicated and hard to follow which made it boring for me, but I liked the magical aspect of seeing your past self in the now. Kind of a weird, interesting twist to the book.

At the outset we learn that Abigail Wilhelm Willard is a 46-yr old senior art director at a large pharmaceutical company, who lives in Brooklyn with her husband Dennis and their teenage sons Pete and Benjamin. But gradually all that looks rosy initially, appears coated in a veneer of noxious slime made up of infidelity, ennui, dissatisfaction, rebellion, anarchy, immorality, bad parenting etc. I liked the historical fiction elements like Meir Kahane's assassination running through a portion of plot, and the writing about art and paint and color theory, of which there was a lot. However there is also gimmicky timeline back and forthing plus unreliable narrators, quantum physics, and character names that were similar enough to cause me confusion (boyfriend Eli and best friend Eleanor). I do love the names Immergut (Evergood in German by the way) chooses for the doctors Unzicker and Arminbutt.

While I liked the black comedy of the silent auction where Abby and Dennis each get talked into selling their lone remaining piece of art, to the tune of The Gift of the Magi, I didn't understand why she had to sell the Crow off the wall, when she had a basement full of all her other stuff. Also, how could Dennis be surfing his whole adult life, but never teach his sons how until they're both in high school? Does anybody in the art world achieve fame due to their qualifications, or only through sexual politicking?

A fascinating concept meeting your younger self.an author who writes words that drew me in,to the womans world her family her emotions.A book I will be recommending.#netgalley#harpercollins

You Again was quite a worthwhile and therapeutic experience for me. After all, how many of us have ever wondered, what would my life be like if I had only…? And in that respect, You Again was a must-read for me. I was born in New York City, but my parents moved us to the suburbs by the time I was in second grade. I soon learned, you can’t take the city out of the girl. Growing up on the “Island” was okay, but I never stopped missing the city. I lived for the times when my mom would take me to Broadway plays. I would leave the theater exhilarated, which was something I never felt in the suburbs.

As it turned out, I loved to read. I spent most of my childhood and teen years in the library. But as circumstances would have it I moved to Texas and have remained here for many years. I love Texas, but I often wonder what my life would have been like (and what how different might I be), had I followed my dream to work for a publishing company in New York City. I imagine my younger self living in a cramped Manhattan apartment, but always looking forward to the busy and exciting life in the city.

I can relate a bit to reviewers on NetGalley, indicating a desire for the story to have had a stronger focus on Abby and her younger self. However, Iife happens and we don’t always get a choice in how or when, good or bad things happen to us or our loved ones. In that respect, I welcomed You Again as a visceral, truthful and evocative reflection not only on the life of Abby, but on my life as well. You Again me feel ... and that's a very important element of a good story.

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I was intrigued by the title and blurb, loved the cover, and couldn't wait to get started. I made the mistake of taking a look at other people's reviews - and almost put the book back down. I know enough by now not to fall into that trap though, so I started reading.

I'm so glad I did.

Despite others' seemingly widespread disappointment with this one, I quite enjoyed it. True, it was a little confusing at times and not as straightforward as I normally like my stories to be. But as I fell into the style, that disjointure became an element of the tale, rather than a barrier to its understanding. From that point on things floated along a lot more smoothly for me and I was able to really enjoy the story for what it was: a thoughtful consideration of the consequences of our decisions and the nature of choice and growing up.

I found the mystery surrounding Abby and A's interactions to be engaging and intriguing rather than frustrating and confusing, as so many others have. I enjoyed the way the characters developed and the back - and - forth nature of the storytelling. I thought the writing style and nature of the ending suited the story well, and felt satisfied with the way things wound up.

I enjoyed this read more than I thought I would, and will definitely look for more from Immergut...

Enjoyed this one although I think it is going to be very tricky to market it! A portrait of a marriage, of what it means to be an artist and a mother, of what it takes to make it in NYC - but also a psychological thriller with a dash of magical realism???

Such an awesome concept! I feel like it could've been better executed. I was often bored and confused. Wish the ending had a bit more to it.

Abigail is married to Dennis and has two teenage sons. Out of nowhere, she begins to see a version of herself and is completely drawn into trying to figure out what is going on. All of these strange things begin to happen and she is drawn to many things from her past to try to figure it out. The book covers a therapist that she is working with that is trying to help her figure out what is going on and gives an inkling throughout that something is wrong, but is decidely vague. Unfortunately, I felt that this book just seemed to go on and on with no definable reason. It seemed disjointed and became overall very confusing for me to catch what was going on and how it was central to the story. The ending was very terse and didn't really tie things up cleanly either, Thanks for the ARC, Net Galley.

I struggled to get into this book even though I absolutely loved the premise. Despite wanting to know what happens in the plot, I found the telling confusing and found it hard to get attached to the character. I never leave negative reviews so I will not be finishing the book or reviewing it on my site or on social media.

The premise of this story immediately piqued my interest. A woman in her 40’s living in NYC suddenly starts seeing the 22 year old version of herself all around Manhattan. She becomes obsessed with her all while her own life with a husband and 2 kids begins to unravel. It’s a little hard to follow, I had a hard time connecting with the characters and the side story with her son was weird and uninteresting. But there is something about it that makes you push on and NEED to know what is happening with Abigial and her younger self known as, A. Had this been a little more psychological thriller and a little less about her boring family, I’d be obsessed.

I couldn't follow this book. The writing style, POV, and events all made this terribly hard to get into and to understand. It has a great idea for the plot, but the sequence of events did not happen quickly enough to build up suspense.