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I don't know that I necessarily enjoyed this book, and I definitely know that I didn't like any of the characters, but there was something about it that kept me reading. The story begins when two brilliant chemistry students meet in class, become labmates, have a revolutionary idea about the science of aging, and decide to go the start-up route. Most of the story is fairly predictable. While both characters have strong backstories, they feel a bit superficial. Maybe that's intentional, though? The characters are young and constantly trying to act confident, mature, grown-up... they haven't quite figured out who they are in life yet, but are thrust into the spotlight and have to figure things out pretty quick. So maybe there's more depth than I originally thought. I think the ending actually works well for the story. But overall the book feels a little incomplete and I can't pinpoint why.

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I think if I was able to dedicate more energy to this book I would have enjoyed it a lot more. It's got a cool premise and I really love books that take place at universities. I didn't find the science aspect incredibly interesting and was more focused on the complexity of Zoe and jacks relationship. I thought it was well done, though I didn't love the ending. There was a lack of closure for me. I think with the right expectations, people who loved Tomorrow x3 would love this.

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Thanks to Celadon, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for my gifted copies, and to Celadon for hosting this as a buddy read, along with a Zoom event with the author.
Set at Harvard and its surrounding Cambridge, MA area, Notes on Infinity is a new fiction release that is hard to categorize by genre. It follows two highly ambitious undergraduates who are involved with biological research around “curing” aging and drop out to form a start-up to pursue a groundbreaking anti-aging drug. The writing is engaging - especially for the amount of organic chemistry and laboratory protocols involved! The story follows these two as they spend more time together, both inside and outside of the lab, looking at personal and professional relationships, the crazy funding that startups can receive, and the ramifications of their decisions. The book made me pause and think about what I would have done if I had been in either Zoe or Jack’s shoes - it’s so easy to judge someone until you learn where they’re coming from. Taylor mentioned that she reread Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies to help her craft the change in perspective that happens midway through this book. F&F is one of my favorites, and I now see the similarity and want to reread that with Notes fresh in my mind.
Living close to Harvard helped me connect with the accurately described setting, and I could visualize everything from the bus ride to Longwood medical campus to the biotech startup labs in Kendall. I listened to the last ~60 pages via audiobook to hear how Helen Laser (one of my favorite narrators) and Shahjehan Khan (a new-to-me narrator) brought the book to life - and the narration was great. I recommend both formats, and I would happily discuss this one if you read it! We had some great conversations in my #celadonreadstogether group - and my group from the last Celadon buddy read discussed this one, too.

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Thank you for this ARC! I truly loved this book. The characters were dynamic and I was fully invested in their journey. As an educator, I appreciated the science information and discussions on mortality. I did not see the small twist coming, although it made perfect sense and made me enjoy the story even more. It became more believable, but also more tragic.

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Wonderfully written with genuine characters. With so much life material to focus on with the characters, the strength of this title is what the author choose to describe, to let the author know. Of course, this reminded me of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow with the similar plot elements and circumstances. Looking forward to what other works this author will publish next.

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Obviously a hit! Done in the vein of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow meets The Dropout. Well-written and dynamic.

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Notes on Infinity really gets you thinking on how far a person can go for goals and even for love. Zoey and Jack met during their early years of college, eventually dropping out to pursue their dream of an antiaging discovery. The book brought everything from serious, mystery, and even love. I will be having a copy in my classroom library as I know my curious readers will enjoy this book. I will have to warn them about how they might not be happy with how it ends, as they will not understand why it ends that way. Overall, enjoyed this refereshing read. Thank you!

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2.5 stars rounded up to 3 for goodreads. I wanted to love this one, but it was SO similar to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (which I LOVED). Because it was so similar it was too easy to compare the two, and this one fell flat compared to Zevin's fantastic writing. Perhaps if you did not like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, you'd like this one. Unfortunately, it wasn't for me.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7581922430

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This is a really interesting and thought-provoking book with dynamic characterization and sparkling prose. Zoe and Jack are Harvard students who are in the same organic chemistry class and have a weird immediate connection that makes Zoe itch. They end up working in the same lab, and together they discover a process that might be able to reverse aging. Soon they drop out of Harvard, get seed funding for a startup, and get catapulted into science fame. But all is not as it seems, and eventually, things begin to unravel.

This book reminded me a lot of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (complimentary): two friends pursue something creative and potentially revolutionary, their relationship becomes codependent and verges into romantic and then back constantly, and they're totally themselves together while also somehow holding something back. Zoe and Jack are both extremely intense, single-minded and neurotic, and this book captures the wildness of feeling so much and not really knowing what to do about it. I loved the way this book depicts how even though Zoe views herself as more moral and more conscious of the rules, she too wants to be exceptional and known as exceptional, and she and Jack both make choices in favor of being extraordinary. This book is also a shrewd commentary on classism and academic elitism. The science was definitely over my head, but that's to be expected, and it didn't detract from my experience. Overall, I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

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I enjoyed this book while being similar to a lot of other books and themes of the day it was still entertaining. I wish it was a little more original and explored the characters a little more.

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Many thanks to NetGalley and Celadon books for the ARC of this book.

This is a solid debut novel with elements similar to those in The Dropout and Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. When reading the synopsis, I had hoped the book would be about the ethics of creating a drug that allows people to live forever, exploring the pros and cons of potential immortality. It was more about the scientific process and the steps involved in creating a biotech company, and very little about the philosophical aspects. That was a misunderstanding on my part, though.

Harvard students and alumni will really enjoy the descriptions of the campus! The author clearly loved her time there, and that love is imbued into the story.

I enjoyed getting to know the two main characters, and the love triangle was interesting as well. I found it odd that one of the peripheral character’s names was changed from the ARC to the final draft, from an Asian last name to a more ambiguous last name. Why did someone decide that Daniel Lin had to become Daniel Fen? My Spidey senses are tingling over the possible racism, although admittedly I may be too sensitive.

In thinking through my general feelings about the book, I must disclose that I had accidentally spoiled the ending for myself by listening to a zoom with the author (my choice, the organizers did warn that there would be spoilers), so I’m not sure whether or not that colored my entire experience of the book. In any case, it was well written, and held my attention. It just wasn’t as thought provoking as I had hoped.

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I absolutely love novels set in academia with prodigies reinventing their fields and in this respect, Notes on Infinity definitely delivers. I was absolutely fascinated by the theory and practice of the anti-aging science Zoe and Jack were developing. The business and marketing elements, the process of getting funding, and learning about the theory to putting in practice. The Harvard setting was magical and I was totally enthralled about the competition and life that happened in the labs and outside the classrooms.

The novel starts on an interesting note and part of me wished so much hadn’t been revealed so quickly. We know too much going into the novel and that slightly detracted from the experience.

I also didn’t need the romance. There was so much meat to this story and I was so captivated about everything Zoe and Jack were accomplishing that many of the other elements felt superfluous.

Zoe’s character spoke to me and I appreciated her growth and character arc. She was always trying to prove herself, especially to her family which was heartbreaking.

Once the story moves out of academia I didn’t enjoy it quite as much. Some parts dragged and other parts that were massively significant felt glossed over.

Overall, I did love this book but there were parts that could’ve been done better in my opinion. 3.5 rounded up.

Thank you to Celadon for the copy!

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Notes on Infinity was described as Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow meets Bad Blood, and I really see why. Usually the “x plus y” logline means which genre(s) the book is, or maybe it has some elements of another, but in this case, seriously, those two together make a perfect description.

In Notes on Infinity, Zoe and Jack are Harvard students when they meet, and start collaborating on a way to increase the human lifespan. There’s a description of the science, but you can skim and just think of cells living longer. Like in a hard scifi, I want to know a bit of what they’re doing (is it blood tests? DNA replication?) to picture the lab, but I don’t really care how close it is to reality. They drop out for a start-up to research this concept, and it’s all the start-up excitement and risk, with the added intensity because their discovery might change human lifespans and change the world.

Zoe is the daughter of academics, but that doesn’t mean things are easy for her. She knows some of the system already. There’s a moment when she says that obviously a college student’s sophomore year summer internship is when you start your career, making connections and positioning for after graduation. It was such a good moment that highlights the difference between her and and classmates who might think that summer break is for working a retail job to save up or for resting or visiting family. They both got into a good school, but one will come out ahead. The book is very good at highlighting these invisible structures.

The whole novel is third person, but there’s a perspective shift from Zoe to Jack later on. This slowed the story for me and seriously, I just did not care about Jack. It’s very early-20s, when after being a egotistical dick for most of the book, we hear his tragic backstory. But I’m not early-20s and simply did not care about why he acted like a dick.

I deeply enjoyed the first three-quarters or so of Notes on Infinity I read this in a Celadon readalong, and several of us in our group chat had to know what happened next, and we couldn’t stick to the readalong schedule. But as other readers have noticed, the last section of the novel is weaker. I don’t know if it tried to take on too much or what. Without a spoiler, there’s a shift when it stops being about the startup and I lost some interest there. It’s not a bad last act, just not the same pageturning intensity.

I also found less of an emotional punch towards the end in Zoe realizing that she had been pushed out of the lab and into biz dev. Maybe this is another moment that was weaker for me because I’m not early-twenties so some of the characters’ young adult moments didn’t resonate that way they might with younger readers. I felt like the rest of the book made interesting observations on youth, talent, money, and life, so I was a bit disappointed by Zoe’s discovery that even with a scientific background with a cutting edge start-up, the unimpressive and boring work falls to the woman. Zoe talking up the company in interviews is just the next generation of her mom hosting academic dinners, and Zoe’s kinda the last one to see it.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this one and I especially enjoyed chatting with the other readers in my group to hear their thoughts!

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An impressive debut novel dealing with science, startups, campus life and college romance. Sparks fly when Zoe and Jack meet at their undergad Chemistry lecture. They go on to experiment with an anti-aging startup. The first part of the novel is extremely slow paced and filled with a lot of mind-boggling science stuff. You can safely skim over the science though. I liked the concept of the novel and also the very contemporary references to venture capital funding, TED talks and the like. I found the character development a bit flawed. The novel could also have been a bit shorter and dragged in places. It was reminiscent of Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabriell Zevin but it somewhat lacked the magic of that story. I would still recommend this to anybody who is interested in the world of STEM and startups and unconventional love stories.

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I was so lucky to receive a copy of this book as a part of the Celadon Read Together initiative. Some personal life things got in the way and I was not able to attend the zoom with the author since it was the same night as my oldest son’s HS commencement, but I caught up by watching the YouTube video link - thanks Celadon!

Notes on Infinity held my attention from the beginning. It contained themes that I have deep levels of interest in - science, research, medical discoveries, anti-aging, entrepreneurialism, start up culture, Ivy League culture and themes of humanity like friendship, jealousy, mentorship, and, of course, love.

Relationships are a major focus of this book and I would say there was a very character driven book. The main characters are so well developed and I would call them both sympathetic characters as well. Zoe Kyriakidis and Jack Leahy are both undergraduate students at Harvard when they make an interesting discovery and develop a new theory around antiaging. A new biotech startup is born from there.

Each of their backgrounds comes into play as they navigate their roles as Chief Executive officer and Chief science officer of a $1 billion valued biotech company.

It was honestly not the ending I was hoping for, but it was an incredibly well written one - and a rather realistic one - nonetheless. There is a good chance that you might cry reading this book or at least be surprised by a part or two.

I really enjoyed seeing what others thought. Thanks again to Celadon.

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I’m not a science gal, so I admittedly zoned out a bit during the lab-heavy sections, but thankfully, the science focus is mostly packed into the first 100 pages. Once the startup gets going, the science goes on the back burner. Which, now that I’m thinking about it, it’s a great way of foreshadowing what’s to come.

I found the characters believable once their backstories came into focus, but even then, they still felt a little superficial. Their emotions and motivations were more told than shown. Jack’s past was fascinating to unpack, and while it helped explain his thirst for validation and acceptance, it doesn’t make him any less awful. Jack suuucks. He actually ruined Zoe’s life. Normally I’m in the camp of “no one can MAKE you do anything,” but when someone feeds you lies dressed up as truth because they need your love, that becomes your truth. How would you know it’s all lies? Yeah, Zoe did seem to have blinders on at times, and she did make bad choices after she learns the truth, but she faced the consequences.

This isn’t Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. It’s not Theranos either. It’s its own story, and it stands on its own. I’d definitely recommend reading it.

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

I've already seen the many comparisons of this book to Tomorrow, & Tomorrow, & Tomorrow, a near-perfect book that made me sob. This one...not as much. Zoe and Jack are young Harvard prodigies who discover a way to reverse or prevent aging. As their stars rise, so does the tension in their large, multimillion dollar company. There's a twist that I won't reveal, which changes everything, and leads the book down a darker path. I felt this could have been edited down a bit; it took me awhile to read. Even though I didn't enjoy it as much as T&T&T, I liked the writing and the characters. I think a few extra twists and turns would have kept my interest.

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This book was okay. I agree with some other reviews I’ve seen about maybe being a bit too similar to tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow. Maybe just not my cup of tea. Thanks for the arc anyways though!

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A debut novel about two Harvard students with the dream to make it big in the biotech world. From the competitive nature of being students in STEM to becoming partners in their start-up Manna, readers will celebrate their wins while crying for their losses.

I thought this was an astonishing debut set in the biotech world with romance as a subplot. The story focuses on Zoe and Jack who will find themselves in the spotlight when they proclaim they found the cure to aging. I worked in academic biotech so I appreciate the characters using scientific language however it could be daunting if you aren't fluent in the language. I love an underdog and I liked learning about Jack's backstory. Both characters are problematic and how they navigate their challenges as a start-up is the main plot.

I was lucky to receive a final copy of the book in addition to an electronic and listening ARC, My favorite format was the listening ARC so my review will focus on the audiobook performance. The story is dual POV with the first half being told through Zoe's perspective and the second half in Jack's perspective. I thought the narrators did a great job and I liked reading from both POV. I would highly recommend the audiobook because eyeball reading was sometimes a challenge because of the slow pace. The last 15% of the story improved my star review from 3 to 4 stars.

Thank you Celadon Books for the gifted copy and Celadon Books and NetGalley for the ARCs and the opportunity to be part of #CeladonReadsTogether. My opinions and honest review are my own.

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Notes on Infinity is a tender, slightly haunting novel that explores how we long for more time, love, and certainty than life can ever promise. It’s beautifully written, with soft, lyrical lines that dig into memory, identity, and the fragile ways we hold ourselves together. This book left me both comforted and a little hollow, in the best way. A quiet, thoughtful read for anyone who loves stories that linger.

Certain sections resembled fragments of a diary or half-remembered memories. The lines were so impactful that I wanted to pause, highlight them, and think. It’s one of those books that leaves you feeling both empty and connected, which is a strange feeling.

I would definitely pick up another by this author. I honestly can’t compare it to anything else I’ve read lately, which I mean in the best way possible. If you enjoy stories that linger in your mind and nudge at the edges of what we think we know about love, time, and self, this is worth picking up.

Stars: 4

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