This week I read a new science fiction novel called The Walls of the Universe. It was written by Paul Melko. It is about a teenager named John who goes out to the barn one morning to feed the animals as usual, but this time he finds...himself lurking in the shadows! The other John ("John Prime") is a version of John from an alternate universe.
John Prime shows John the device that is strapped to his chest. That is how he got to this universe and many others, each of them sort of the same as, and sort of different from, this one. John Prime offers to let John try the device for himself. John can't resist the adventure.
The only problem is, John Prime neglected to mention that the device only goes forward. There is no way for John to return to his own universe!
Now that John is out of the way, John Prime plans to make a fortune in John's universe by "inventing" the Rubiks Cube. He also plans to hit on the cheerleader that John has been too shy to speak to. She is a part of almost every universe that John Prime has visited, and he is therefore quite comfortable talking to her now.
In the meantime, John travels from universe to universe, sometimes barely escaping danger as he tries to figure out how the device works and how he can get home.
The Walls of the Universe is a real page-turner - a fun, fast-paced read.
It got me thinking about who and what would be the constants in my universes, if I could travel from one to another. Would my library co-workers show up in every other world, for example? I also wonder how I would be different or the same from one universe to the other. Would I be richer than I am now, for example? Would there be no clean, hot, running water? (Sadness!)
What about you? If you could visit yourself in an alternate universe, what do you suppose would be the same about you and your life? What do you hope or fear would be different.
Hope
("Pinwheel Galaxy" photo above by Ethan Hein)
Author: Jodi Picoult.jpg)
